Sporrans of the American Civil War

[JohnSeever]

I am an American Civil War reenactor, and I want to wear my kilt to our annual Christmas party. The problem is, that I do not have a sporran from the 1860s. I have been thinking of doing my own using a pattern, but I am not sure how to locate the correct patterns/who to talk to on a sporran style that was common in and during the American Civil War.

Any help would be welcomed, cause I want to do this DIY and the images I have seen on here, which I cannot find those threads, and the patterns I found online and from here look like modern ones.

Additionally, I have a non-wool kilt, as I have a high allergy to wool, would that be ok to wear to a formal dinner, as I am a private within the unit I am a part of? Additionally, what would be a good accessory for my wife to add to her outfits that is Scottish as well?

[Holcombe Thomas]

Those who really know will be along shortly, but I see no problem in wearing a non-wool kilt. There are some very, very nice kilts being made out of non-wool fabrics.

Scottish accessories for your wife? A tartan sash, traditionally in your tartan, but perhaps in hers, is an idea. Or, perhaps, a Celtic brooch or other jewelry.

And, I can't help you at all with regard to 1860s era sporran. Sorry.

Holcombe

[notlob]

thought i saw a sporran at Burnett's & Struth, can't validate its accuracy though, but it does look like a sporran form the 79th NY during the ACW.

http://www.burnetts-struth.com/categ...ries/Sporrans/

Hope it helps!

[Blupiper]

There is also a 79th NY reproduction sporran available from glengarryhats.com. I hope OC Richard checks in soon. He is an excellent source and historian with (I hope) plenty of examples and sources. Stay tuned.

JMB

[Tarheel]

There are in-depth discussions on "kit" for the Revolutionary and US Civil war soldiers in other threads. They take a little browsing but can be valuable info.

The sporran Blupiper suggests is (for now) your best bet and, unless you get one made, a good re-enactor choice.
There was a long discussion on full face sporrans from local wildlife of the areas the military units were from. That may worth exploring at a later time.

[OC Richard]

It depends on what you mean by "the sporrans of the ACW".

If you mean sporrans worn in combat during the war, I'm afraid you'll come up with little beyond some imaginative speculation.

If you mean sporrans issued as part of the uniform of an ACW unit, the 79th New York State Militia, raised in 1858, had full Highland Dress as their Dress uniform which of course included sporrans. However the later companies raised to bring the regiment up to full strength for war service in 1861 were never issued the Full Dress uniform, which was put into storage and never revived during the war.

If you mean sporrans which were a component of ordinary civilian Highland Dress of the period, there is a vast amount of evidence.

The most encyclopedic is The Highlanders Of Scotland, a collection of 56 portraits of kilted men painted in the 1860s. Looking over these portraits will give you a very clear notion of the Highland Dress of the period, from the extremely plain Day Dress to the outrageously ornate Evening Dress.

There are also hundreds of photos of men in Highland Dress taken in the 1860s which show the identical costumes seen in THOS.

Nearly universally worn at that time, for all modes of Highland Dress, for military uniform, plain civilian Day Dress, and ornate civilian Evening Dress, were long hair sporrans. In civilian dress these were often brown-grey hair with plain stitched leather cantles for Day Dress, and white hair with silver cantles for Evening Dress. Cantles of that time were usually fabricated out of sheet German Silver, and either engraved or left plain. Cast silver or German Silver cantles were uncommon at that time.

Here is a thread I did about the sporrans of the 1860s as seen in THOS

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...cotland-67675/

People often make the claim that the artist of THOS portraits was just making everything up. This is absurd. To prove that all of the sporrans seen in THOS actually existed I did this thread:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...s-flesh-83376/

The sporrans of the 1858-1861 79th NYSM had an odd 5-lobed cantle. Cantles very much like them show up in civilian dress of the period too, here in the USA, but seem to be nonexistent or rare in Scotland itself; in other words it appears to be a uniquely American style, perhaps derived from a Scottish sporran brought here, perhaps in the 1850s. Here's a thread about them

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...america-87091/

[Mike S]

As a former hardcore Civil War Living Historian myself (quite a few lbs and years ago mind you), I must tell you that this is a classic red flag farb sort of quest. The only adequately documented regiment to wear highland attire, the 79th NY Volunteers, quickly abandoned any form of highland dress, adopting the standard Federal depot issued sack coats, trousers, and kepis/bummers.

