Population of the Colonies in 1776 was about 2.5 million. Population at the beginning of the Civil War was around 30 million. Revolutionary war was not terribly organized into opposing forces with huge armies, but was mostly partisan fighting, with many small skirmishes. The Continentals did face off against British regulars on occasion, but these battles involved only thousands, not tens of thousands, mostly uniformed civil war combatants.
Most of the pop. in 1776 was east of the Appalacians, whereas the Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee valleys were well settled at the time of the War of Northern Aggression.
The Patriots and Loyalists fought in everyday wear, versus formal uniforms with all of the attachments, most of the time. The British lost parts of their uniforms, and those seem to show up more regularly, and mostly mid east coast and northward, where the Brits in uniform spent most of the war.
Just my opinion.
Slow loading muzzle loaders in fights lasting minutes or hours, not days. All a matter of scale, I suppose.
