The birth of the Ottoman state is shrouded in legend. Whatever the truth of its origins, the Ottoman's formed an Empire which almost succeeded in bringing Christian Europe to its knees. During the last decades of the 13th century, the ambitious Osman Bey's tiny mountain state took eight frontier castles plus the Turkish town of Eskisehir. In 1299 Osman seized Yenisehir after working up the Kara Su valley. With this as its first real capital, the Ottoman state emerged into history poised above the fertile shores of the Sea of Marmara.
During the period 1775-78, General Washington commanded three separate armies: the New England Army of 1775; the one-year army of the United Colonies, renamed Army of the United States in July 1776; and the forces established by the Continental Congress to serve for three years from January 1777, or for the duration. In this, the first of two studies by Marko Zlatich (Men-at Arms 290 continues the treatment, covering the period from 1779-83), the systems used by state and Continental authorities to procure clothing materials, the quantities they obtained and the specifications of the uniforms themselves are all examined in detail. Men-at-Arms 273, 285, 289, 290 and 292 are also available in a single volume special edition as 'Soldiers of the Revolutionary War'.
Initially British officials were reluctant to accept the offers of loyal subjects to form fighting units but eventually the potential of a Provincial corps was realized. Yet they never received the whole-hearted support of the British regular army and this was a factor in their evental defeat. Nonetheless the Provincial Corps served with distinction – even fighting against the Spanish in Nicaragua and the Bahamas – and some remained in service for several more years by relocating to Canada. This book examines their experiences in this continental conflict and details their uniforms and equipment.