“A NUMBER of senior officers of the Navy of the United States, having suggested certain alterations in the established ‘Uniform Dress’, which in their opinion, would greatly conduce to the convenience and comfort of the officers, and still retain an appearance equally elegant and consistent the following description of the Uniform Dress for officers of the Navy of the United States is substituted for that hitherto established and is to take effect on the first day of January 1814, to which, all officers therein designated, are ordered to conform.” That there were changes in the uniform of the Navy is indicated by the preamble to the “Regulations for the Uniform and Dress of the Navy of the United States” approved by Secretary of the Navy William Jones on 23 November 1813. Military costume tends to have a similarity in all countries at any one period.

Contemporary portraits indicate that the modifications of military costume in Europe brought about changes in the dress of the United States Navy even before the 1813 order was released. The cocked hat was generally replaced by the chapeau de bras, and long trousers took the place of breeches, stockings and shoes. The change in military costume was a partial reflection of the changes in civilian costume of the period. The early 19th century was a period of changing military dress, for most European countries were involved in a series of wars growing out of the French Revolution and the establishment of the French Empire under Napoleon. Officers of the United States Navy during the War of 1812 were governed by two distinct uniform instructions, those of 1802 and a new order issued in 1813.

Us navy during the war of 1812