Stature variation in the British American colonies: French and Indian war records, 1755–1763

Personnel records kept by military units of American colonials during the French and Indian War (1755–1763) are analyzed for relationships between environmental factors and stature. A robust American economy and direct access to high‐quality food were apparently critical to tallness of this white American male sample. American‐born men were taller at all ages than those who had migrated from Europe. January temperatures, rural versus urban birth, and ethnicity also showed stature relationships within the American‐born group; thermal effects were by far the strongest of the non‐nutritional factors.