Continental line gun carriages

 

  What color should you paint your Continental line cannon carriages?  The answer is a surprising depends.  Depends on the year and they type of carriages.  Gray, red brown and finally blue are all correct, depending on the date and type of carriage.

  According to Harold Peterson's "Book of the Continental Soldier" iron guns and all other iron were to be painted black. This was to prevent rust.  At the start of the war gun carriges were painted grey similar to the British Royal Artillery.  Returns from quarter masters suggest the actual shade of grey varied depending on the paints available.  

  In Charles Wilson Peale painting of Washington at Princeton the cannon is painted a grey color.  

  In the Battle of Princeton painting by William Mercer in the first-round there is a grey carriges gun.  Off to its left there is also a red brown carriges on another gun.  Perhaps thus was a French Valliere system carriges as these were usually painted red brown in French service.

  After 1780 there are many returns for blue paint.  We see many carriges are now painted blue.  These are carried forward to the post war years and is standard practice for the army during the war of 1812.

  What about waggons?  For military service waggons there are returns for grey and also red brown waggons.   Interestingly an Hessian office from Stirn's Brigade on Long Island mentions using captured waggons to carry tents and baggag; "little chariots painted red."