Uniforms 1686

The uniforms of the Earl of Huntingdon's Regiment of Foot in the beginning were described as follows: Round hats with broad brims, the brim turned up on one side and ornamented with yellow ribbons. Scarlet coats lined with yellow. Yellow breeches and grey stockings. The Pikemen were distinguished by white sashes tied round the waist. Grenadiers wore caps instead of broad brimmed hats. These caps were first made of fur, then of cloth, and afterwards assumed the shape of a mitre. They were armed with firelocks and hatchets, the latter for cutting down palisades. Grenadiers did not carry pikes. The proportion of pikemen was about one fifth of the strength, but the number was gradually declining owing to the invention of the bayonet. The pike as a weapon for officers survived for some generations as the half-pike or spontoon, in the same way as the halberd prolonged its life as the peculiar weapon of the sergeants.

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