End of the year Hunt while talking to myself

 

    The day started off badly, head stuffed up fever coming on hard. You know the perfect way to spend in the cold yet wet woods. Late start so I got to my blind a little later then I’d have liked to but once I was settled in Sitting on my pack, blanket coat on and handkerchief at the ready I was set to go.

     I sat there as the world began to brighten up around me a virtual deer highway of tracks 20 yards away and contemplated the important questions in life. How much mucus can a human skull possibly hold and can deer hear the high pitch sound of your skull decompressing after you’ve blown your nose? The questions important to life.

                After a few hours of this it became abundantly clear it was going to be one of those days. The days you don’t see anything, no squirrels, not a song bird to be heard. Just the high pitch squealing in my skull and the occasional muffled sneeze into a handkerchief from yours truly. The days where the woods seem creepily devoid of life. The only other noise was the dripping of melting snow off the trees as the temperatures climbed back up way above freezing.

                I spent the rest of the morning walking the main camp road looking for any sign of fresh tracks but everything was at least a day or two old. I headed into the brush at the back of the camp but again no noise, no fresh tracks nothing but melting snow and stifled coughing. I figured I’d check out “the turn table” and sit for a while. As I made my way there, I did see a number of fresh coyote tracks. That could be the culprit. Coyotes have become a problem here in the past few years ao maybe I need to set some snares on my next long weekend to try and get rid of a few of these trouble makers.

                As I walked up to the area, I was thinking of setting up in something told me to do a quick circle of the potential blind. As I cleared a little hump the woods in front of my lit up. The ground was covered in fresh tracks and signs of bedding down deer.  I walked a few yards further and then to my left I could see tails pop up and head away from me to the left. I knew that route headed towards a gulley that would pop out a few hundred yards to my right so I quickly hustled my way to the end of the funnel.

                I got to the edge of the funnel and got down on a spot with a relatively good view of the trail below me. I was there only a few minutes when I heard noise coming from behind me on the right. I could see quick glimpses off two deer in the brush coming my way. While I was watching these two I could hear the other deer working their way through the funnel. But once again only quick glimpses.  I sat there frozen as the 5 or 6 deer around me worked there way towards the thick brush ahead of me. After an hour they worked there way into the brush and out of site. Never once getting a clear shot I stayed put for another hour hoping something would wander through.

                Well, I’d seen something so now my plan was to walk to another section of the camp and possibly just head home. I could tell my fever was in full effect now and I was starting to feel like I’d been run over by one of those deer. If I got to “the rock” Id think about making a fire and cooking something but I still wasn’t sure.  So, as I made my way out of the brush I tossed two birds nests I’d found in my pack for fire making material later.

About a half hour later I came up to where the trail splits while talking to myself about how much I hated coyotes at that particular moment. I froze I could hear some snow crunching ahead of me.  I told myself to sht up and slowly starting inching around the corner. 2 steps, pause and listen. More shuffling ahead of me. I scanned the trees towards the sound but nothing could be seen. I leaned against the last tree for a few yards and listened. There was something moving ahead of me but were.  In the middle of the trail was a large downed tree but that was it. I took a deep breath an stepped forward from the cover of the tree one step two steps and then freeze.  Behind the downed tree limbs there was clearly  a large doe standing and she was looking right at me.

I freeze and keep my eyes fixed on her. She seemed to be looking past me. I studied her and looked around for the fawns. I know I’ve said this before but I have criteria before I shoot a doe in late season. I wont shoot a doe with fawns especially this years fawns. I know its not an 18^th century mindset but I’m not hunting to survive. I don’t want to potentially kill three deer trying to get one. I’ll pass up deer all day long if I have to this is as much about learning skills for me as the actual hunt.

Then it happens another large doe stands up in front of that doe. Great no fawns but is one of these a buck who has already lost its antlers (its that time of year). I study each deer as closely as I can while scanning the rest of the tree for other deer. The closer deer steps a little closer to me and its clear it’s a doe. They are by themselves. I pull the gun up slowly put the sights on the spot behind the front shoulder and squeeze the trigger. The explosion breaks the silence, the doe drops and the other deer leaps out of the downed tree. I go into reloading automatically keeping my eyes fixed on the downed doe. Hand into pouch for measure and pre patched ball powder into measure and down barrel, ball onto barrel and started with pocket knife, rammed home with the ramrod all while watching that shape.

I waited a few more minutes before starting to walk up to the deer. I get there and she’s dead. The 40-yard shot had gone through both lungs and out the other side. Everything had gone right with my gear. Cows knee had kept the powder dry on this wet day walking through brush. The off season shooting made sure I hit my target in the exact spot I needed for a quick humane harvest. It also made sure that my reloading was quick and natural in case I had needed a second shot.  

I tagged and gutted the deer and then began my hike out to butcher the deer. After the initial adrenaline wore off I have to admit I felt 100% worse than I had before. So any thought of awesome 18^th century hunter in the snow pictures for Instagram likes was far in the backseat. I was able to clean this one without any new scars or injuries.

