His Majesty's 27th or  Inniskilling Regiment of Foot

   The recreated 27th Regiment of Foot Grenadier company was first imagined in 1992 by a few Revolutionary War reenactors in Upstate New York and Vermont who occasionally participated in French and Indian War events as rangers seeing the need for properly outfitted British Troops.  

    In 1997, After  years of research and following many dead ends and leads to sources of supply and information, a commitment was made to recreate the 27th Foot Grenadier Company as it appeared with General Abercromby in 1758 for operations in the Champlain Valley.  

    Two years later, in 1999 the 27th Foot made its debut appearance at the Fort Ticonderoga Grand Encampment.  We took the field that year with 5 men at arms, and have grown to over a dozen officers, men and musicians with nearly 20 camp followers.  

   The 27th Foot does not actively recruit new members, and only veteran reenactors who are willing to make very serious time and financial commitments join.  After all, once you’ve done a 1750’s grenadier impression, what else is there to do?         

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Captain Parillo

     The Uniform of the recreated 27th Regiment of Foot, Grenadier Company, is based largely on the paintings of Grenadiers by David Morier, a Swiss artist and commissioned by the Duke of Cumberland.  

 

    The paintings depict a grenadier of each regiment, with specific uniform and cap details.  Just how accurate and exact to detail he was we will never know, but the works are an excellent source of information

Buttons on the soldiers coat were plain white metal, either domed or flat, but examples of domed buttons found near Crown Point and other Champlain Valley sites of the period suggest domed were more common.  

             Adorning the coat and looping the buttons was regimental "lace".  Lace was a strip of worsted wool tape, with a specific pattern of striping or worms woven into it.   Every regiment had its own distinctive pattern of lace.  The 27th lace was a yellow stripe surrounded by a blue and black zig zag.  This lace made the uniforms quite spectacular, but surely frustrated the 18th century tailor, who needed to stitch over 25 yards onto each soldiers coat and waistcoat.  Lace was generally two widths on the soldier's coat, 5/8" and 3/4-1 inch

                 The coat and uniform of the soldier fit tight and by today’s standards was uncomfortable. When kneeling, the coat tails would touch the back of the man's calf. One thing common in coats of this period were full pleated skirts in the turn backs of the coats.  Privates however most likely did not have center back pleat in their coat and if it they did, it most likely was a false pleat.  The arms of the coat were short, with the cuff ending at the top of the wrist.    

                 Perhaps the most distinctive part of the uniform is the tall mitre cap. This 12" tall embroided cap was the symbol of the grenadier.   In order to be a grenadier, one needed to stand nearly 6 feet tall.  In earlier times, it was the job of these men to throw hand grenades, and it is possible they continued to see use into this period in North America as well.    Large men were selected for the job of throwing these heavy iron balls.  

             If a soldier wore a tricorn hat, it was difficult to quickly sling his musket and throw grenade without the hat getting in the way.  The tall mitre helped with this.  By placing this tall cap on the heads of the best trained and largest troops, you know had an intimidating shock force.  

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Modified November 2006

 

             To protect his stockings and wool breeches on the march, a soldier wore gaiters. These uncomfortable pieces of clothing were made of painted linen.  For parade white were worn, on campaign, brown or black were most common.  We have no documentation as to what the 27th had, black or brown, but we have selected  black. Gaiters fit extremely tight, were hot, stiff and were secured by upwards of 36 black horn buttons from the ankle to the mid thigh.   The paint however did provide waterproofing and they served their purpose.

The cap was made of stiffened wool, the front buff, with the regiments badge Inniskilling castle on the front (unbadged and non royal regiments all wore GR for King George the II in its place).  For wear around camp, a forage cap was worn.  This cap looked much like a stocking cap.  These were personal made items, and did not follow regulation.  They most likely varied style within companies

                 The uniform of a private soldier is made from madder red wool.  Madder red is a dull, brick red shade that was relatively inexpensive.  The coat, waist coat and breeches were also madder red.  The regiment's facing color was pale buff.  Facings of the regiment refer to cuffs, lapels and turn backs.  The coat lining also matched this color.

             The Regimental Colours Per regulations our colors are 6 Feet 6” square and made from buff silk.  In the center is Inniskilling Castle on a Blue field with the word Inniskilling above.  

             Above the castle is a plain white scroll.  In the canton in gold are the numerals XXVII. Tassels of crimson and gold adorn the colors as they fly on their 9 foot 6” staff and inspire their men on the battlefield