Doc Arroyo said:
Okwaho said:
Remember too that we are talking Indian leggings here and White man's leggings aren't made nearly so tight and were rarely made of braintan unless the builder traded for some or was in some way associated with Indians.Whites would more than likely use primarily wool or home tanned leather either cow or buckskin.
Tom-
Since I am not sure of the time period of which you are speaking, I really have to ask a few questions.
Where did you get the idea that Indian leggins and White guy leggins fit differently?
White men had no idea how to brain tan?
Since braintan was very abundant during the western fur trade, when did the white hunters start wearing braintan?
Good questions Doc,I am primarily referring to the Northeast and Canada in the 17th and 18th centuries,so here goes; The consensus of opinion in this area and time frame seems to be that Indian leggings were generally tight fitting both as to leather and wool and somewhere I remember one or two references to leggings virtually wearing out on the legs.Indeed there is the example of the Caldwell leggings being made with sets of hooks and eyes,see Muzzleloader September/October 1998,PP.38-39/50 Ted Franklin Belue,"Re-creating Sir John Caldwell's Leggings"[Ca.1780]
Also there are numerous drawings of Indians from this period showing tight fitting leggings and I doubt seriously White farmers/hunters would be wearing leggings they would have difficulty removing except when on a protracted
[url] hunt.In[/url] this vein these men had wives and families and probably wore clothes that could be washed.
As to White men and braintan I don't doubt that some could brain tan just as they could bark tan buckskin. It's just that I have seen almost no references to the type of leather leggings worn by Whites and how common they were.General William Lenoir,writing about the 1776 Rutherford expedition against the Cherokees,stated that a well dressed man would have a hunting shirt,breeches and leggings all made of "stout tow linen".Sheep were present on the frontier at a fairly date as evidenced by the numerous references to linsey woolsey homespun.
As to your last question, buckskin was available to whites almost from the begiining of their settlement of the frontier and hides were being shipped in large quantities to the East and England by traders who acquired them from White and Indian hunters.I'm sure Whites were wearing some braintan at a very early date but as to the degree that they were worn,I cannot
[url] say.In[/url] fact I believe that with the coming of wool as a trade item Indian use of buckskin for clothing diminished greatly;after all the braintanning of a hide was a slow and laborious process and wool was easy to get from traders in exchange for deer hides and furs.I suspect that things were different in the West and Southwest. I hope this answers your questions which were,as I stated, very good ones.
Tom Patton