Ok so take aways…. When I gut a deer I pull its body up into a” high spot” head uphill and use my tumpline to secure at least the back leg. This allows me to focus on what I’m doing without having to keep wresting the leg out of the way (it acts like another set of hands)  Its also helpful if you are skinning a deer out completely on the ground.(picture is from a buck I show a few years ago like I said I really wasn’t in the spot for taking pics).

Second I love the wide strap on my new pouch.  It made it really easy to carry a pouch with 30 .58 ball in it didn’t notice it once. All my tony stuff holds up hunt after hunt shameless commercial posting I know but it does.  

Still a lot of winter hunting time left and I’m planning on venturing out with the dutchman at some point. I ended up with a pretty crazy fever last night that led to insane dreams of John Tanner laughing at me for being a wuss. But hey I got out in the woods for awhile and away from the weirdness off the interwebs so I’ll take it. Plus every time you shoot a deer while wearing a red stroud blanket coat an angel gets his library card.

Tis the season to Mess with the Dutchman...and for lock covers

 

The reason for the season...The Dutchman

Happy Feast of Duane Everyone! Its that time of year we all celebrate The Dutchman and his various miracles. One question I’ve received a number of times is about The Dutchman. To Answer them quickly: yes, he exists, yes, he is in on the joke and yes, I’m planning his eventual downfall. The reason I refer to him as “the dutchman” is because of his uber Teutonic last name, it’s alo because in looking at 18^th century narratives you often see people refer to others in their traveling party by their ethnicity. This was something I felt was lacking in the hobby and it annoyed him so hence “The Dutchman”.

                I’ve often seen folks looking for information on ethnicity in the 18^th century. You know the standard “I want to portray a Scottish firefighter in Lancaster” kind of posts. One good resource for these (and a great resource in general) is to simply check JSTOR for articles on a subject then mine the hell out of their bibliography for information. You can get a free JSTOR account and it gives you access to up to 100 articles a month. No this is not a sponsor Add it’s just something to help ppl avoid continually getting hooked into social media weirdness.

 For example to celebrate The Feast of Duane I looked up some Dutch stuff on JSTOR and came across the article “German Immigrant Problems in Eighteenth Century Pennsylvania as Reflected in Trouble Advertisements” Otto Pollak    American Sociological Review Vol. 8, No. 6 (Dec., 1943), pp. 674-684

Since I have a German Immigrant problem, I thought it might be useful. It was nice it looked at some runaway ads and other info from an 18^th century German Newspaper and translated them. Which was awesome because it led me back to a great book I’d forgotten about  Gottlieb Mittleberger's Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750 and Return to Germany in the Year 1754 (great book gives a basic how to on folks emigrating to Pennsylvania in the 1750’s. all kinds of great tidbits of info from farmer clothes to keeping horn spoons in your pocket for eating at Taverns)  The article also lit a light bulb in my head about trying to locate more articles on those German newspapers to see if any hunting shirt details might pop up. That’s the best part of casting a wide net in looking for information you learn a ton of useless stuff along the way and many times what’s important to you might just be a throw away piece of information to someone else.

Heating the tallow up and the lock cover. Same process I use for moccasins

One question I was asked recently was how I grease up my moccasins for winter. Since I’d already finished the process and forgot to take some pictures, I’m going to show the same process but on my Cows knee (lock cover) in honor of the Feast. First, I warm up the leather but letting the cover sit on a heater. I also set my tallow (or sno seal or bear grease) near the heat as well to soften it up. I then after Ive let the leather warm up for a while (like 30 minutes) I take a linen rag rub it on the sealant and then start to rub it into the leather like I was polishing a shoe. I repeatedly put more tallow on the rag as I work it into the leather. I really make sure to focus on any seams and work it in.  Once finished I lay it back on the heat again to let it “soak” into the leather further. Like I’ve stated a million times this is something that needs done especially after you get your moccasins dried out after a hunt. You gotta keep oils in the leather to help keep it from splitting and cracking. This is what leads to having to sew soles onto your favorite mocs.

Tallow soaked rag 

A trick I learned from the dutchman is save the linen you used to filter your tallow. This rag is permeated with tallow and a quick tool for dressing your mocs or even using as an impromptu lock cover.  I’ve also left in some details of my Lock cover in case someone would be interested in making one. These are a definite NEED to have item when hunting. This one was made by his Dutchness. The center seam is welted and the tie attaches to the triggerguard so it doesn’t get lost once I remove it. A great list of goods lost by a war party shows they were used by native hunters as well:

Near Knoxville in April 1794, twenty-five Indians repulsed in a skirmish left in their wake "a rifle gun, a scalping knife, 1 blanket, a French chapeau, 8 ramrods, and 8 gunlock covers".

