Colonial Campaigns Club (CCC)

This tavern posting is intended for sutlers from (and representing) countries other than Britain...

The Continental / American Army would like to find a nation that would be able to sell us large quantities of well made ****ades (also referred to as rosettes) in BLACK. Please forward all expressions of interest to myself in Fraunces Tavern in the city of New York.

If anyone can also supply us with a color chart showing which color ****ade is appropriate for a specific military rank... we would appreciate it and will consider these for our army once we win the revolution and throw out the invaders from within our country's borders.

Phil Wilson, Major General
and The Sons of Liberty


The following information is from www.indepthinfo.com...

****ades are hat decorations. They were worn mainly on ****ed hats commonly called tricorns or bicorns, fashionable from the 1600s until the mid-1800s. They are also sometimes called rosettes. They comprise, usually of a button, sometimes a strap, and some ribbon. At first they were used to add color to headgear. Eventually, people began to wear colors and designs that marked, familial, national, or political affiliation. So that a particular ****ade could be very controversial. During the French Revolution the type of ****ade worn by a person could even mean life or death!

The tricorn hat is a three cornered hat, basically a round hat with the sides brought up and attached to the crown. Today, they are often thought of as "pirate hats" and worn with costumes. In the 1700s they became so widely popular that they were often made part of military uniforms. ****ades were an integral part of the ****ed hat. In most paintings ****ades were shown attached to the left side of the hat.

****ed hats were first mentioned as a bonnet a la coquarde by Rabelais, a French play-write. The name ****ed hat could come from either its resemblance to a coxcomb on a rooster, or the fact that it was often worn ****ed to one side.

In the French Revolution the side supporting the king wore a white ****ade in their hats. The revolutionary forces wore one that was red, white, and blue. Feelings ran so high during the "Reign of Terror" that wearing a white ****ade could get a person's head removed by the guillotine.

In America, during the revolutionary war, a black ****ade was worn by the Americans seeking independence, even though it was the color worn by the house of Hanover (of which King George III was a member). During a brief interval, when uniforms were in short supply in the Continental army, different color ****ades were used on the caps of officers to as an insignia of rank.

After the revolution Federalists often wore black ****ades while the Francophile Jeffersonian party wore red, white, and blue. By the mid to late 1800s ****ades began to go out of style. In the 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica the ****ade is mentioned mainly as a badge of domestic service. Today, ****ades are seldom seen except in historical or traditional dress. Insignia on military caps are still sometimes referred to as ****ades.

Finally found an answer to the color-coding for rosettes on the officers tricorn hats:

Field officers may have red or pink colored rosettes in their hats, the captains yellow or buff, and the subalterns green.

A black rosette was worn by the Americans seeking independence.