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Post by brokennock on Dec 11, 2020 5:34:12 GMT -7
Our friend Artificer posted this quote on another forum in a topic about dying hunting shirts, I noticed something unrelated to that topic that I'm wondering about. As well as a question on the fabric mentioned.
"We encamped in Clayton's old field (at Catalpa, the home of Philip Clayton). Some had tents, and others huts of plank, &c. The whole regiment appeared according to orders in hunting shirts made of strong brown linen, dyed the color of the leaves of the trees, and on the breast was worked in large white letters the words, "Liberty or Death"! and all that could procure for love or money buck's tails, wore them in their hats. Each man had a leather belt around his shoulders, with a tomahawk and scalping knife. The flag had in the center a rattlesnake coiled in the act to strike. Below it were the words, "Don't tread on me!" At the sides, "Liberty or Death"! and at the top, "The Culpeper Minute Men."" (Green, p.13)
Okay so on this forum my phone won't let me highlight or emphasize what I want. The line in question is, "Each man had a leather belt around his shoulders, with a tomahawk and scalping knife." The belt is said to be around the shoulders not around the waist. Is the an argument for the shoulder slung 'hawk that has been discussed elsewhere or just a language discrepancy?
Also what is the deal with, "shirts made of strong brown linen, dyed the color of the leaves of the trees." Is the cloth brown then somehow dyed green, or is "brown linen" a type of linen?
Thanks, Dave
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Post by spence on Dec 11, 2020 8:08:05 GMT -7
I don't know about the belt around the shoulders, but I expect the leaves mentioned weren't green. Describing the Philadelphia Associators in 1775, Silas Dean wrote:
"They have besides a Body of irregulars, or rifle Men, whose dress it is hard to describe. They take a piece of Ticklenburgh, or Tan cloth that is stout and put it in a Tann Fatt, until it has the shade of a dry, or fading Leaf, then they make a kind of Frock of it reaching down below the knee, open before, with a Large Cape,"
In 1791 Thomas Rodgers saw Boone at Maysville wearing "moccasins and a linen hunting shirt the color of old leaves." Thomas Rodgers to Lyman Copland Draper, Draper Manuscripts 19S:168
Ticklenburgh is a type of coarse linen originally made in Ticklenburg, Germany.
Spence
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ewoaf
City-dweller
Posts: 203
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Post by ewoaf on Dec 11, 2020 8:50:24 GMT -7
Brown linen is just unbleached, and yes the Culpeper militia dyed their shirts green. Liberty or death embroidered in white on left breast. Blue cloth leggings, but officer's leggings were of Stroud. Waistcoats of swanskin. Black round hats cocked on one side, black cockade, bucktail optional. Early war carriage were hastily made from literally whatever. Most did not have bayos, so they relied on slung tomahawks.
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Post by spence on Dec 11, 2020 9:52:01 GMT -7
Good info, ewoaf, I stand corrected.
Spence
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Post by brokennock on Dec 11, 2020 12:33:23 GMT -7
Thank you for the answer about the cloth.
Does anyone have further descriptions or paintings of this militia. I am still curious about the slung 'hawk and/or knife. My impression from past discussions of the shoulder slung 'hawk carrier has been that it was not common. Could this description be evidence to the contrary?
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ewoaf
City-dweller
Posts: 203
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Post by ewoaf on Dec 12, 2020 8:30:56 GMT -7
There's no magical tomahawk carriage. The shoulder carriage caried everything. Put a scabbard in the frog and you've got bayonet carriage, put a sword scabbard in it and you've got a baldric, or sew/buckle it to a cartridge box and now you've got ammo carriage. Heck one might even have a double frog and be able to carry a sword and bayo at the same time. Now I know this is a complicated idea, but if one was to simply slide a hawk handle through the frog....and viola. No need to reinvent the wheel for one piece of gear when virtually everything else was caried by the crossbelt. Aside from that, you could just stick it in your waist belt. Several books demonstrate how this was done, illustrated encyclopedia of uniforms of the American revolution would be just one example showing both aforementioned uniforms and tomahawk carriage on crossbelt.