"cows knee" or lock cover

Inside seam of lock cover

To continue my little tangent from last week about safety here is an excerpt from Lyman Draper that shows just how quickly a camping trip can go bad:

While Stringer was busy one day in preparing a fire for cooking some of their wild meat for a repast Cleveland spread his blanket on the ground beneath a cluster of large white oaks to rest himself and soon fell asleep. In a few moments he suddenly awakened in a startled condition. why he could not tell and casting his eyes into the treetops above he discovered a large limb directly overhead nearly broken off hanging only by a slight splinter to its parent stem. He said to his companion pointing to the object of his alarm” Look Reuben and see what an ugly thing we have camped under!” “ It has indeed an ugly appearance” replied Stringer “but since it has apparently hung a great while in that condition it may very likely do so a good while longer.” “Ah” said Cleveland” as long as it has hung there there is a time for it to come down and I will not be in the way of danger” and gathered up his blanket to spread it in a safer place. As he was passing the fire he heard a crack above the splinter had broken and the limb came tumbling down plunging its three prongs directly into the ground where Cleveland had but a moment before lain. They pulled over the fallen limb and found its prongs had penetrated into the earth to the depth of fourteen inches Stringer congratulated his comrade on his fortunate awaking and removal for he added in one minute more you would have been inevitably killed Ah Reuben said Cleveland who was very much of a fatalist I always told you that no man would die till his appointed time and when it comes there can be no possible escape.

Its funny that not checking for dead limbs is a criticism that natives had for european camps. And finally, to show that messing with Dutchmen is a timeless activity:

in the wilderness securing pelts and furs which found a ready market. The heads of the Dan Staunton and Pig rivers in the region that subsequently became Pittsylvania County was a favorite resort for hunters and here young Cleveland reaped his forest harvests. Fire hunting at that day was a very common mode of entrapping the deer in warm weather when they repaired to particular localities at night in shallow streams where they could find succulent food and be less exposed to tormenting insects.  The torchlights of the hunters would so dazzle the fated deer's attention that he would stand in amazement watching the strange light while the wary hunter had only to blaze away at its glaring eyes and bring down the stupid animal. There was an old Dutchman in that region who had a good stand for fire hunting and young Cleveland concluded he would scare him out of it Pealing some bark from a tree he placed it in the water so as to represent a counterfeit deer. The next night he hid himself nearby where he could watch operations. In due time the Dutch hunter made his appearance, fired on the supposed deer without apparently bringing him down then repeated his shot and still the deer remained unmoved. The Dutchman now becoming alarmed exclaimed Its” de duy vil”  and quickly abandoned that hunting ground Cleveland chuckling not a little over the success of his stratagem.

"Minutemen ex-officio" or Packing On the Run

 

Very Basic Pack for chasing war parties

So to keep ideas floating out there in the multiverse about Just what to carry for an Immersion event I’ve been going back thru some narratives to try and find the few times they actually mention carrying anything.  The stuff I’ve found or recalled all seems to focus on an idea that can apply to most scouts. You focus your gear on the three F’s Food, foot ware and Firearm.

                Col. John Graves gives a nice run down of the mentality of the guys who acted as the local ranging party: We were all minutemen ex-officio. A little parched corn kept in a little bag & some jerked Venison in another and a horse standing in the stable. When you seen a man coming all you wanted to know was where you were marching

                During one of these rescues Graves mentions a little more about his gear after he makes an attempt to kill a member of a war party : Leaving blanket, moccasins and all , I threw my tomahawk at him. *He missed

                Another young guy going on an “expedition” Named Nathaniel Hart mentions being given some bread before heading out and another party member noticed it and : I just handed him the bread and he put it in one end of the bag and the bacon in the other, he had bacon and no bread , I had bread and no bacon. So A bag with two separate sides? Sounds kind of Like a wallet to me? This is another account of a backcountry guy carrying foodstuffs in a wallet as opposed to a “haversack” almost like it’s a pattern or something. Yes, that’s sarcasm and “forage bag” is just bush crafter for haversack. Yeah, I said it.

                So a blanket, spare Moccasins and food. Not really much to play with there or overthink. Hart does talk about earlier in his frontier life a run in with natives and he recovered that natives packs or “Budgets” as he refers to them. He mentions they contain “all their things; a soup bowl made of cane splints, and so close that it would hold soup, a very pretty piece of workmanship; a piece of wire which was twisted so as to have a spring to it. And with which they drew their beards; looking glasses &c.”

                Mrs. John Mckkinney mentioned a fench man with a war party losing his pack: A Frenchman came up in about twenty steps of the door, and put two bullets, a double load, into the facing of the door…The Frenchman all the way out said he had killed a great big damned Englishman…he dropped his knapsack in the yard…it had three pair of moccasins besides other things in it. Every time I read that I have to wonder if that’s the same Old French hunter from the Illinois country I know. Gotta be Baptiste.

                More on the foot ware part of the equation Gerry Neilands turned up this gem about wearing multiple Moccasins in bad weather. It’s from Thomas Dudley at the battle of Frenchtown in January of 1813 : “after going a short distance he discovered my feet were suffering. Being without shoes and he having on two pair of moccasins, pulled off the outer pair and put them on my feet.”  This is one of those things I’d been leaning towards for a while but hadn’t seen anything solid on doing. Along the lines of Trabue’s Buffalo hide over mocs (think he wore bread bags under them?).  If you grease both sets of mocs and wear stockings/wrappers/chausons/deerhair or whatever in the inside moc this would be a great way of getting more water resistance out of your foot ware.  