The Civil War kilted piper, CSA or Union, is the butt of many a farb joke in the reenacting community. Don't be "that guy".

[OC Richard]

As a former hardcore Civil War Living Historian myself (quite a few lbs and years ago mind you), I must tell you that this is a classic red flag farb sort of quest. The only adequately documented regiment to wear highland attire, the 79th NY Volunteers, quickly abandoned any form of highland dress, adopting the standard Federal depot issued sack coats, trousers, and kepis/bummers.

Me too, I was a Civil War re-enactor back in the 1970s when I was a teenager and we were still living in the afterglow of the Centennial.

Around ten years ago I did a load of research about the 79th New York's 1858-1861 Full Dress uniforms and put one together. I wore it piping at various Patriotic functions, it being a distinctively American thing. It certainly would be out of place at any Civil War event. What's amazing to me is how often people get the uniform wrong, all or in part. Partly this is due to the uniform being incorrectly depicted in a number of books, which is inexcusable due to a number of photos clearly showing the uniform.

The 79th had two uniforms from the get-go in 1858, the Full Dress one with kilt, Glengarry, etc and a Service Dress one with trews and kepi. Both used the same tunic. So, the 79th marched off to war in its distinctive tunic and tartan trews but with ordinary kepis. The tunics and trews didn't last long and by mid-war they looked pretty much like any other Union regiment (save for the precious white trousers which became a mark of pride until they too quickly wore out).

Here's an article I wrote about the 1858-1861 pre-war Full Dress uniform of the 79th NY. I discuss specifically how the uniform has been incorrectly depicted in various books.

http://www.celticpiper.net/79th.htm

It is amazing, when one thinks about how much clear information there is about Highland Dress in the 1860s, to see over and over men dressed in Highland Dress at Civil War Balls, where either everything they're wearing is modern, their jackets and sporrans particularly, or wearing a bizarre mix of Civil War military uniform and 20th century civilian costume.

Thing is, Highland Dress underwent a near-complete transformation in the first decades of the 20th century, so that Highland Dress up to around 1900 and Highland Dress after around 1920 are different in nearly every way. This makes the wearing of modern items with mid-19th century uniform stand out like a sore thumb.

[OC Richard]

There is also a 79th NY reproduction sporran available from glengarryhats.com. I hope OC Richard checks in soon. He is an excellent source and historian with (I hope) plenty of examples and sources. Stay tuned.

JMB

The 79th sporrans made in Pakistan and India, and the 79th sporran offered in their online catalogue by L&M Highland Outfitters (from which the Indian/Pakistani ones are obviously copied) are NOT the sporran worn by the 79th New York as part of their original 1858 Full Dress uniform, which was put into storage in 1861, never to be revived.

The L&M sporran is the post-war pattern worn by the 79th New York in the 1870s. Their post-war uniform was entirely different from their pre-war and wartime uniforms.

The pre-war 1858-1861 Full Dress uniform (left and right) and the 1858-c1862 Service Dress uniform (centre). Note the distinctive all-leather sporran cantle with five more or less equal lobes/lunettes across the bottom:



This distinctive cantle shape shows up in various photos of American civilians in Highland Dress of around the same period, and seems to be a pattern unique to the USA (note that this photo is reversed)



This photo of the post-war 79th New York in 1872 shows a fascinating mix of pre-war and post-war kit. Only the man on the right is wearing the pre-war 5-lobe sporran, the others are the post-war style with a single point to centre (the style that L&M and Glengarry Hats offer). The Glengarries are a mix of the pre-war type with the unique two-row red/white/blue dicing, and the post-war Glengarry with Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders three-row red/white dicing (second from Right). Needless to say spats and these green/red diced hose-tops were not a part of the pre-war or wartime uniform.



Which is not to say that the L&M/Indian/Pakistani/Glengarry Hats post-war sporran wouldn't make a perfectly correct Civil War period civilian sporran! It would be perfect for a civilian Day Dress outfit of the 1860s. What it is not, is the pre-war or wartime sporran of the 79th New York.

[JohnSeever]

Thank you on the replys, and I an not gonna wear a kilt during a reenactment, but mainly to formal/semi formal balls. I will look for the other threads, and for patterns so I can work on one this year.

Again, thank you all.