Pioneer Period??

[macwilkin]

Alrighty,

Where I work down here in Kentucky (Carter Caves State Resort Park) we host a historical reenactment of the Pioneer period - 1780-1830's America.

My question is this - Can anyone tell me about (or point me to information on) the kilt, and it's existence during this time? Remember, this is in early America, not Europe.

Thanks in advance!!!

~Yeti

Are you asking because you want to wear a kilt as part of your living history impression?

Given where you work in Kentucky, I would, at first glance, advise against it. Remember that the majority of early settlers who crossed the Appalachians into KY, TN, MO, etc. were Ulster-Scots, and generally did not wear Highland attire because of its association with the "Wild Highlanders". The Ulster-Scots viewed the Highlanders about as well as they viewed native Americans; add to the fact that most Highlanders during the Revolution were Loyalists, and you'll see that the Scots-Irish didn't adopt much of the Highlander's ways.

Also, remember that in the early 19th century, most immigrants tended to downplay their ethnicity and assimilated into American society, unless they happened to live in an ethnic community. In Civil War reenacting, I used to see a lot of fellows wearing Irish harp badges, talking with very bad Irish accents, etc. Yet such open displays of ethnicity would be frowned upon by "native" Americans, unless you were with a larger group of your countrymen. In fact, one article in a reenactor magazine I read suggested that if you wanted to a really authentic Irish impression, it would be much better to carry a rosary or something more subtle instead of talking like the lucky charms leprechaun and being decked out in harps and shamrocks.

Now, you could adopt a period bonnet -- this was fairly common in the fur trade, and there were elements of Highland attire in the various fur companies (HBC, North West Co., etc.) -- but many more Highlanders went to Canada after the Revolution, and many were involved in the fur business.

That being said, I do remember a story about a grave being exhumed in Texas that contained a corpse wearing a kilt from the 1850's, but as a long-time reenactor and living historian with NPS myself, I have to ask: how common was this?

One thing we were always taught in NPS was to try to represent the "average" of a time period as much possible, and not the "fringes" of society.

Sorry to play "devil's advocate" here.

Regards,

Todd

[Archangel]

I'm going to support what Cajunscot has just said. Here's a quick history lesson on colonial perspective. If you live in an area that has anything named for Cumberland or Sweet William, then you live in an area that, in the 1750s, hated Scots and would consider Scots to be closer to animals.

The Highland Scot that you want to support would avoid that area and get away from it as quick as possible. That mood would not change until closer to the turn of the century. It would not be a great change because people that might have felt that way generally moved to Canada in the last quarter of that century.

This is a rough guide, of course you could tear holes in it but go with it in the context.

[Woodsheal]

I would agree about a lack of kilt-wearing in N. America in the period mentioned. Highlanders emigrating in the decades after the `45 were coming from Proscription-era Scotland: no highland dress allowed except for soldiers in Highland Regiments. So, they'd be coming over in 'normal' clothes, and wouldn't find anyone here producing tartan kilts or plaids....

In my many years of 18th C. reenacting I've noted a lot of 'wishful' thinking on the part of folks wanting desperately to transplant civilian kilt-wearing to N. America for the colonial wars periods. Basically, if you're not portraying a Highland soldier, forget it. (An exception is Oglethorpe's highland settlers in 1730-40's Georgia. They wore highland dress, but that was pre-Proscription.)

You can 'never say never', and there were probably scattered kilt-wearers in the settlements, but it's not a garb utilized by frontiersman, longhunters, rangers, mountainmen, etc. Lots of period descriptions of these men exist, and none of them mention kilts....