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malthar76 t1_ixzc04k wrote

Reply to comment by _Dead_Man_ in Simple/Short/Silly History Questions Saturday! by AutoModerator

Regular hessian mercenaries wore blue uniform coats, Jaeger rifle units wore green coats.

In the American Revolution, the British also hired mercenaries from Brunswick and other German states. Some other uniform differences could have come that way too.

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_Dead_Man_ t1_iy0qh2j wrote

What makes the jaeger corps stand apart from regular hessians?

I'm designing a character and I want to give him a green coat but I wanna know what that would mean for him.

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malthar76 t1_iy0x8b0 wrote

Hessen-Kassel provided the British fifteen regiments of infantry, each with five companies of men, four grenadier battalions and two companies of Jäger (known as chasseurs or sharpshooters in English).[8] The Jäger in particular were in high demand.[9] Jäger, a German word that translates to “hunter” and can be used as both a singular and plural word, were recruited from huntsmen and foresters who were skilled in the use of rifled weapons normally used to hunt boar.[10] They were skilled shots, self-sufficient in battle, and swift, able to efficiently load and fire a rifle, a skill which took greater dexterity than firing the muskets of the day. Most importantly, they were valiant.

https://allthingsliberty.com/2015/05/the-hessian-jagerkorps-in-new-york-and-pennsylvania-1776-1777/

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shantipole t1_iy188o6 wrote

The really short version is that blue coats indicated regular infantry armed with smoothbore muskets--your classic "let's stand in a couple of lines and shoot until one side gives up"--while the green coats were for skirmishers armed with rifles who acted as a screen, sharpshooters, etc.

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