Moccasins in Mocs. 

                If your looking for some rations for an event I know I’ve mentioned them before but a great consistent resource is the folks at Turkey Foot Traders  https://turkeyfootllc.com/

  They have parched corn and the salted bacon they sell holds up really well even on prolonged warm weather trips.

                Ive included a Picture of my “scout” pack. Its simply a smallish wallet that I carry extra stockings, a small leather bag with extra flints, tow and ball in. The small striped bag is a wallet tied in the center with jerk on one side and parched corn on the other. Rather then a canteen I carry a small bottle and a drinking kettle. The spare moccasins are wrapped in my blanket roll. Not a lot of stuff But I generally carry this set up when I’m just doing walks during the year. Gets me used to my pack and can cover a few days in the woods easily. I wont be super comfortable as if I had packed for a “campaign” but for an overnight trip its more then I need.

                To keep with the rescue party vibe, I’m also tossing in this excerpt from Thwaites. One of the common themes you see in these accounts is parties chasing war parties often had an idea of just where they were heading to to intercept them.  You see trailheads, River crossings and the like as being common targets for these guys. Its also the same spots you often see “spies” watching. These war parties like most 18^th century travelers used the rivers and roads to travel. They just didn’t head off in a random direction and hope they’d hit a settlement.  It’s like when taking my daughters trapping, I ask them if they should put the set along to trail or in the middle of that group of bushes? Where does the animal travel? The path of least resistance.  ( I mean they get it…).

                Reminiscences of Rev James Haynes W Meek lived on Indian Creek about 4 miles from its mouth opposite to which was Culbertson's Bottom with his wife & children & mother all taken prisoners by a party of eight Indians on the 3 of March 1781 M Haynes recollects the date from an old song about it Capt John Wood raised a party of some 10 men among them James Elliston David Frazier in the settlement & went in pursuit Two men were to meet the party at the mouth of Big Blue Stone with a canoe with which for the party to cross When the two men reached the mouth of Blue Stone they espied the Indians about making a raft the men undiscovered crept ashore & hid themselves after a little the Indians happened to see the canoe availed themselves of it & crossed the river New River there the two men thought it imprudent to fire upon the Indians & kept out of sight soon Capt Wood came up with his party constructed a raft & crossed followed on the trail discovered over night that they were close upon them next morning very foggy came upon the Indian camp could see the fires at a distance fired upon the Indians killed one the others fled one however turned & in the act of firing at Capt Wood he dodged as the gun flashed & escaped All the prisoners were thus rescued Where this rescue occurred was near the head of Paint Creek in the now County of Fayette.

                Finally, to show that backcountry folks didn’t normally just rush into danger and even the backcountry knew a thing or two about Military discipline here a nice little blurb from Cave Johnson. I like how he mentions using flankers without actually saying it.

Having understood from the spies that were sent to examine the neighborhood, and that they apprehended they might be waylaying that trace. The inhabitants…raised a company and undertook to examine that trace. They divided into three companies. One marched along the trace, the other two marched along the woods on each side. They found the Indians as they had expected, lying in ambush near the road, and, coming on their backs fired on them

Hope this gives you something to think about on the Flintlock Friday. I’m actually off work so I’m going to be watching Croatia hopefully beat Brazil, weave and debate with my internal demons on what project just NEEDS started that I should pull me away from the 100 other things I need to do. Three posts in a week…don’t get used to it my brain will start to follow a new rabbit down a rabbit hole soon.

"The shabby villain would be immediately detected” or How does one "ape" part 2

 

Breech cloth Worn By Caldwell

Caldwell Breech cloth,  its kinda gross

Wow so that last one got folks stirred up a bit. Got the blood flowing, vigorous debate, heated rhetoric, many Harumphs (I didn’t get a harumph from that guy). So rather then do a social media response post by post I’ll break down some of the comments and my responses to them as concisely as possible. I’ll try not to ramble, but I’m telling ya right now I’m going to ramble.

                Ok so first off, my man James Smith seemed to be a big go to. So, lets break down smith’s Clout life. Ok so he first wears one when he’s Adopted (he’s a mohawk now) Smith’s “black boys” all trying to look Native. The Virginia troops on Bouquet’s expedition were brought up, guys wearing Indian dress down to painting their shirts and raccoon caps (once again trying to look native) The only time smith is noted as possibly wearing a clout as a white man is when he’s on his hunt with “Black Jamie”.  “Been now eleven months in the wilderness…when I came into the settlement, my clothes were almost worn out, and THE BOY had nothing on him that was ever spun- buckskin leggings, moccasins, breechclout, a bear skin dressed with the hair on, and a raccoon skin cap…on suspicion, they therefore took me into custody.”

                That’s one detail I had missed for years, Jamie had on all the crazy stuff not smith. Smith is still frustratingly vague in just what he was wearing. What I like about this is pretty simple and straightforward, even in the backcountry YOU CAN LOOK TOO CRAZY.  The idea that all societal norms and ideas of how people dress isn’t completely tossed out the window.  This is a line of thinking you hear a lot from folks that just grates on my last nerve.

