The phrase “paint the town red” most likely owes its origin to one legendary night of drunkenness. In 1837, the Marquis of Waterford—a known lush and mischief maker—led a group of friends on a night of drinking through the English town of Melton Mowbray. The bender culminated in vandalism after Waterford and his fellow revelers knocked over flowerpots, pulled knockers off of doors and broke the windows of some of the town’s buildings. To top it all off, the mob literally painted a tollgate, the doors of several homes and a swan statue with red paint. The marquis and his pranksters later compensated Melton for the damages, but their drunken escapade is likely the reason that “paint the town red” became shorthand for a wild night out. Still yet another theory suggests the phrase was actually born out of the brothels of the American West, and referred to men behaving as though their whole town were a red-light district.(history.com). The origins of phrases continues to be a fascination for me.

As long as we are on the "Red Theme," might as well throw in "The Lobsterbacks" of the American Revolutionary War.

Term used by American colonists used to mock british soldiers. Unlike the term lobster, which refers to the British soldiers' bright red uniforms, "lobsterback" refers to the scars on the soldiers' backs. Whipping or flogging was common in the British army, and used for pretty much any disciplinary problems. Almost all British troops had scars from numerous lashings.

Patriot: Nice scars, lobsterback.
British Soldier: Go to hell.

The red coats were adopted in 1645 by the Parliamentarians (also known as Roundheads; those who wanted to limit the power of the monarchy) in the English Civil War when a professional Army was formed under the name of the New Model Army. Previous to this armies were essentially part-time militias and lacked the discipline and manoeuvrability of a professional army. Foot soldiers in the New Model Army were equipped with red coats.
The reason that the colour red was used is due to competitive pricing needed to dress this new professional army. At the time Venetian Red was the least expensive dye to buy.

This also had the advantage of making your forces visible. This was before modern warfare, armies would line up and just sort of fire into each other. The Red color is easily visible and meant their troops could be seen in low light, through haze, and other such conditions easier. When guns became a big thing, this was very useful because blackpowder leaves white clouds of smoke everywhere. We will finish with Bruce Springsteen's stirring rendition of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."

Santa