ion of
the hunting shirt and breeches as a cheap and convenient dress, and as
one which might have its terrors for the enemy, who imagined that
every rebel so dressed was "a complete marksman." A valuable article
on "The Uniforms of the American Army" may be found in the _Magazine
of American History_, for August, 1877, by Professor Asa Bird Gardner,
of the West Point Military Academy.]

[Footnote 92: _Force_, 5th Series, vol. ii., p. 244.]

Had this force acquired the discipline and been hardened by the
service which made Washington's troops later in the war a most trusty
and effective body, the campaign of 1776 would have shown another
record. But not the less are we to respect it, with all its failings
and defeats. If not all the men were "patriots;" if some lost faith in
the cause; if others deserted it entirely and joined the enemy; if
some entered the army from mercenary motives and proved cravens in the
field; if still others who were honest enough in their intentions were
found to be wretched material for the making of good soldiers--this
was only the common experience of all popular struggles. As a body, it
fairly represented the colonists in arms; and as an army, it did its
share in bringing about the final grand result.

* * * * *

To recapitulate: Washington's army, at the opening of the campaign on
August 27th, consisted of seventy-one regiments or parts of regiments,
twenty-five of which were Continental, aggregating in round numbers
twenty-eight thousand five hundred officers and men. Of these,
Massachusetts furnished seven thousand three hundred; Rhode Island,
eight hundred; Connecticut, nine thousand seven hundred; New York,
four thousand five hundred; New Jersey, one thousand five hundred;
Pennsylvania, three thousand one hundred; Delaware, eight hundred; and
Maryland, nine hundred. Between eight and nine thousand were on the
sick-list or not available for duty, leaving on the rolls not far from
nineteen thousand effectives, most of them levies and militia, on the
day of the battle of Long Island.[93] As officered and brigaded at
this date the army stood as follows:

[Footnote 93: The last official return of the army before the battle,
published in _Force's Archives_, bears date of August 3d; the next
about September 12th. The latter is the proper basis for making an
estimate of the numbers for August 27th, as it includes all the
regiments except Haslet's known to b