When the Mounted Police wore U.S. Army uniforms.
The NWMPolice made their famous march west from FT Dufferin in 1874 (located on the west side of the Red River on the Canadian side of the border, straight south of Winnipeg). They were issued one tunic, one pair of trousers, one pair of boots and gauntlets, Two hats (one pill box and one pith helmet) plus overcoat etc.
By the time that they reached southern Alberta their uniforms were mostly wore out. Some had rags tied around their boots to keep the sole and uppers together. It would be the following spring before replacement uniforms would arrive.
The U.S. Army from Ft Benton and Ft Shaw (Ft Shaw is located NW of Great Falls) either loaned or sold U.S. Army kit to the mounted police to tide them over until spring.
The following year (1875) when Major Macleod (he wasn't a LCol until he became Commissioner) sent James Walsh to the Cypress Hills to establish a fort to control the whiskey trade, they said that when the troop left Ft Macleod they looked more like a U.S. Army troop pulling out. Their NWMP uniforms were stored in trunks and being saved for official and light duties. They wore parts of the U.S. uniforms as a fatigue outfit.
While building the fort in the Cypress Hills there was a serious confrontation with a Sioux war party while the Mounties were wearing parts of the U.S. uniforms but then, that is a Saskatchewan story.
Source: Sitting Bull's Boss - Above the Medicine Line with James Morrow Walsh by Ian Anderson.
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