                Even when Smith is loaned a new shirt, hat and leggings (and frustratingly doesn’t mention the rest of his clothes) Him and Jamie are stopped and “make the dogs bark” on their journey. It isn’t until he gets better clothes and a horse that he is able to travel freely. “The shabby villain would be immediately detected”.

                The other universal comment was that Breechclouts were worn so that you saved your “regular clothes” from wearing out. Again this just doesn’t seem to Jive with the information. When for example you see folks being attacked working in a field or other farm work I have seen mentions of jackets, breeches tossed in to the narrative but nothing has ever stated straight up working in our clouts and shirts. Also the weakest part of this argument is rooted in the myth that all clothes were sacred.

                

Pa farmer 1786  Someone should tell him he needs to save his pants for town

       That somehow trousers and leather breeches the blue jeans of the period become irreplaceable one you cross a mountain. As I’ve pointed out here time and time again You see the estate inventories, purchases etc of frontier folks matching the regular working-class clothes of the common person. Why do these items continually pop up if they are so uncommon and special?

                One of the criticisms I hear is that I’m trying to rewrite history or other weirdness. The reason I post the information that I do is because it’s what turns up. If I found a new account of a hunter in a breechclout I’d post it in a second. Instead, when I find clothing references its not clouts. No matter how many squirrels I sacrifice at my Alter to Steve Rayner those anecdotes don’t just fall from the material culture gods. I’m looking for common, the boring, the mundane and then I try and share it with you weirdos. So we can all be boring together while we shoot stuff.

                Now here is why I love kicking hornets nests, Davis Tierney of Crockett’s Western Battalion posted some stuff from the Clark Papers I had not seen before in a response to my rambling mess:

June 12, 1780: Bottom left document. Capt. Robert George order to Capt. John Dodge to furnish Capt. Lieut. Harrison with 3 knives, 3 horn combs, 1 ivory comb, 4 yards of gartering, coating for [britch cloth], blankets, and white cloth for use of expedition of Capt. Harrison, who was also issued a feather and ink pot. The orders were agreeable to Col. George Rogers Clark.

June 12, 1780: Top document. Capt. Robert George order to Capt. John Dodge to issue 26 yards of stroud to make as many pair of leggings and britch cloth for 26 men of Capt. Richard Harrison co., who were going on expedition up the Ohio [River]. Order was agreeable to George Rogers Clark. Capt. George also requested 26 knives, 52 shirts, 1 ink pot, 1 bridle and thread. Capt. George certified the names of soldiers, who were to receive the items. Names: John Walker, William More, Lazarus Ryan, Laurence Kineon?, Phil Long,

6029-4-261-262-June 12, 1780-Continued: Philip Hupp, ?, Taylor, William White, Bostin Damer, Michael Washeton?, David Kennedy, Daniel Baber, Michel Finkler?, Valentine Bolinskler, John Oakley, Isham Floyd, Edmond Fair, John Megarr, Patrick Marr or Moss, Patrick McCally, Abraham Miller, William Freeman, George Smith, Drury Bush, Jacob Wheat, and John Bush.

June 12, 1780: Top document. Capt. Robert George order on behalf of George Rogers Clark to Capt. John Dodge to give 1 knife, 1 ivory comb, 1 horn comb, white material for leggings, material for britch cloth, bath coating, gartering, blankets for use of the expedition up the River. Names: Sergeant Samuel Smyth.

June 12, 1780: Bottom document. Capt. Robert George order to Capt. John Dodge at Fort Jefferson to issue 2 pair of trousers, cloth for 2 waist coats, 2 breeches, 1 britch cloth, 1 blanket, 1 ink stand, 1 knife, 1 coarse comb, 1 fine comb, and 1 bridle. Verso indicated William Shannon received contents and as well as 5 yards of check linen and blue bath coating. Names: William Clark.

July 20, 1780: Second document. Capt. Robert George order to Capt. John Dodge at Fort Jefferson to issue Laurence Keinan 1 pair of leggings, 1 britch cloth, and 1 handkerchief and the same to inhabitant Mr. Archer, who had been employed with dispatches to Col. Montgomery.

August 6, 1781: Third document. Ohio River Camp McMahon list of blankets, shirts, leggings, britch cloth, knives and jackets issued to companies of Capt. Archer and Capt. Johnston. Names: John carmichael.

Top document. George Rogers Clark at mouth of the Kentucky [River] order to Major George Walls to issue 4 white shirts, 4 pairs of leggings and 4 britch cloth to 4 men of Major Slaughter Corps.

August 19, 1781: Bottom document. George Rogers Clark order to Major George Walls to issue britch cloth, leggings, and hunting shirts. Verso has reference to blankets, 24 yards of cloth and 4 yards of white cloth. Names: Capt. William Cherry, Major George Walls.

November 7, 1781: Top document. George Rogers Clark order to Major George Walls to issue 3 pair of leggings, britch cloth and [knapsacks] to man going on express. Names: ? Pittman.y

 

"Crockett's Battalion would like to point out the weirdo on the end isnt with us."

