Although the majority of hunting shirts were likely made from natural unbleached or "brown" and white linen, many references to both military and civilian hunting shirts being dyed various colors survive from primary sources in the 18th-century.
Common, unbleached "Brown linen" ca. 1759 from The Dress of the People by John Styles p262
However, some frontiersmen seem to have worn shirts described as "painted":
"...400 Virginia volunteers, all armed with rifles, and excellent marksmen, and dressed alamode de sauvages, with painted shirts and fur-caps stained with paint..." (Scots Magazine in 1765 describing Bouquet's Virginia Volunteers, see the Annotated and Illustrated journals of Major Robert Rogers by Timothy J. Todish and Gary S. Zaboly p298 ).
Thankfully Thomas Gage clarifies the meaning of "painted" for us a few years later:
"An Indian Interpreter was here a few Days past from the Ohio, who saw thirty or forty People seated on the Banks of that River on the lands ceded by the Six Nations, and on whose Approach some Indians in the Neighbourhood abandoned their Dwellings and removed. Many of these people were half naked, chiefly covered with loose, Coarse, linnen Frocks, such as the Frontier People Manufacture for themselves, and paint, or Colour with bark; and they differ little from Indians in their Manner of Life. They have no means to purchase Clothing but by skins, and that induces them to hunt, and consequently to intrude on the Indian hunting grounds; which is often productive of Quarrels, and Murthers."
(General Thomas Gage to Lord Hillsborough.NY October 7th 1772)
Other references to "painted" or more properly dyed/stained hunting shirts exist:
"Fairfax County, [Virginia] Association...distinguishing our dress, when we are upon duty, from that of the other Companies, by painted hunting-shirts and Indian boots, or caps, as shall be found most convenient." (SIZE ROLL OF THE INDEPENDENT COMPANY OF ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA
APRIL - MAY 1775 revwarapps.org)
Professional dyers like Philadelphia's John Hickey advertised that he "dyes linen or woollen blue, green, red, yellow, purple or any other color." (Pennsylvania Gazette, March 11, 1756). Merchant records show that both indigo and copperas were common commercially available dyes in many back country stores, and home brew concoctions made with bark are also mentioned with some frequency. Attempts to dye sometimes met with limited or fugitive success, many Virginia deserters are described in "dark coloured" or simply "died" hunting shirts. In some cases, such as the account of James Nourse below, we have very vague information to work on.
May 10 1775 Camp at Smith Point mouth of the Great Sandy 40 miles below the Great Kanaway
"The men that bound in the other canoes for Kentuke set off- as did soon after Cressop. Saturday 13th May. Tom finished washing my linen and dying my Hunting shirt..."
Thankfully, not everyone was as mysterious as Nourse, and we have some clues as to the colors and the dyestuffs that were utilized in the 18th century.
Black:
Black was achieved with elderberry bark and iron filings.
The Fountain of Knowledge, or British Legacy 1770 p45
April 4, 1777 The Virginia Gazette
"Twenty DOLLARS reward. Deserted from Elk Ridge landing, Maryland, the 5th of February last, four soldiers belonging to capt. Charles Flemings company of the 7th Virginia Regiment had with him a bundle in a blanket, and a rifle. Joel Johnson, a low well set man, about 5 feet 5 or 6 inches high, wears his own dark hair and very large whiskers, full faced; had on a hunting shirt dyed black, fringed round the capes, ruffles, tail, and down the breast, belted with the skin of a rattlesnake, had with him a bundle in a blanket..."
The pension application of Frederick County Marylander Thomas White S31474 mentions he wore a black dyed hunting shirt "the clothes of the Regement was coloured black and was calld the Black Hunting Shirt Regement in the flying camps...his Colonel of the name of Shihawk [sic: Henry Shryock]".
Blue:
Indigo was cultivated as a dyestuff in Colonial America, particularly South Carolina, and was commonly available in the Colonies. For more information on dying with indigo look here.
Indigo dyed linen (link).
A deserter from Smallwood's Maryland Battalion was described wearing a "castor hat, blue hunting shirt, osnabrig trousers with five buttons at the ankles [overalls], and a short, light colored double breasted waistcoat" in the 10 August 1776 edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post (Katcher UCA p 89).
