Quote Originally Posted by cajunscot View Post
I would call them "facings", Ron. Facing colours were used in the British Army to distinguish units by assigning different colours which were used on the collars, cuffs, etc. In the US Regular Army, piping was used in branch-of-service colours:

sky blue (later white for a time): infantry
red: artillery
yellow: cavalry
orange: signal corps

Of course, state militias frequently adopted their own uniforms which did not follow the regular army's dress regulations, especially "chum and chowder" units.

Regards,

Todd
Yep. The over all uniform is an odd one. They took bits and pieces of things that they liked and put them all together to make it. I wish I could sit down and talk with the people that designed it.