Not sure of this is the right area to post this, so those in charge, move at will if needed.

As im sure a fair number of you know, the 79th NY Highlanders was a volunteer regiment made of Scots and Scottish-Americans prior to and during the Civil War.

Prior to the war, they were a State Militia regiment and they did wear kilts and doublets as their uniform.

By the time the war began, they boosted their ranks with a form of conscription by means of bringing new recruits that were not neccesarily of scottish descent. Those new soldiers were outfitted with tartan trews provided by among other groups, scottish relief organizations.

OK, now, and to my point, as the war progressed and new soldiers were constantly being brought in to try and replace casualties, those soldiers brought in their federal uniform. So, by war's end, 2/3 of the surviving sldiers of the 79th were either pre-war volunteers with kilts, or conscripted soldiers with tartan trews.

I've been looking into joining one of the few 79th reenacting groups out there and I about fell off my chair when I read that most of those groups do NOT recognize the kilt or tartan trews as part of their official uniform.

So I emailed 2 of those groups to clarify and sure enough, they confirmed that yes, the 79th was a scottish regiment through and through, they didn't feel appropriate to have soldiers/reenactors in kilts nowadays (!!!!)

I also asked them why they didnt have at least one piper within their ranks, and instead they all showcase photos of their units with the typical drummer and horn.

Their answer was a bit better, 'we dont have pipers in the unit', so I asked if I played the pipes and would like to join their unit, and of course, go in a kilt to play the part...the answer was again the same. no kilts are allowed as part of their 'official' uniform.

This got me fairly irate, specially given that the original 79th volunteers (pre-war) did everything they could to take part in the conflict, and they did so proudly wearing their kilts, and later on their trews.
And this 'civil war reenactors' simply choose to ignore that important detail and rather focus on wearing what modern society sees as 'appropriate' civil war attire...regular 'federal pants'

ok, now im steping off my soapbox...