Images from the Baroness de Neuville in the collection of the NY historical society

Sweet blankets...check the garters at the knee and ankle...common in 18th cent descriptions

1820's but I dig it for the simple details....no quiver, wrapped in a banket and you can see how the pack is tied

Peter Buffalo.....is that a tug as a hornstrap?

Image of Red Jacket (dont know if its THE redjacket) Rockin hunting shirt, patched leggings, native mullet and possible tug strap and sash

Buffalo tugs...the duct tape of the hunters camp

tools of the trade...trade Knife and a section of buffalo hide

the french scalper folks..It slices, it dices it cuts Buffalo hides into tugs

Section of tug cut from hide

close up....the twist seems to give it some strength

So I decided that one of the items I needed to carry as a hunter was some buffalo tugs. Buffalo tugs are “ropes” cut out of green buffalo hides that seem to be a common field item used by market hunters/natives in the 18th century. They were used to carry gear or to make impromptu pack bags to haul meat back to stations. While these items aren’t made to last they would be a common item Hunters of the period would have made/used so I decided it was something I needed to try for myself.
I picked up a green hide from a local Buffalo ranch and made sure to go over the hide to make sure it was fleshed and dried to my satisfaction. I know ones done by a hunter may have been totally green but I wanted to be able to use these tugs/bags for a few demos. I’ve found that a dressed untanned hide can last at least a season. I then halved the hide. The lower half I cut into quarters to have smaller pieces to work with.
I took a quarter section and began to cut a inch wide tug out of the hide in a spiral. From this section I was able to cut out 30 feet of tug. I then stretched the tug out and used my tomahawk handle to twist the tug on itself. This is a technique I have used in making natural cordage and felt it could help the strength of the tug. And bam I now had 30 feet of Buffalo tug just about the most PC rope for an ohio country camp you could find..
I cut out another quarters worth of tug and twisted it but this was for more then rope. I then took a section of the hide about 24 inches wide 40 inches deep and folded it on itself (hair out) and using my knife as an awl punched holes on each side of the hide and laced it up with the tug. This pack matched up to the descriptions found in the draper/shane interviews on how hunters packed meat back to camps. I found that after a summer of hauling gear/meat in this pack with a tumpline (hoppus) it’s still in pretty good shape. Also I used my own tumpline but there was plenty of tug left over to make an impromptu tumpline out of this rig.

As far as shelf life of a tug....I made some in early July and used them to haul stuff/pack gear all summer long and they still are holding up pretty well and This was with Almost daily use at the Historic site I was working at. To store them for a long period of time I simply make sure they are dry before I store them and pack them in a garbage bag in my attic.

On a side note I did find a few images of what may be buffalo tugs in use as powder horn straps and mentioned as being used to tie on a matchcoat. I’ll post those and a pic of the buffalo pack later today when I dig them back up. So many files of stuff so little time.

looking at old stuff

SO today I got some kewl stuff in the mail (you'd be amazed at the places you can make deals for old stuff lol) I picked up a nice shirt buckle, oval striker, awl, thimble, arrowhead and some tinkle cones. SO i figured I'd share them here. The one thing that you cant get from the pix is the thinness of the items. the striker is hella thin. In fact I haven't seen any repros made to this thickness (all too chunky)

I've also posted some pix of the knives I own just for ppl to get ideas from. I passed the largest one off to Ken Gahagan to repro for me. I was able to examine a few repro scalpers by Rich Worthington at the cla show so hopefully I'll be able to review some of them in the near future. I also ordered the same knife from Ken Hamilton, Joseph Privott and rick Guthrie so as soon as I have all three I'll post some info on them. enjoy the old stuff

South Union Mills....stockings review

SO I'm trying to post as much as possible and still keep the info usefull. SO here is something that most of us can use. Anyone that walks more then from the car to the event knows how horrible Bad stockings can be. they eat your feet up, Farb your gear up and well just plain suck. Well last summer I ordered a skillet from CHris Utely (the skillet rocks BTW ) and he thru in a pair of his STockings for me to try out. I guess he heard how I can break down 18th century gear like no one else (i think it's my basic 18th century diet of deer meat and beer but anyway...)
I got the stockings right before the "phillip's Massacre" tactical I hosted so I was able to get about a week in the field out of the stockings right off the bat. The held up great and didnt eat my feet like some knit stockings I had owned. THe stockings were a little on the thick side But they held up. In all honesty they acted as a type of Stocking legging so the thickness worked.
I wore the stockings the rest of the year heading out a number of time to my camp for 2-4 day camp out and they held up great. Thru the spring I wore the stockings every day at the historic site I worked at and even in mocs the stockings still haven't broken down.
Last weekend I was able to see some of Chris's newer stockings (thiner) and I have to say that they look great from an authenticity standpoint and they seem to be the same quality as the pair I've been wearing for over a year now. SO for anyone that does any "scouts" or walks more then 100 yards at an event Get these stockings! my only complaint is that my first pair havent worn out yet so I can turn them into STocking leggings with a pair of his thin weight stockings underneath.