Thomas
Trap, Serjeant, 30 Years of Age, 6 Feet high, dark Hair, slim made,
pitted with the Smallpox, talks in a whining Manner; his Wife, who was
heavy with Child, went off with him. Philip Ragan, Corporal, 22 Years of
Age, 5 Feet 7 Inches high, brown Hair, speaks fierce, of a dark
Complexion. Brice Ragan, a Private, Brother to Philip, near his Size, 20
Years of Age, fair Complexion, of an agreeable Look. Henry Mace, a Private, 5 Feet 8 Inches high, well set, fair faced, had a blue hunting Shirt
when he went off; the Serjeant, Corporal, and Philip Ragan, carried off
their Regimentals of Blue with white Worsted Binding; they, with Mace,
were enlisted into Captain Alexander's Company, and may be taken in
Frederick County, Virginia. EIGHT DOLLARS Reward for each Man, to be
paid by
ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD, Col. 2d Virg. Reg. - Virginia Gazette (Dixon & Hunter), Williamsburg , September 5, 1777 .
Brown:
Detail from an apparently overdyed brown linen short coat or jacket. Connecticut Historical Society 1981.110.0
"Brown" linen in contemporary usage was natural colored or unbleached linen. At times this was enhanced or overdyed to be a darker brown than the light tan color of "brown" osnabrigs linen that was commonly used for hunting shirts. This brown overdye was likely most commonly achieved "tanning" by putting the shirt into a leather tanning vat (generally using oak bark to provide tannins).
In 1765, William Smith recommended frontier soldiers wear "a strong tanned shirt, short trowsers, leggins and mokawsons or shoe packs."(An Historical Account of Colonel Bouquet's Expedition Against the Ohio Indians in the Year 1764)
Virginia Gazette (Purdie & Dixon), Williamsburg , July 8, 1773.
" FIFTEEN POUNDS REWARD. RUN away from NEABSCO Furnace, two Convicts, and an indented Servant, belonging to the Honourable John Tayloe, Esquire, viz. JOSEPH LOVEDAY, from the West of England, about twenty three Years of Age, five Feet seven Inches high, of a ruddy Complexion, with sandy coloured Hair, a red Beard, a pretty smooth Face, very squeaking Voice, a large Scar on his Throat, and his Knee has been disjointed when he was a Boy, which makes him trail his leg when he walks. He went off some time last Fall, and was seen, I am lately told, about Mr. Zeen's Iron Works, in Frederick County; so that it is presumed he is still in that or some of the back Counties, and may be employed in the Farming or Team driving Business, which he professed, but is very ignorant of both. He carried with him a blue Fearnought and a white Cotton Jacket, long Trousers died brown with Tan Bark, and in other Respects was clothed as Servants commonly are."
Uniforms of the Philadelphia Associators, letter from Mary Morgan to her sister Anne Coale, May-June 1775.
"then there are the rangers Mr. Francis Capt, Uniform is tanned shirts with a Cape, a belt round their waists with a Tomyhawk sticking in it- some of them paint their faces and stick painted feathers in their heads, in short their aim is to resemble Indians as much as possible. " (Notes and Queries, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 10, No. 4, Jan., 1887)
Virginia Gazette (Purdie), Williamsburg , September 6, 1776.
DESERTED from the College camp, the 2d instant (September) a soldier who says his name is JOHN BOYD, born in New England, and a shoemaker by trade. He is about 30 years of age,
5 feet 9 or 10 inches high, and has some scars about his mouth; had on a brown hunting shirt fringed, and trousers of the same colour. He told some persons before he went off, that he was going to York town for a rifle, and some clothes that he said he left there. He had taken the place of a soldier
in my company the day he went away, and I expect he is either gone towards York or Fredericksburg. Whoever will deliver the said Boyd to my company of the second regiment shall receive 40 s. reward, paid by FRANCIS TAYLOR.
Green:
"General Observations upon dyeing" from the 1773 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (Vol 2 page 461) mentions "That although green be the most frequent and the most common of natural colours, yet there is no simple ingredient now used alone to dye green with upon any material; sap -green being the nearest, which is used by country people." The 1767 Instructor: Or, Young Man's Best Companion by George Fisher has a section on "Colours and Dying" that clarifies that "Sap-green...made of the Juice of Buck thorn Berries."
Schoolmaster John Guy's 1796 Miscellaneous Selections; or, the rudiments of useful knowledge mentions that "Green colours are to be produced only by a mixture of blue and yellow...it is common first to dye the cloth blue with indigo,and then yellow with any yellow colouring ingredient; by which means a green colour is produced." For further discussion on greens, look here.
"A regiment from Virginia lay in York. I prevail'd on my mother to make me a hunting shirt and trousers, green with yellow fringe. Thus equip'd I was constant with this Virginia encampment.
