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Post by spence on Feb 21, 2022 17:18:09 GMT -7
Here's a reference which has always intrigued me. It's from Frontier Memories, collated by Dale Payne from the interviews by John Dabney Shane as part of the Draper Manuscripts. The person being interviewed is John Hanks, and he is discussing activities in the area of Wheeling in the 1780s.
"Silas Zane and George Green went to Detroit driving cattle and made a great amount, bring back a great pile of money with them. They went a 2nd time and my mother made some cappo-coats for them to take along and sell among the Indians, made them of blue broadcloth, with a cap or hood to draw over the head, otherwise they were like a match coat. I recollect that I sewed some on them myself."
If his idea of a match coat is the same as our modern one, really just a small blanket, then the idea of one with a hood on it and called a capote is an unusual picture.
Spence
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Post by Black Hand on Feb 21, 2022 17:22:02 GMT -7
That is a bit of a head-scratcher.
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Joe
City-dweller
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Post by Joe on Feb 21, 2022 18:04:27 GMT -7
To me it sounds like a cloak, but here's someone's description. "Matchcoats are great but….sleeves and hoods are greater.
Ok First off let me clarify the difference between a capot and a blanket coat…..99% of the time nothing. From what I can tell blanket coats/capots/cappa coats/capos are all an over garment cut like a coat and in many cases have a hood attached. I feel (****assumption***) that the big difference between the two might simply be the material they are cut out of. Blanket coats cut from blankets and capots/cappa coats/capos out of standard cloth."
buffalotrace1765.blogspot.com/2010/10/blanket-coats-cappa-coats-capots-and.html |
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Post by paranger on Feb 21, 2022 19:00:52 GMT -7
To me it sounds like a cloak, but here's someone's description. "Matchcoats are great but….sleeves and hoods are greater.
Ok First off let me clarify the difference between a capot and a blanket coat…..99% of the time nothing. From what I can tell blanket coats/capots/cappa coats/capos are all an over garment cut like a coat and in many cases have a hood attached. I feel (****assumption***) that the big difference between the two might simply be the material they are cut out of. Blanket coats cut from blankets and capots/cappa coats/capos out of standard cloth."
buffalotrace1765.blogspot.com/2010/10/blanket-coats-cappa-coats-capots-and.html The French capot and the English blanket coat exhibited some tailoring differences. The French version typically had pleats and buttons in tbe back like the justecorps, and was typically closed overlapping the chest with a single button near the neck. The English blanket coat was often belted, sometimes with turned back lapels, and sometimes ties, but often without the pleats. These are generalizations. There is a 1770s watercolor of a British soldier in a blanket coat at Ft.Ticonderoga in a "blanket coat" that looks as though it may have buttons or rosettes in the back, possibly pleated. I'm reading "Military - Blanket Coats" on Scribd. Check it out: www.scribd.com/doc/251718874 |
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Joe
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Post by Joe on Feb 21, 2022 19:31:37 GMT -7
If his idea of a match coat is the same as our modern one, really just a small blanket, then the idea of one with a hood on it and called a capote is an unusual picture. Spence Sewing a hood on a blanket would be easy and make it much better. Hooded blankets still exist today.  |
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Post by paranger on Feb 21, 2022 19:36:17 GMT -7
If his idea of a match coat is the same as our modern one, really just a small blanket, then the idea of one with a hood on it and called a capote is an unusual picture. Spence Sewing a hood on a blanket would be easy and make it much better. Hooded blankets still exist today. And you'd be all set for an 18th c. football match... |
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Joe
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Post by Joe on Feb 21, 2022 19:47:57 GMT -7
And you'd be all set for an 18th c. football match... It was for illustrative and visual purposes. |
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Post by spence on Feb 21, 2022 20:33:08 GMT -7
The confusing thing about the reference for me was that Hanks used the terms cappo-coat and match coat for the same garment.
Spence
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Joe
City-dweller
Posts: 170
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Post by Joe on Feb 21, 2022 21:38:35 GMT -7
What I found odd was that they were driving cattle.
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Post by brokennock on Feb 22, 2022 9:05:16 GMT -7
I too thought "cloak" when I envisioned a "matchcoat" with a sewn on hood.
Maybe we are overcomplicating this and it is just that.
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Post by hawkeyes on Feb 22, 2022 10:06:36 GMT -7
What if it's just a... blanket?
I'm liking Joe's example, but could it really be that easy? As nock stated, maybe an over complication of sorts?
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Joe
City-dweller
Posts: 170
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Post by Joe on Feb 22, 2022 10:41:58 GMT -7
I am confused about one thing.
Was broadcloth cheap or expensive ?
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Post by brokennock on Feb 22, 2022 18:10:01 GMT -7
I am confused about one thing. Was broadcloth cheap or expensive ? Price ranges were,,,,,,,,,,,,,, broad. |
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Post by Rodman on Feb 22, 2022 19:51:36 GMT -7
I am confused about one thing. Was broadcloth cheap or expensive ? Price ranges were,,,,,,,,,,,,,, broad. There is always one in the crowd. 😁 |
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Joe
City-dweller
Posts: 170
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Post by Joe on Feb 22, 2022 20:49:28 GMT -7
I am confused about one thing. Was broadcloth cheap or expensive ? Price ranges were,,,,,,,,,,,,,, broad. There was method to my madness. I figured if Broadcloth was cheap and the garments were traded to the natives then the description is a simple one. like a blanket with a hood sewn on. But, if broadcloth was expensive, then a simple cheap garment doesn't make sense (to me). for trade to the natives. I mean by the late 1700's natives in that area were much more accustomed to European clothing than were first contact natives. So it makes sense that their desires would be more complex than just a simple blanket with a hood. Now from what little I can find, it seems Broadcloth was expensive and top of the line for coat fabric. So it kind of blows my hooded blanket theory out of the water. |
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