http://www.southunionmills.com/18th-Century-Stockings.html

"All One Devil part 2" more stuff to look at

South eastern Moc in Aberdeen. nice pucker toe design and simple edging. Hopefully in the near future Travis Crowder can post his directions for making these



Scalphat...weird. Oblique woven hair garter as well as small bed twined hair fob and small beaded hair garter

Possible SE bead bag painted by Sara Stone. Early pottery looking symbols

Ground hog sausage......beaded belt draped over neck (symbol of rank ?)

"All one Devil"

Close up of SE garter you can see the bead turned at an angle showing it's woven onto the piece

SE garter (bottom) note odd shape beading.....that aint no thunderbrid

THe hair garter GUY

Pistol Grip swept blade knife.....I need like 5 of those things

"dude just give the coat or I will mess you up"

The High top mocs...rockin

Well folks I was really AMAZED at the number of people that I met at the CLA show in lexington that actuly read this. I was pretty sure it was only the usual cast of Misfits I run around with. As soon as I get the pics from the show I'll post some of the Set up myself, Travis Crowder and Mike Burke had. Now to further poke the golem so to speak I decided to post some research on SE natives . Before I start I want to thank DR. Scott, David hobbs, Wynne Eden, Rick Guthrie, Jason Melius, Jim Apple and Joseph Privott for their help in researching SE natives over the past however many years.

The involvement of South eastern Tribes such as the Cherokee, Catawba, Chickasaw and creek natives in the campaigns of the seven years war has long been overlooked by many. Their role as allies of the English is …. Many of the events at Forts from the Carolinas to Pennsylvania the only appropriate role for a Native reenactor would be that of one of the English Allied southern tribes. It is the focus of this article to help someone build up a basic kit of an English allied Southern native during the Seven years war. My main focus is that of the Cherokees as personally this was the route I chose to interpret.
Basic Kit
The basic clothing of the18th century native is rather simple. It generally consists of a basic European mans shirt, leggings, breechclout, moccasins and a matchcoat. Henry Timberlake commented on their dress in his journal:
“ They that can afford it wear a collar of wampum, which are beads cut out of clamshells, a silver breast plate, and bracelets on their arms and wrists of the same metal, a bit of cloth over their private parts, a shirt of the English make, a sort of cloth boots, and mockasons which are shoes of a make peculiar to the Americans, ornamented with porcupine quills; a large mantle or matchcoat thrown over all completes their dress at home; but when they go to war they leave their trinkets behind, and the mere necessaries serve them.”
SO as you can see the basic kit for the portrayal isn’t really that hard to get together at all. From what I’ve found the most common colors for legging/matchcoats/breechclouts are White, blue, green and red. A great place for colors available to war parties is the list of goods given by the English at different forts. For example at Fort Cumberland the colors /types of woolen goods for the native allies was listed as:
2 ps red stroud
1 half piece blue stroud
6 blue strouds
3 ps blue ½ thick
2 ps white ditto
2 pcs red ditto
33 pr blue Indians stockings
The most common types of shirts; listed in the gift/trade lists for southern natives are either plain white or checked shirts. These shirts seem to have been made like the standard European man’s shirt of the period. One detail of note is the fact that many of these shirts seemed to have been made without buttons. It was common for European men of the period to wear cufflinks or “shirt buttons” as they are listed in the trade ledgers among the native goods and found in native arch sites it seems natives adopted their use as well.
Leggings seem to be the typical Side seam leggings with the wide flap that was typical during the period. These leggings were often sold/given in premade forms. Over all the Typical “dress” of the SE native male wasn’t that different than that of the northern tribes in that well they were all getting the same stuff from euro sources.
The real difference comes about when you look at the details of the clothes. Types of beading on the woven items, Hair styles, tats, lack of quillwork (except on mocs) etc. SO those are some details I’ll hash out here over a few separate blogs. This is also useful for those portraying SE hunters, soldiers etc as you’re view of just what a “native” looked like would be pretty different than that of a person from New York.
WOVEN GOODS
When most folks look at SE weaving the first idea is often the large diamonds and chevrons you see in the 19th century images. There are some examples of the diamonds and chevrons from the late 18th century but in all honesty the look nothing like what most weavers I have seen at shows are making today and calling 18th cent SE (except for David Hobbs that man can weave like a mofo!!!) And before you think this is an ADD for my own weaving I’m the first to admit I can’t make the SE diamonds/chevron stuff. I really wish I could but then again all I end up making is black and red leg ties but I digress…
Looking at 18th century SE images the Oblique weave seems to be common or at least show up (hard to say common with the very few pieces of SE anything that survive) The main difference in the SE oblique woven pieces seems to be that the beads are actually woven onto the strands as opposed to being woven in on a separate thread. The other BIG difference is that the bead designs …well..Look nothing like the northern stuff. Squares, circles, curves are woven into the item. The shapes look very close to images you would find on Mound Builder pottery.
Another type of SE weaving is the bead twine technique I mentioned in a previous blog. This type of weave is used for making garters, bags, hair fobs and Belts. Since I’ve already covered this to a point I’m not going to comment too much. I also don’t want to step on a friends Toes and put too much out as there is a forthcoming article on this (Come on DR. Scott get it out there) This stuff does pop up in the North but like the oblique woven items the southern examples have the early Pottery motifs on them.