                Ok cool New info (to me at least) My initial response is this. This was part of my “conspiracy board” I left out to keep it simple.  This falls into Military clothing for me. A quick easy way to uniform guys, like hunting shirts. For example we know not all the guys on Forbe’s campaign went out with the Native parties but the initial idea was to make “Indians” of the provincials and it kind of took off from there. HOWEVER that’s just spit balling I don’t know the entire CONTEXT of how/why Clark was doing what he was doing in these citations. A lot of good info there and something to think about. I mean they do mention White leggings and we all know that’s crazy talk right there.

                The ultimate “shut up old guy” response from Davis was a broadside that stated “"The Virginian back Woods Men have a very good Reason for their hunting shirts, for as they wear no Breeches, Decency requires that their upper Dress should be of this Form " Yeah I should have had that quote in my Doddridge circle on the board. I even had it in a file.

**This is not directed at Davis BTW I’m pumped for his info** BUT…here is the problem. I’ll go through and post 20 references to the other garments and examples of people wearing them and I’ll get this or Doddridge tossed back as a rebuttal every time.  Or more often than not just get the “they were Illiterate” or “BUT it was what they wore” nonresponse responses. My whole point of this is to get people to Think outside off the box. Really look at the information and break it down. I’m not saying that Breechclouts weren’t worn but I’m saying the idea that it’s what you HAVE to wear to portray the backcountry is wrong. Are you trying to portray history or are you trying to portray you from Mansker’s station in 1997?

                Because when you think you have it figured out ya gotta remember there is an account of a guy wearing a jacket with a dead duck on his head and then there is this fun one from  George Bryan to Draper “,'Have seen Squire Boone wear a scarlet vest trimmed with gold lace and gold (or gilted) buttons, and a macaroni hat and a coarse check shirt on. Was sometimes dressed as a British officer, and sometimes as a hunter. A curious oddity.'"

 

How does one "ape"? Or Breechclout blindness

 

So just what do you do while you wait for the tallow to soak into your moccasins? If your anything like me this means you’ve waited for the wife and kids to sleep so you can use deer tallow and the heater unsupervised and without having to answer questions. You know the questions about one why you need to do this and two what is actually wrong with your thought process that would make this seem like a good idea to do in the kitchen.

                Keeping your moccasins from getting “crunchy” is a key to keeping them going longer. Despite the basket of new ones I have made I still keep wearing the same pair. While waiting to add more tallow onto the moccasins I figured I’d get a little Philosophical, no I’m not going off the rails and the last burst of frustration has led to some movement on a lot of fronts for me. I’m striking while the iron is hot but I’m not walking away from this weird little vice. So anyway, just what does it mean to “ape the manner of savages”?

                For those not familiar this is an expression that John Joespeh Henry mentioned about his fellow riflemen on the Arnold campaign when describing their dress.:

The principal distinction between us, was in our dialects, our arms, and our dress. Each man of the three companies, bore a rifle-barreled gun, a tomehawk, or small axe, and a long knife, usually called a "scalping-knife," which served for all purposes, in the woods. His under-dress, by no means in a military style, was covered by a deep ash- colored hunting-shirt, leggins and mockasins, if the latter could be procured. It was the silly fashion of those times, for riflemen to ape the manners of savages.

                This little section has been used by many folks to point towards the Backcountry Inhabitants to completely adopt the dress of natives. Later in the narrative Henry then goes on to comment on the clothes he’s wearing on the expedition:

My wardrobe, was scanty and light. It consisted of a roundabout jacket, of wollen, a pair of half worn buckskin breeches, two pair of woolen stockings, (bought at NewbCry-port,) a hat with a feather, a hunting-shirt, leggins, a pair of mockasins, and a pair of tolerably good shoes, which had been closely hoarded.

So we can see that Henry’s mode of “aping” is a pretty standard (to our modern eye) backcountry kit. Except for the fact it doesn’t Include a breechcloth. I mean Clouts are super frontier…right?

Ok so while you are scratching your head about what I’m hinting at let’s put up the end all, be all Breechcloth quote that has been used to justify there use by everyone ever.

In the latter years of the Indian war our young men became more enamored of the Indian dress throughout , with the  exception of the matchcoat . The drawers were laid aside and the leggins made longer , so as to reach the upper part of the thigh . The Indian breech clout was adopted . This was a piece of linen or cloth nearly a yard long , and eight or nine inches broad . This passed under the belt before and behind leaving the ends for flaps hanging before and behind over the belt . These flaps were sometimes ornamented with some coarse kind of em broidery work . To the same belts which secured the breech clout , strings which supported the long leggins were attached .

When this belt , as was often the case , passed over the hunting shirt the upper part of the thighs and part of the hips were naked .The young warrior instead of being abashed by this nudity was proud of his Indian like dress . In some few instances I have seen them go into places of public worship in this dress . Their appearance , however , did not add much to the devotion of the young ladies .

