In the painting "surrender of Cornwallis" Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens, Walter Stuart, and Nicholas fish are all shown wearing top hats instead of tricorn hats. Were top hats used by the American revolutionaries in their military dress or is this an inaccuracy?

by raistlin1219
TRB1783

They were not. Trumbull had the rather unfortunate tendency to paint his subjects in the style of the HIS day, not theirs. Thus, his subjects often appear with VERY high collars, tophats, bicorns, and other things not seen during the Revolution.

Source: Don Troiani, Soldiers of the American Revolution