Hunting Shirts Symbol Analysis

Throughout her book, Vowell uses the image of freezing Patriot soldiers in hunting shirts to symbolize the Americans’ persistence against impossible odds during the Revolutionary War. Whereas the British had the resources to buy warm, matching uniforms for their troops, Americans had to stand and fight in whatever they had on hand. Lafayette often wrote to his wife, Adrienne, about how shabby the Patriots looked, but he was not alone in being shocked by this lack of proper clothing. In fact, he and his French colleagues were often the only people offering military gear to the bedraggled Patriot forces. Yet the Americans’ willingness to continue fighting in such demoralizing conditions impressed Europeans even more than their (rare) military victories, as this resilience showed how far Americans were willing to go in their quest for independence.

On the one hand, then, the hunting shirts represent Patriot soldiers’ intense desire to defend democracy, even when that meant going up against a much wealthier and more powerful army. But on the other hand, the image of these torn shirts recalls the degree to which the United States depended on France for victory. Patriot troops had enough grit and determination to impress more powerful allies, but without those allies’ help, the American army would have been too cold to achieve much of anything.