Clothing in the Revolutionary War
During the Revolutionary War, the clothing was scarce. Women, men, and even children have specific things to wear. There were different colors and different sizes, maybe the material, was different they were all the same in design. The girls dressed much like the women, same goes for the men and boys. “Until the approximately age of four or five, both boys and girls wore a frock” (Davidson) a website said, and that was interesting! Clothing was designed for a necessity, more so for fashion.
The towns’ people didn’t mind wearing similar clothing as their neighbors, but it wasn’t the most comfortable. The men and boys had the more comfortable clothing because they had to do the farm work and they needed room to move any kind of direction that their work needed them to. The Women and girls needed to look more proper because they would have to go into town and get the supplies that they needed for the day. But there are different types of outfits for different occasions. For the men, they wore nicer looking suits to go out at night and to go to balls and parties, and same goes for the women; they would have a better, nicer looking dress. It would work the same way for the children, but more age appropriate.
During the war, trying to find the materials for their clothing was very difficult for the women because the war was so close to the villages. They were afraid that if they left the safety of their home, that they could and would be harmed. But if the war was not going on they would usually go to the local market and buy the materials that they needed to either patch up or make their clothing, but if it was something that was scarce, suck as a certain kind of fabric, they would walk or take a carriage out of town to the next town.
Buying and making clothes during the Revolutionary war doesn’t sound all that bad, but if you really lived during that time, it wouldn’t be like it sounds. According to the book The American Revolution by Alden R. Carter, the life of an average civilian was rough and not many people could handle how rough it is. Like it said, “the life of a lady is taken for granted; the Revolution was hard, for all people!” (Carter)
Bibliography
"The American Revolution ." Carter, Aladen R. The American Revolution . Aladen R. Carter , 1992.
"The American Revolution ." Carter, Aladen R. The American Revolution . Aladen R. Carter , 1992.
Davidson, Margaret. Revolutionary War E-Zine . 2004. 25 January 2011 <http://homework.northport.k12.ny.us/ocean/mdavidson/est572/clothing.htm>.