Then men were in a poor condition to meet an enemy: old and young, rich and poor, all in brotherly bond, some with out shoes or stockings, some no coats, some with old muskets and some with fowling pieces,
however as they went on their journey, whear supplied by citizens who could spare them clothes and provisions..."Memoir of John Durang Pitssburgh 1966 p6 - Katcher's Uniforms of the Continental army p 169
The Virginia Gazette, January 19, 1776
Richmond, December 26, 1775
The above servant was lately seen in Williamsburg, in a hunting shirt with green trimmings, and said he had enlisted in a company at York town.
The Pennsylvania Gazette Philadelphia, August 22, 1776.
FIFTY SIX DOLLARS Reward. DESERTED, this morning, from Captain Copenhaver company, 2d Battalion of Riflemen, of Lancaster county, commanded by Colonel GREEN, the five following men, viz.
Balizer Bomgardner, about 32 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches high, well set, sandy coloured hair; had on a green frock and trowsers; took his arms and accoutrements with him. Adam Bomgardner, brother of the said Balizer, about 30 years of age, near 5 feet 10 inches high, black hair; had on a green frock and trowsers. Adam Tidler, about 20 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches high, stoops in his walk, sandy coloured hair; had on a green frock and trowsers; took his arms and accoutrements with him.Jacob Musser, about 20 years of age, near 5 feet 8 inches high, a Shoemaker by trade; had on a green frock and trowsers. John Toops, about 25 years of age, 5 feet 2 inches high, well set, black hair; had on a green frock and trowsers; was Drummer to the company.They were all of Hanover township, Lancaster county, neighbours to each other, had all received the advance money. - The said Balizer Bomgardner had entered in the place of another man, who paid him Ten Pounds for the same. - The arms and accoutrements were appraised in order to be paid for by the public. Whoever takes up said deserters, and delivers them at the camp, at Amboy, or secures them, so that they may be delivered to the Commanding Officers of said Battalion, shall receive for the said Balizer Bomgardner, the reward of Twenty four Dollars, and for each of the others Eight Dollars, and all reasonable charges, paid by THOMAS COPENHAVER , Captain.
Purple:
Purple could be achieved with maple bark and copperas (a green hydrated ferrous sulfate used especially in making inks and pigments), as well as imported logwood dyes.
"It is Expected that each Capt. will with all Expedition Provide Legins for his men & hunting shirts Dyd of a purple Coulour" (Orderly Book of the 2d Virginia Regiment, October 27, 1775)
Virginia Gazette or, Norfolk Intelligencer (Duncan), Norfolk , June 15, 1775.
" RUN away from the subscriber the 20th instant, (May 1775) a convict servant man named GEORGE NEWTON, a farmer, born in Yorkshire, imported in the Justitia this spring; a stout man about 6 feet high, much freckled, a very red beard, walks clumsily, has a scar on the fore part of his head and some on his left arm, said to be occasioned by shot, he has been in some office about the custom-house in London. He took with him two oznabrig shirts almost new, one of them lately dyed of a purple colour with maple bark and copperas, a pair of trowsers of thin dutch or oznabrigs very narrow for him, a bound felt hat, a pair of old country made shoes, a jacket without sleeves, when new was of a claret colour (much worn) he stole a white linen shirt, stock and brass stock buckle, one pair of new worsted hose mixed brown and white, one pair of white yarn stockings; he may have stole other clothes..."
Yellow:
Yellow could be achieved with Hickory bark.
"In the year1776 belonged to a Company of militia composed of Young men, natives of America of good character and standing Commanded by Capt. Peter Mantz, Adam Grosh first Lieut., and Peter Adams second Lieut., natives and residents of Frederick-Town Maryland. A Hunting shirt, dyed yellow with Hickory bark, Pantaloons of the same, a pair of Indian Legons of gran [green?] cloth with a piece of Bearskin over the crown of the hat: armed with a good Rifle and Tomahawk, shot pouch & powder horn thus armed and accoutred, we took up the line of march about the 1st of June for the City of Annapolis..." S31960 John Shellman
1777 Va Gazette
Twenty Dollars Reward
For apprehending John O'Neal, who deserted from Winchester the 3d instant. He is about 5 feet 9 inches high, stout made, and wears a yellow hunting shirt. He was enlisted by col. Neaville, and served some time at fort Pitt. Since his desertion I have been informed he enlisted with capt. Craghorn of the 8th regiment, and was left sick at Williamsburg when that company marched to New York, and that he has received the bounty of several recruiting officers besides myself.
Matthew Smith
1st Virginia Regiment Winchester, April 15, 1777