“In the winter season the woman gather buffalos hair, a sort of coarse brown curled wool: and having spun it as fine as they can and properly doubled it, they put small beads of different colors upon the yarn as they work it. The figures they work into those small webs are generally uniform, but sometimes they diversify them on both sides." -- James Adair
"They in a very friendly manner, tied plenty of bead garters round my neck, arms and legs and decorated me a la mode America" -- James Adair
"The women likewise make very pretty belts and collars of beads and wampum also belts and garters of worsted." -- Henry Timberlake
“The cloathing of their body is simple and frugal. Sometimes a ruffled shirt of fine linen,next to the skin, and a flap, which covers their lower parts…The leg is furnished with cloth boots; they reach from the ancle to the calf, and are ornamented with lace,beads,silver bells,&c.” Bartram pg 121


Here are some good sites to find so info/images on SE natives.
http://amohkali.southeasterntrading.com/
this is Wynne Eden’s site it’s full of info/images. Wynne is a great guy and very knowledgable about the creeks during the F&I period

bead twining basics or you too can charge $900 for string and beads

I’ve been finger weaving since the late 1990’s (god I feel old now) but along with finger weaving I’ve been interested in just about all aspects of natïve weaving used during the 18th century be it the oblique weave, braiding or twining. One type of weaving that I have found really enjoyable is the Bead Twining method. This type of weave can be seen on a number of pieces collected in the south east during the 18th century as well as some items from the Northern part of the country. Items ranging from powder horn straps, hair garters, belts to garters still exist in collections being made using this technique.
Before I go on I need to clarify one debate about this type of weave.. You can do this type of weave without any loom. You simply use your fingers to twist the warp cords onto the proper weave. Another type can be done using a heddle loom and you can see the warp cord being passed up and down over the warp. One thing I have found is you can with practice do the same weave without a heddle. You simply use your fingers as the heddle and not twist the weft cords. If you get more into this type of weaving and look at original items you can see just what I’m talking about.
Back to the show…ok lets try a simple hair garter to start with. This garter is based off an example from a private collection as well as a piece attached to the “scalp hat” in Aberdeen ,Scotland. In Smith’s narrative this may be the “narrow beaded garter” he mentions being wrapped around a piece of his scalp lock. So to start you need: 6 pieces of 2 ply yarn about a foot long, a lot of white beads (6/0 to 8/0) and about a yard of linen thread attached to a narrow needle and a narrow dowel rod
Step 1. Attach your yarn to the dowel rod. You know all 6 pieces near the top of them and wrap them around the dowel rod.

Step 2 tie your linen thread to the dowel rod and put 2 beads on the thread. You then separate the 6 threads on your index finger (3 on the front 3 on the back) and pass the thread between these threads. You then give the first two threads a half twist, the second two a half twist and the last pair a half twist. This locks the 2 beads in between each set of threads.

Step 3 You pass the weft with two beads back thru the warp strands and twist each pair of warps over the weft. AND repeat!!! It’s that simple.

To finish off the garter I simply take the weft thread and pass it back and forth thru the last 2-3 rows of baeds and then cut the weft flush to the warps. i'll post some detailed pix later when i get my hands on a better camera