This quote From the Good Reverend Doddridge is from his time in Western Pa/Virginia during the American revolution. It’s been used and reused to show the common use of the breechclout by backcountry folks from New York to Florida during the years 1750 to today.  This quote is often mixed in with a little bit of Woodmason and gives a writer some funny interesting ideas on the dress and attitudes of the people in the American backcountry in the 18^th century.  Ok what if I told you Woodmason doesn’t mention Breechclouts?

Woodmason also a minister (he’s an Anglican minister not a godless heathen like Rev. Doddridge ) has a lot to say about the frontier of the Carolinas. Going thru Woodmason’s journal there is A LOT like a metric ton of judgement being tossed around on just about every aspect of backcountry life. And you will find detailed notes on the tightness of young womens Shifts and shortness of Petticoats (dude gives some creeper vibes) but as far as men’s clothes it’s all breeches and trousers.

Great Novelty to a Londoner to see one of these Congregations — The Men with only a thin Shirt and pair of Breeches or Trousers on — barelegged and barefooted — The Women bareheaded, barelegged and barefoot with only a thin Shift and under Petticoat— Yet I cannot break [them?] of this.

Ok so just where am I going with this? I can hear you now “are you saying breechclouts aren’t common?” No I’m not but I think that we may have been overusing them and in fact seeing them in places they didn’t exist. I think we’ve been suffering from a hobbie wide version of the “Berenstain Bears effect”. Ok to clarify this is a collective false memory that the Kids book and cartoon series many of us grew up with was called the “Berenstein” bears when in fact it was the Berenstain Bears (named after the last name of the writers) this little detail led to many internet freak outs on msg boards and chat rooms. It’s led to conspiracy theories and youtube videos all because people collectively added in a detail that just wasn’t there.

When Looking at the often quoted descriptions of guys like Smyth, Henry and others that describe backcountry dress we see the same actual items: knives, hunting shirts, leggings, moccasins, tomahawks but they are often lacking the use of a breechclouth.  We collectively have added that detail.

Now That I’ve got your attention and in many cases you are probably screaming quotes at the screen lets go further down the rabbit hole. I’m going to take this a little further into the realm of the weird. When we DO see clouts on backcountry (and by this I mean folks from the british colonies take French folks out of the mix) It is normally on folks either working in and around water OR trying to look like natives .

If you’d put up a giant crazy person conspiracy board on your wall and run a red string to a person from one of those two basic ideas…well you are going to get really shocked at just where the quote you were screaming at the screen fell into.

Cresswell…guys in a canoe, Jesse Hughes…”spy dress…looking like an Indian”, Morgan’s  hunters …hunting out of boats, James smith’s black boys…trying to look like Indians,  Brady’s Rangers Again trying to look native (if they wore clouts all the time why did they have to use cherry bark to tan their thighs?) Daniel Boone?...had to send folks back for their spy gear before they went after his daughter and him being naked singing doesn’t count for anything except proof of boredom. Forbe’s campaign troops? It’s in the letters to make “Indians” of the provincials. Washington’s “Indian walking dress”…doesn’t mention a breechclouth. Again that was a detail WE added.

Its interesting if you start to honestly examine our favorite quotes sometimes you can see how we can skew information to support what we want to see. I’m not saying that breechclouts should not be worn or done away with. What I am saying is that maybe we need to constantly revisit the original sources with fresh eyes and challenge our personal views on the information.  I mean even Doddridge falls into my Conspiracy board…he’s talking about western Pennsylvania/Virginia and I’m no geographer but I’ve heard about a few rivers that may flow thru that area.

The more I found mention of clothes buried in narratives, letters, inventories etc about the backcountry I always seem to land on leather breeches, jackets, trousers etc. This at first was like “hey cool look at this stuff” then the more I found them the more it started to feel like, huh where are all the mentions of breechclouts? Guys leggings falling off because of the loss on a belt but no mention of losing their clout?  And please before you start honestly look at the quote and the context of it before ya get all angry.

For example here is a great quote about Morgan from Henry’s narrative: “Morgan came, large, a commanding aspect, and stentorian voice. He wore legging, and a cloth in the Indian style. His thighs, which were exposed to view, appeared to have been lacerated by the thorns and bushes”

Awesome quote, but right before this Henry is talking about traveling by canoe and they are marching thru swamps/bogs. Context is the key….and maybe breechclouts aren’t how ya “ape the manner of savages” ?

Accidents, Gear and the Time Tony convinced me to blow up a cabin

 

Deverger rifleman with pouch

Tony's version and Horn By Willy Frankfort

    So I gotta keep posting now to keep up with the Joneses. I’ll not be outposted by these upstarts in short hunting shirts. I wont stand for it I tell ya, this aggression will not stand man. Ok just kidding Go read the “Shirttail mess blog”. So anyway…I had all intents of spending today weaving after watching Croatia crush Belgium in the world cup  but it was a draw match and I need to let me hand heal for another day before I start weaving. Heal from what you ask? Well let me tell you…and that is what we call a segway in the business.

