“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of
Israel, and bid them that they make themselves fringes in the borders of their
garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the
borders a ribband of blue – that ye may look upon it and remember all the
commandments of the Lord and do them – that ye may remember and do all my
commandments, and be holy unto your God.”
Numbers 15:37-39
How did the DAR arrive at the colors of blue and white on a moire’
sash? Did our sash originally have a
reference to the ribband of blue found in those verses from Numbers? I will give you a hint. Yes.
The reference to the ribband of blue does have significance to our forefathers.
To
get a complete picture, we must start with the colors. The DAR’s colors of blue and white were
chosen at the second official DAR meeting of October 18, 1890 in honor of the
uniforms of George Washington’s staff.
The blue color is easily traced whereas a reference to the color of white
is not.
The color blue stems back to coats worn during the Colonial Wars.
Sometimes the provincial troops were provided the red coats of the British, and
sometimes they wore plain clothes. The
blue was selected for other troops by the provincial authorities and was the
prominent coat color of the different provincial troops. George Washington’s uniforms, from 1756-1763 when
as Colonel of the Virginia foot regiments, were blue and buff.
As tensions with Great Britain
grew, the colonies began to organize men into companies. The minutemen being the most famous of these
companies. On September 21, 1774, “a
Number of Gentlemen and Freeholders of Fairfax County in the Colony of
Virginia” formed a company and chose as their uniforms “a regular Uniform of
Blue, turn’d up with Buff; with plain yellow metal Buttons, Buff Waist Coat and
Breeches, and White Stockings…” Even
though Washington was not in attendance at this meeting as he was in
Philadelphia as a delegate to the First Continental Congress, his step-grandson
and adopted son, George Washington Parke Custis, later stated that Washington
himself selected the uniform. George Washington himself in talking about the
buff color with a tailor wanted to ensure that the buff was not on the yellow
side. As one author stated, “Little did
Washington realize that blue and buff would remain in his wardrobe for the rest
of his life and would come to symbolize for future generations of Americans not
only his own public service and sacrifices as a citizen-soldier, but also those
of his Revolutionary compatriots.”
Not long after the beginning of
the American Revolution and the organization of the American Army, blue became
the prescribed color for coats. The
adoption of blue and buff was clearly by design. These were the “ancient Whig Colours of
England.” The reason assigned for the
adoption of this color is that it had always been the insignia of the Whigs,
the Covenanters having adopted that color from the history of the ancient
Israelites, who were enjoined to put upon the fringe of their garments a
ribband of blue. The term "Whig" is of Scotch origin, and was given
to those English politicians who manifested opposition to the Court (the Tory
government then in Power. The colonists’
position aligned with the position of the Whigs. Orange or buff and dark blue
were also the insignia of Holland, and the particular shade of dark blue which
was prescribed as the regulation color for coats of the American Army was
called "Dutch Blue."
Even though many colonies strove to properly dress their respective
regiments, there was no regulation for uniforms; therefore, uniforms among the
officers varied with individual preferences.
Washington’s aides-de-camp as well as many of the officers adopted the
blue and buff combination. Washington
himself requested that the uniforms of his Life Guard be blue and buff. Soon, blue and buff became widely used as the
uniform of the Continental Army’s officers and certain regiments although still
unofficial.
The ribband or sash originated for a different reason. When Washington reached Cambridge on July 4,
1775, he found a group of ragged, non-uniformed men in clothing that
represented their work with the plow, shop, or masthead. He also noted that the generals and staff
were not receiving the military recognition due with respect to rank. On July 10, he issued the order that the
officers and their Aids-de-Camp would be distinguished by a Ribband worn across
his breast, between his Coat and waistcoat.
The Commander in Chief wore a light blue ribband, the majors and
Brigadier General wore a pink ribband, and the Aids-de-Camp wore a green
ribband. It just so happens that four
days earlier, Washington had decided on this course of action for himself and
had purchased “a Ribband to distinguish myself 3/4 [3 shillings and four
pence].” Washington’s light blue ribband
appears to have been made of broad moire’ or watered silk as depicted by
several portraits of George Washington.
Hence, we now see where the use of moire’ for the DAR sash and the sash
worn across the chest originated.
The only reference to white as part
of his staff’s uniforms comes from June 1780 when orders were finally published
that officially prescribed the uniform and insignia of generals in the Continental
Army to consist of: “…a blue coat with Buff facings and lining, yellow buttons,
buff facings and lining, yellow buttons, white or buff under cloaths, two
Epaulettes, with two stars [for major generals, while brigadier generals had
but one star – Washington alone had three stars] upon each.”
Could it be that since buff can be
considered a version of the color white that the buff as white was the intended
color? What about the blue? In looking at the ribbons on display at
Headquarters, the colors are different than what we wear today. I asked the
NSDAR Archivist for their help in this mystery.
Here is their response, “According to records from the October 18, 1890
meeting, DAR originally picked the colors of dark blue and white. As you
have noted, at some point the dark blue was changed to the lighter peacock blue
that DAR now uses. We haven’t found any documentation that explains this
change, but we do know that it occurred early in DAR’s history. All of
the sashes are in the peacock shade of blue, as do the early DAR rosettes that
were used at the first Congress in 1892. As far as I know, since 1892 the
colors have been the same. Sometime between October 18, 1890 and the
first Congress in February 1892 the color of blue was changed from dark blue to
the peacock blue we now know. “
I also asked the Archivists when
the ribbands/sashes were first worn by the DAR.
They said, “We are not sure of the exact date that DAR officers began
wearing sashes, but it was around 1900. The first President General to appear
with a sash in a photograph was Cornelia Fairbanks (1901-1905).” For the SCDAR, that would mean that the first
state regent to wear a sash would have been Sara Aldrich Richardson State
Regent from 1900-1906.
Here is a perfect example of why
preserving our past is so important. One
little piece of information is not available that leads to unanswered questions
or assumptions based on the information we do have. Do not assume that information is not
important for future reference. You
never know when that information will be the answer to a question.
Thank you to the Office of
Historian General and the NSDAR Archivists for the information they provided!
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