79th NY Highlanders

[hospitaller]

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...

[HeathBar]

Someone in the forum is a member of a 79th re-enactment group. So maybe they will chime in. But as I recall (this has come up before) the kilts were only worn for parade. The kilts were not part of the field uniform. During battle, regular trousers would have been worn. Not sure about the tartan trews. Maybe those were worn by officers. But re-enactors usually potray those units as they were in the field and not on parade.

[Tim Little]

I don't suppose it would help to point them in the direction of these couple of posts:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...&postcount=121

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...&postcount=122

[hospitaller]

Someone in the forum is a member of a 79th re-enactment group. So maybe they will chime in. But as I recall (this has come up before) the kilts were only worn for parade. The kilts were not part of the field uniform. During battle, regular trousers would have been worn. Not sure about the tartan trews. Maybe those were worn by officers. But re-enactors usually potray those units as they were in the field and not on parade.

I'll have to re-sort my references, but from what I've read, even late in the war, officers did wear their kilts and/or tartan trews in the field (Secessionville, Spotsylvania and Appamattox (sp))

After just re-reading William Todd's book (a Company 79th Highlander himself) he confirms that the fatigue uniform for the early volunteers and conscripts was indeed the Cameron trews.

This still contradicts what some of these 79th reenactors accept as their 'official uniform'.

Seems odd to me.

[HeathBar]

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/7...254/index.html

Here is where it has been discussed before. The discussion about re-enactors starts around page 3.

[Colonel MacNeal]

Hospitaller,

I agree with you. What's the point of reenacting if they aren't going to be authentic?

ColMac

[Woodsheal]

Hospitaller,

I agree with you. What's the point of reenacting if they aren't going to be authentic?

ColMac

The 79th pretty much wore standard Federal uniform in the field and on campaign. Some officers may have had tartan trews, but the enlisted ranks did not. As reenactments groups largely portray enlisted men, they ARE being authentic....

[macwilkin]

Hospitaller,

I agree with you. What's the point of reenacting if they aren't going to be authentic?

ColMac

Because the Highland uniform of the 79th was only worn before and that the beginning of the War, and there is still considerable debate as to how much. Wearing an 1861 impression while reenacting a battle that was fought in 1864 is hardly authentic.

T.

[macwilkin]

The 79th pretty much wore standard Federal uniform in the field and on campaign. Some officers may have had tartan trews, but the enlisted ranks did not. As reenactments groups largely portray enlisted men, they ARE being authentic....

Exactly. NPS living history standards teach that it's best to potray the impression that was the most common and particular to a particular year/battle/campaign, rather than misleading the public into thinking that there were numerous Zouaves and Highlanders running around every battle.

I've served in several reenactment/living history units that had a primary impression, and then some secondary speciality ones; for example, a "generic" Federal infantry impression, and then one for the 3rd Missouri Infantry, which was primarly made up of German immigrants from the St. Louis area. Their uniform was only worn from April to September 1861; it would simply not be accurate to portray the 3rd MO at an 1862 or 1863 unit in a uniform worn at only one battle.


T.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Brian and Todd are, as is usual in these matters, bang on target. As this sort of question regularly comes up, perhaps it is time to launch a "Kilted Reenacting" forum?