making sacrifices so heavy. In the backward parts of the colonies
the population was densely ignorant and had little grasp of the
deeper meaning of the patriot cause.

The army was, as Washington himself said, "a mixed multitude."
There was every variety of dress. Old uniforms, treasured from
the days of the last French wars, had been dug out. A military
coat or a cocked hat was the only semblance of uniform possessed
by some of the officers. Rank was often indicated by ribbons of
different colors tied on the arm. Lads from the farms had come in
their usual dress; a good many of these were hunters from the
frontier wearing the buckskin of the deer they had slain.
Sometimes there was clothing of grimmer material. Later in the
war in American officer recorded that his men had skinned two
dead Indians "from their hips down, for bootlegs, one pair for
the Major, the other for myself." The volunteers varied greatly
in age. There were bearded veterans of sixty and a sprinkling of
lads of sixteen. An observer laughed at the boys and the "great
great grandfathers" who marched side by side in the army before
Boston. Occasionally a black face was seen in the ranks. One of
Washington's tasks was to reduce the disparity of years and
especially to secure men who could shoot. In the first enthusiasm
of 1775 so many men volunteered in Virginia that a selection was
made on the basis of accuracy in shooting. The men fired at a
range of one hundred and fifty yards at an outline of a man's
nose in chalk on a board. Each man had a single shot and the
first men shot the nose entirely away.

Undoubtedly there was the finest material among the men lounging
about their quarters at Cambridge in fashion so unmilitary. In