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Post by spence on Dec 12, 2020 10:51:46 GMT -7
I have a poster book of Revolutionary war uniforms. Some show a slung battle axe/tomahawk. This one is a private, 4th Connecticut Regiment, 1775: These are, left to right, Private, Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment, Officer, 1st Rhode Island Regiment, Private, Colonel Seth Warner's Battalion of Green Mountain Boys: Spence
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Post by spence on Dec 12, 2020 11:20:58 GMT -7
Another, Private, Colonel Henley's Regiment. Spence
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Post by paranger on Dec 12, 2020 11:29:44 GMT -7
As common as shoulder belt carriage was for bayonets (with numerous originals surviving), it would be hard to believe that no one adopted the method for axes as well - particularly among rifle armed combatants with no use for a bayonet.
A parallel example might be how the British adapted double belt frogs originally intended to carry a sword and bayonet to bayonet and axe carriage as early as the F&I War when the useless swords were left in garrison. The adaptation proved so useful that it was retained in the 1771 Light Infantry regulations.
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Post by brokennock on Dec 12, 2020 11:35:26 GMT -7
I can't see the pics from Spence. Anyone else?
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Post by brokennock on Dec 12, 2020 11:42:30 GMT -7
There's no magical tomahawk carriage. The shoulder carriage caried everything. Put a scabbard in the frog and you've got bayonet carriage, put a sword scabbard in it and you've got a baldric, or sew/buckle it to a cartridge box and now you've got ammo carriage. Heck one might even have a double frog and be able to carry a sword and bayo at the same time. Now I know this is a complicated idea, but if one was to simply slide a hawk handle through the frog....and viola. No need to reinvent the wheel for one piece of gear when virtually everything else was caried by the crossbelt. Aside from that, you could just stick it in your waist belt. Several books demonstrate how this was done, illustrated encyclopedia of uniforms of the American revolution would be just one example showing both aforementioned uniforms and tomahawk carriage on crossbelt. While slipping a 'hawk handle through the frog may not be a "complicated idea," that doesn't mean it was commonly done. I was mostly questioning some earlier discussions aboutthe tomahawk sheath of Sir Alexander Mackenzie here and elsewhere. These discussions lead me to believe that belt carry was so much the norm as to make all others very odd.
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Post by brokennock on Dec 12, 2020 11:44:43 GMT -7
Also, didn't we briefly mention 'hawks carried in integral sheaths on shotbl pouches recently? Final determination on that was that it doesn't seem to have been done in Colonial times.
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Post by brokennock on Dec 12, 2020 11:49:21 GMT -7
Okay Spence's pics came through. Thank you. I'm hoping there is artistic license there. Every one of them has the bare sharp edge facing forward ready to greet someone's wrist or such.
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Post by paranger on Dec 12, 2020 12:10:45 GMT -7
Okay Spence's pics came through. Thank you. I'm hoping there is artistic license there. Every one of them has the bare sharp edge facing forward ready to greet someone's wrist or such. I don't necessarily think it is artistic license. Though obviously sheaths existed, like hammer stalls, their use was very likely far from universal - and I will venture perhaps not even widespread. Take the hammer stall as an example. The copious documentary evidence of accidental discharges around camp, garrison, or on the march handily demonstrates this fact (and consider that probably only the fatal ones were even documented). We live in an age that puts a lot more emphasis on personal safety. And if you have EVER done a public reenactment anywhere (let alone on a state or national park), you know just how far that can be taken. I guess we have that luxury, given that its a hobby and not a daily battle for survival.
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Post by spence on Dec 12, 2020 12:14:03 GMT -7
Of course there is artistic license, isn't there always? Those drawings are someone's idea of what they looked like, but the artist wasn't there. He presents 90 such ideas, Rebel, British and German mercenaries, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he researched it enough to know a lot more about it than I do. That's an easy job. Gus and others know a lot more about the military goings-on than I, maybe they can answer the question....did the military who carried battle axes always put a sheath of some sort on the cutting edge?
Personally, I've carried my very sharp tomahawk stuck in my belt at the small of my back, with nothing on the cutting edge, for 30 years, never even nicked myself.
I have a lot of references to tomahawks, hatchets and axes from the 18th century. I just did a search of all my written material and found not a single description of a tomahawk being carried on a shoulder belt. When any mention of the method of carry is made, it's just stuck in the belt, every time. That, of course, proves absolutely nothing.
If anyone has ever shown reliable documentation of a tomahawk/axe being carried on an original shot pouch, I've forgotten it. I have very serious doubts that it was ever done, especially in the 18th century. I hope someone can prove me wrong.
Spence
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