Readers are always asking me questions regarding which is which when it comes to Regency era coaches. Today, I am offering a short primer.
Barouche, Gig, Curricle, and Phaeton are types of 18th & 19th-century horse-drawn carriages, differing in wheels (two vs. four), number of horses, and design, with Barouche a large four-seater open carriage with a folding hood, Curricle a light, two-wheeled vehicle for two horses, Gig a lighter, often single-horse two-wheeled carriage, and Phaeton a sporty, open four-wheeled carriage for owner-drivers, known for its high perch and instability.
- Wheels: Four.
- Design: A large, open carriage with seats for four, a separate driver’s seat, and a folding hood, but only covering the rear passengers, leaving the front open.
- Key Feature: A large, elegant carriage for social outings, often pulled by four horses.
- Wheels: Two.
- Design: A light, open carriage for two, notable for being pulled by a pair of perfectly matched horses.
- Key Feature: A fashionable but potentially dangerous vehicle, popular with young gentlemen.
- Wheels: Two.
- Design: A small, light vehicle, often for one or two people, used by doctors and others for practical travel.
- Key Feature: Simpler and cheaper than a curricle, sometimes built to resemble one but usually pulled by a single horse.
- Wheels: Four, with smaller front wheels.
- Design: An open, lightweight carriage for the owner-driver, with a high seat and often no side protection.
- Key Feature: Sporty, fast, and sometimes unstable, named after the mythical Phaethon; came in high-perch (risky) and lower (safer) styles.
An Aside: Here in the Charlotte, NC area, we have a local weather man [FOX network] whose name is Ted Phaeton. I imagine I am one of the few who spell his last name correctly, and do not get me going on Southern pronunciations of his name!
“The Redcoats proceeded to pillage from Berkeley to Richmond. While at Berkeley, Arnold’s men built a bonfire of all the Harrison family portraits and took rifle practice using his cows. They were repaid on October 19th, when the British Army surrendered at nearby Yorktown, effectively ending the Revolutionary War.” (
“He served in the Continental Congress from 1775 to 1777, where he worked on the committees that supervised supplies of ammunition and military stores for the Army. During the war, the British burned and wrecked Morrisania. Lewis would spend many years after the war rebuilding his estate. Morris then served in the New York Legislature from 1777 to 1790. He was also a Major General of the New York State Militia during the Revolutionary War. In 1787, Lewis’s brother, Gouverneur Morris wrote much of the final draft of the US Constitution. Lewis attended the convention in Poughkeepsie, NY, to determine if New York would accept the Constitution. Thanks largely to Lewis Morris’s efforts, a narrow vote of 30 in favor to 27 opposed, was achieved, bringing New York into the union as the 11th state.” (
After three years at William and Mary, Jefferson decided to read law under Wythe, one of the preeminent lawyers of the American colonies. There were no law schools at this time; instead aspiring attorneys “read law” under the supervision of an established lawyer before being examined by the bar. Wythe guided Jefferson through an extraordinarily rigorous five-year course of study (more than double the typical duration); by the time Jefferson won admission to the Virginia bar in 1767, he was already one of the most learned lawyers in America. Jefferson said of Wythe, “No man ever left behind him a character more venerated than George Wythe.” 
Jefferson was tall and thin, but athletic in build. He had red hair and was known to be shy. He was said to be no “public” speaker, but his ability to compose written works was exemplary. He was a diplomat and an architect. He invented the first swivel chair. Beside designing Monticello, he also designed his own tomb. He played the violin. He cultivated tomatoes in a time when others thought them to be poisonous. He also planted extensive vineyards when many thought the American soil would not tolerate the vines. He enjoyed the study of archaeology and developed a better lock and key system. Jefferson was a student of climates and was constantly making measurements and recording the data. He invented a portal writing desk (which he used to draft the Declaration of Independence).
Thomas Jefferson was one of the earliest and most fervent supporters of the cause of American independence from Great Britain. He was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1768 and joined its radical bloc, led by Patrick Henry and George Washington. In 1774, Jefferson penned his first major political work, “A Summary View of the Rights of British America,” which established his reputation as one of the most eloquent advocates of the American cause. A year later, in 1775, Jefferson attended the Second Continental Congress, which created the Continental Army and appointed Jefferson’s fellow Virginian, George Washington, as its commander-in-chief. However, the Congress’s most significant work fell to Jefferson himself.
These prices were not incremental. To purchase a promotion, an officer only had to pay the difference in price between his existing rank and the desired rank. [Goldsmith, Jeremy (May 2007), “A gentleman and an officer – Army commissions”, Family Tree Magazine, 23 (7), pp. 10–13.]
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