red uniforms:

Red uniforms were just too easy to hit under those conditions


Interesting, Rhuby...I was ruminating this point just last night while watching a historical film about the Seven Years War. I was wondering when did the British Army become the Redcoats, and who decided that wearing red in the days of open-field warfare was a good idea? Wearing that color was like having a bullseye hanging around your neck despite the notorious inaccuracy of the weapons of the day (which gave true meaning to the term "pot-shot"). Surely they must've realized that green or brown uniforms would have blended in with the background more and made the marching ranks a far more difficult target. Or did they value so little the lives of the enlisted men in those days that they just didn't care? (although the officers wore the same color) Does anyone know the history of the British Army adopting red uniforms as their rule of dress?