The British seemed to distribute it with the protections and pardons, perhaps as a popular mode of disseminating their principles.

Moultrie somewhere tells a ludicrous anecdote of some Americans (prisoners on parole) who were nearly cut to pieces by a party of their countrymen, in consequence of their scarlet jackets.

They had taken the precaution to dye them with some native roots, but the dye had disappeared, leaving the original color nearly as vivid as before.
According to Weems, Marion made rather a theatrical display on taking command of his brigade.

He swore them in a circle upon their swords, never to yield the contest until they had secured their own and the liberties of their country.

There is no authority for this statement, either in the work of James, in the MS.