George Washington's Uniform
date: label: Date made
content: 1789
label: associated date
content: 1780 - 1785
name: label: wearer
content: Washington, George
notes: label: Description
content: This uniform consisting of coat, waistcoat, and knee breeches was worn by George Washington from 1789 until his death in 1799. The "small clothes," or breeches and waistcoat, date from the revolutionary period. The coat dates to 1789.
label: Description
content: Washington ordered a new coat, with plain yellow metal buttons and a rise-and-fall collar that was popular in the 1790s, to pose for life portraits during this period. He wears this uniform in a watercolor portrait on ivory painted by John Ramage in 1789, and in John Trumbull's famous 1790 painting of him at Verplanck's Point in New York.
label: Description
content: Notably, he also wore this uniform when he reviewed troops called up in response to the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794 and when he visited Philadelphia on Provisional Army duty in December 1798.
label: Description
content: Washington devised the blue and buff colors of the uniform while serving at the Second Continental Congress in 1775, just prior to being named Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. In commemoration of his vision, these colors remained the accepted pattern for U.S. Army uniforms until the beginning of the Civil War.
label: Description
content: This uniform was initially donated to the Columbian Institute; in 1841, it was transferred to the National Institute and housed in the Patent Office. It came to the Smithsonian in 1883 from the Patent Office collection, and has been on display almost continuously. (From the years 1942 to 1944, during World War II, the Smithsonian packed up many of its treasured artifacts, including this uniform, and sent them to the Shenandoah Valley for safekeeping.)
place: label: used in
content: United States: Virginia
topic: label: Subject
content: Presidents
label: related event
content: Revolution and the New Nation
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: National Treasures exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: Price of Freedom
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Kendrick, Kathleen M. and Peter C. Liebhold. Smithsonian Treasures of American History
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AF.16148
label: accession number
content: 13152
label: catalog number
content: 16148
objectType: label: Object Name
content: coat
label: Other Terms
content: coat; Man; Army; General Officer; Officer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wool (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 72 in x 36 in x 36 in; 182.88 cm x 91.44 cm x 91.44 cm