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the ends, and worn around the waist. From this makeshift Indian belt, strings hung that held up the leggins. It answered several other purposes, according to a contemporary. “In cold weather the mittens, and sometimes the bullet-bag, occupied the front part of it. To the right side was suspended the tomahawk and to the left the scalping knife in its leathern sheath.” Hunting shirts, made of canvas or linen, were “a kind of loose frock, reaching half way down the thighs, with large sleeves, open before, and so wide as to lap over a foot or more when belted. . . . The bosom of this dress served as a wallet to hold a chunk of bread, cakes, jerk, tow for wiping the barrel of the rifle, or any other necessary for the hunter or warrior.” See J. Doddridge, Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars of the Western Parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania from 1763 to 1783, inclusive . . . (1824; reprint (Pittsburgh: J. S. Ritenour and W. T. Lindsey, 1912), pp. 92–93. John Trumbull, who would later paint the famous picture The Surrender of General John Burgoyne at Saratoga (with Morgan featuring prominently at center right) described the “Virginia rifle-men” who arrived in Boston as wearing “an elegant loose dress reaching to the middle of the thigh, ornamented with fringes in various parts, and meeting the pantaloons of the same material and color, fringed and ornamented in a corresponding style. The officers wore the usual crimson sash over this, and around the waist, the straps, belts, &c., were black, forming, in my opinion, a very picturesque and elegant, as well as useful, dress. It cost a trifle; the soldier could wash it at any brook he passed; and however worn and ragged and dirty his other clothing might be, when this was thrown over it, he was in elegant uniform.” Quoted in D. Meschutt, “Portraits of Daniel Morgan, Revolutionary War General,” American Art Journal 17, no. 3 (1985), p. 40.

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21. J. Thacher, Military Journal of the American Revolution . . . (Boston: Cottons & Barnard, 1827), p. 33.

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22. John Adams to Abigail Adams, June 17, 1775, in C. F. Adams, ed., Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the Revolution . . . (1875; reprint Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1970), p. 66; Thacher, Military Journal of American Revolution, pp. 33–34.

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23. In the August 17–19, 1775, issue, in M. W. Willard, ed., Letters on the American Revolution, 1774–1776 (Cambridge, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1925), pp. 165–67.

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24. See H. Niles, ed., Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America . . . (1822; reprint Baltimore, Md.: W. O. Miles, 1876), pp. 264–68.

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25. Pennsylvania Gazette, August 5, 1775, quoted in Dillin, Kentucky Rifle, p. 84.

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26. Pennsylvania Gazette, August 16, 1775, quoted ibid.

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27. Pennsylvania Packet, August 14, 1775, quoted ibid.

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28. Pennsylvania Gazette, August 21, 1775, quoted ibid.

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29. See J. Lukens to J. Shaw, September 13, 1775, and “Observations by Benjamin Thompson (afterward Count Rumford),” November 4, 1775, both in H. S. Commager and R. B. Morris, eds., The Spirit of ’Seventy-Six: The Story of the American Revolution as Told by Participants, 3d ed. (New York: DaCapo Press, 1995), p. 156.

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30. Quoted in G. F. Scheer and H. F. Rankin, Rebels and Redcoats (Cleveland/New York: World, 1957), p. 86.

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31. Washington, Orders to Rifle Detachment, August 16, 1775.

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32. Scheer and Rankin, Rebels and Redcoats, p. 86. See also General Thomas Gage’s letter to Lord Dartmouth, September 20, 1775, noting that “there are many Irish in the rebels’ army, particularly amongst the riflemen, brought here from the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania, who take every opportunity to desert to us, notwithstanding the danger and difficulty of doing it,” quoted in D. Bailey, British Military Flintlock Rifles, 1740–1840 (Lincoln, R.I.: Andrew Mowbray, 2002), p. 21.

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33. George Washington,