                I went out for Modern rifle season yesterday. It was probably going to be one of the few days I got out this season because of work. I have a lot of time off for Late Muzzleloader but not so much for modern stuff. So around 800am yesterday after the 2^nd wave of rainstorms I was able to get a shot at an 8 point that came in to me. I grunted it stopped and Bam that was it. I walked up on it and began to field dress it. I have to admit I was pretty pumped with how smoothly I was getting thru the process. No blood on my boots, the deer had run towards the truck so it was going to be a short drag and if everything went right the deer should be butchered and I’d be home to see the girls get off the school bus.

                So here is where it went wrong. I didn’t really cut a large hole in the diaphragm to pull out the heart etc. reaching in with my scalping knife I was careful to keep my left hand clear as I was holding the heart and cutting with the right. As I was sliding my hands back out I ended up sliding my knife across my left hand. It was a quick clean slice and it felt wrong.

                So this is why I’m telling this story here…My modern hunting stuff is really just my 18^th century gear with some modern stuff thrown in it. I carry the same bag, I drag deer with my tumpline etc. Knowing this I quickly dug into my bag for my first aid Kit. I got out alcohol wipes and quickly cleaned off my hand around the wound. The cut was deep but really wasn’t bleeding that bad yet. I put a compress on it wrapped it and then wrapped it again with a cotton scarf. I sat back down and filled out my tag with one hand attached it to the deer (gotta be legal) and then put the heart and liver in a bag into my pack (dammit I got to keep them now). Then gathered up my stuff and walked to the truck and drove to the ER. So a glued up hand and tetanus shot later I’m sitting here writing this. Later some friends helped me get the deer to my parents to butcher it and everything was ok.

                My point…know your pack, know when to say when and modern stuff in your gear has a real place. Yes I was not trying to keep any type of period moment etc. But Like I said when I carry my gear in 18^th century clothes, I have the same medical stuff stuffed into the same red wool pouch. Its bright it stands out from my other gear and its easy to get to. If something happens you don’t want to be trying to explain to someone to get the medium sized natural linen bag out from between the other slightly larger natural linen bag.

             

feeling dumb in the ER

   It was honestly not a big deal but I think part of what made it easier was that I knew exactly what I had and had to do. I wasn’t fumbling around trying to find something to clean it in the truck that might have sat in my glove box for years drying out. I solved my problem quickly and then moved to step 2.

                Ok now onto something fun and exciting…I got a new shot pouch and horn. Part of my addiction to this stuff is constantly getting new pieces of gear to try out in the field and destroy in an 18^th century manner. My Friend Tony Bertolino made me a pouch based off the example being worn By the “Rifleman” in the Deverger image of American soldiers. Tony has made a few of them and they really caught my eye so as per usual he got bored and made me one while we talked about how much we really want to make 19^th century kits or Illinois country kits or Zeppelin landing crew kits. Tony did the dimensions based off what you can see in the image compared to the Rifleman. So while not an exact copy of an original its an educated guess and he used details from existing pouches to round it out.

             

My collection of Tony Stuff

 

      I’ve been friends with Tony for years and for a while I wasn’t sure he existed outside of the imagination of myself and the Dutchman. I’m still not 100% sure he isn’t the Devil because of the number of bad ideas he passes onto me but he does make a hell of a bag and is an amazing brain tanner. I’ve got a number of “tony bags” as do most of the guys I run with. The pouch I carried my modern stuff in is a pack Tony Made based off images of 18^th century travelers’ pouches. It’s a large pouch that I often use for scouts to carry extra gear in and I will tie off my blanketcoat  to the strap. Think Haversack but documentable in civilian hands. Between it and my jacket pockets Ive been able to comfortably carry gear to do multiple day scouts without a knapsack or even large wallet.

                I’ve added some pics of bags or tomahawk rigs Tony has made that I use. A double bag based on an example owned by Jim Dresslar is now my shooting match bag, a small divided pouch from Lacrosse’s book that I use with a smoothbore and now my Deverger bag for my .58 rifle.

                The horn was done By Willy Frankfort and was a large shop made turned horn. Again Willy is a guy I’ve known forever and is a phenomenal horn worker and all around artist (I’ve also heard he is a dirty hippie). I showed him an original I was thinking of using at the Horn Maker guild and he knocked it out of the park. In my opinion (and its just that) this was the style horn being sold at Fort Pitt. It’s a mass produced horn but lacking the screwtip. More along the lines of the Forbes Road horns.

Tony and Me at the school of the Longhunter, and yes I'm wearing Mark Baker's hunting shirt and John Buxton's headdress...Long story

                Both of these guys can be found on The facebook or just drop me a msg and I can shoot you their email address.  So now back to planning out my late season and walking around the house all day wearing my shot bag. Come on you know you do it too. You buy a new shirt brooch ya put your whole kit on to see what it looks like then spend the next two hours explaining to your family why it’s cool. Its ok we all get it. We’re not like the others we’re your friends.

 Speaking of friends...check out the Youtube Channel for the Shirt tail mess guys. They are trying to map out how they are preparing for an immersion event in the spring and it's a great way for new folks to see how to prepare for something like this.

Shirt tail mess

Also congrats to Ethan Yazel for getting the recognition for his work in promoting this "hobby"

Ethan Interview