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19th Century Buckskin Hunting Shirt/Jacket
By William L. Brown, III
By William L. Brown, III
Titian Ramsay Peale Hunting Jacket
FRONT VIEW
[Washington’s Headquarters Museum, Newburgh, New York.]
FRONT VIEW
[Washington’s Headquarters Museum, Newburgh, New York.]
Titian Ramsay Peale son of the famous American artist, naturalist, and museum operator Charles Willson Peale, joined the Major Stephen H. Long expedition as assistant naturalist in 1819. The expedition left Pittsburgh and reached the Rocky Mountains, returning to the East in late 1820. Peale had this hunting jacket/shirt made for him over the winter of 1819-1820 probably by an Indian woman near Council Bluffs, Iowa.
It is a combination of smoked, tanned buckskin and early commercial tanned buckskin, all sinew sewn. The main body is of the European method of tanning, while the sleeves are of the Indian process, as are the welted seams. Hunting shirt/jackets are very rare today and this one is very special with the combination of leathers, and another feature not seen very often is this jacket was lined in a French Blue period cloth like fusian that we have seen used in other garments. It is most unfortunate that most garments used as everyday wear have a low survival rate.
The hunting shirt had its beginning in Europe as a simple peasant smock; brought to America it continued as a pull over smock, the working man’s garment, usually made of tow or coarse linen.
Titian Ramsay Peale Hunting Jacket
REAR VIEW
[Washington’s Headquarters Museum, Newburgh, New York.]
REAR VIEW
[Washington’s Headquarters Museum, Newburgh, New York.]
By the time of the French & Indian War we find an off-shoot called the hunting shirt, jacket, or coat. One description of the militia at the battle of point Pleasant in 1773 describes the militia as wearing "hunting shirt, many reaching to their ankles, various colors. As the leaves in autumn."
We know of one surviving linen hunting shirt of the revolutionary era; it is now at the Washington’s Headquarters Museum, Newburgh, New York.
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This next garment, chronologically, is the next earliest one surviving, that I know about. Hollywood would have us believe that American soldiers of the 18th century were wearing buckskin hunting shirts, but we can find no evidence for it, all facts point to linen and no paintings or sketches show buckskin hunting coats.
But in the 1830’s and 1840’s we have a great deal of graphic sources showing buckskin garments in use in the West.
This shirt is believed to be one of the earliest buckskin shirts to have surived the hazards of time. The documentation shows this coat being made before 1818 or 1819 on the Missouri River in the present State of Iowa.
There are some features that should be noted, particularly to those readers who might wish to reproduce this garment:
1. All of the seams have a welt sewn in them.
2. While it is a simple garment, the sleeves conform to the fashion of the period - fairly tight, pinched at the wrist, flaring to the cuff.
3. The belts, crossing in the back, then tying in front, are interesting and unusual feature.
4. Titian Peale, then 19, was of slight build and stood between 5’8" and 5’9" tall - thus the coat reached about halfway between his crouch and knees.
Construction
The garment is made similarly to a regular shirt of the period. It is essentially two large rectangles with sleeves. The neck opening size is determined by a gusset on the shoulder/neck seam.
Note that the collar and the sleeve are one piece of material, folded over.
The sleeve is long; it comes in at the wrist and flares out at the cuff. The cuff would extend from the wrist to the knuckles. The cuff is made twice as long as necessary and then folded under and sewn down.
The sleeve is left un-sewn, or open, from the wrist to the knuckle of the little finger.
If you wish to make this garment, I would suggest making it first in muslin, to get your proper fit, then going to buckskin.
This unique hunting shirt, along with Mr. Peale’s, his moccasins, tailored buckskin underwear, a pair of pistols and other memorabilia from the expedition will soon be available for public viewing at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, National Park Service, St. Louis, Missouri (under the arch).
Good luck on reproducing either one of these interesting garments.
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Reprinted from:
The Colonial Journal - Fall 1982
American Rendezvous Magazine - Spring 1983
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