The Highland Longhunter

[CamelCody]

I was reading a book recently about the connections shared between Highlanders and First Nations/Native Americans. The book went into detail about many soldiers from Highland regiments remaining on the continent and adopting certain Native dress characteristics while holding onto certain Highland dress aspects. The thought intrigues me to no end and I have been thinking for some time about what this would look like. Which parts of their Highland or Scottish dress would these people have adopted and why? I'm sure practicality had a lot to do with it and was the driving factor in adopting new things and keeping others.
The image I have in my head for kind of a French/Indian war time period kind of goes like this:

Bonnet/Glengarry of some sort
Longhunter shirt
Powder bag/flint/steel/
Kilt with sporran
Buckskin or some other type of legging
Moccasins/Cuarans
Flintlock/matchlock, Sgian Dubh, Dirk etc.

I would love to hear more on this subject from those that have a little more insight and experience in this particular area. Perhaps some of our First Nations and/or Native American members can weigh in on this with personal experience or family history. As always pictures of this type of mixture of culture and cross pollination would be greatly appreciated.

[davidlpope]

I think the kilt would probably have been very quick to go. The 84th Highlanders (RHE) put their kilts in storage and adopted trousers for their service in the Carolinas. My guess is that these Highlanders you reference would have looked exactly the same as other longhunters on the frontier.

[Piper]

I'm a reenactor/rendezvouser who does both 18th century Scottish Jacobite ('45 uprising) and 18th - early 19th century American Longhunter. In the American presentation, my backstory is that of a transported Jacobite. I wear my knit bonnet (with white cockade), plain 18th century shirt. Overshirt (rifle frock, wool shirt, etc) depends on the weather. I carry my "plaid" (fileadhmohr) rolled up as a blanket. Self made, soft leather footwear wore out very quickly, so I just use center seam style mocs. I wear either knee breeches or breechclout with leggings. The rest of the gear is pretty much common to both presentations. Firelock, knives, pouches, etc. I have occasionally carried a basic sporran as a belt bag. I use my dirk as my long knife while American, but no sgian dubh (I understand they're more a Victorian development). My choices are based on research, and some practical experience in the field as to what works, and what doesn't.
I don't doubt that some immigrant upper class Scots merchants and such held onto their kilts for wear on special occasions. But I think that the common Highlander that came here quickly adapted the local manner of dress

[CamelCody]

Thanks Piper,
That's helpful information. I can't see the belted plaid getting tossed out that quickly just due to the utility of it. I could see it being carried and used more as a blanket, but I wouldn't think they would just forget it altogether. Maybe I'm just wishing it was still used, who knows. Anyhow, the concept still intrigues me. Do you make your own mocs, leggings and breechclout?

[Sir Didymous]

I don't see the great kilt as being very useful in the wooded areas. I live in what was once part of Ohio's Great Black Swamp and I went on a hike in my highland kit (Early 1600's) and I cant say that I enjoyed it very much. I always try to put a new kit through some field practice to find the little quirks it might have. The thorns and such were not to be believed, and the top half of my plaid caught on everything. In a situation of a highlander roughing it long hunter style, I may well have made my plaid into a rifleman's frock with one or two shoulder capes. I think that could be a practical use since it was a large piece of oil treated wool with a tartan pattern that could serve as an early form of cammo. You know breaking up the outline of the wearer. I have never seen it done, but I don't hang out with many Early American reenactors since I'm primarily medieval and renaissance and only dabble outside of that.

[Hopper250]

I agree with Piper there were several guys who were doing English era reinacting in my area. They carried plaid blankets for the character was Scottish.

Alternatively it may have also been turned into a coat. The Hudson Bay Blanket was used the same way and the coat was common. There are discriptions of trappers in the 1700s having plaid jackets rather than using the company blankets to make them. These are all late French or early English descriptions.

[Sir Didymous]

I forgot about the capote. I guess since I have never seen one in plaid first hand, I just didn't think about it.

[Dale Seago]

I don't see the great kilt as being very useful in the wooded areas.

Oh, I dunno. A former student of mine used to personally know the guy in this pic from Linda Clifford's site. I don't recall his name but he's a retired Special Forces senior NCO in North Carolina, and a great kilt is just about all he ever wears:

EDIT: I'm deleting the photo as a probable Rule 11 oopsie. If anyone wants to see the pic, just go to lindaclifford.com, click on "Custom-Made Kilts & Skirts", then go to the "Great Kilt" page.

[Hopper250]

I forgot about the capote. I guess since I have never seen one in plaid first hand, I just didn't think about it.

If I wasn't perusing my copy of "Montcalm and Wolfe" recently I would probably have forgotten all about it. I have never seen one made but that is probably because you can get a HBB for $45-50 from multiple vendors at any event, where as you need to hunt for a tartan in the right size.

[Sir Didymous]

Oh, I dunno. A former student of mine used to personally know the guy in this pic from Linda Clifford's site. I don't recall his name but he's a retired Special Forces senior NCO in North Carolina, and a great kilt is just about all he ever wears:

EDIT: I'm deleting the photo as a probable Rule 11 oopsie. If anyone wants to see the pic, just go to lindaclifford.com, click on "Custom-Made Kilts & Skirts", then go to the "Great Kilt" page.

Well, with a bit of practice, I suppose you could get used to wearing it in all situations. I speak only from my small amount of experience in wooded areas whilst great kilted. On a side note, that site claim a range from 4.5 yrds- 9 yrds for great kilts with 6-7 being the most popular. That's a lot of tartan for one kilt since we're talking double width. My longest plaid is only 4.5 and that seems to be the more common historical length.