"to ape the manner of savages . . ." or if James Bond was 18th century frontier what he might of looked like

"Declarant states that he was then stationed at Fort Pitt, the place aforesaid.  Declarant states that in obedience to the order of his said Captain Brady, he poceeded to tan his thighs and legs with wild cherry and white oak bark and to equip himself after the following manner, to wit, a breechcloth, leather leggins, moccasins and a cap made out of a racoon skin, with the feathers of a hawk, painted after the manner of an Indian warrior.  His face was painted red, with three black stripes across his cheeks, which was a signification of war.  Declarant states that Captain Brady's company was about sixty four in number, all painted after the manner aforesaid."  George Roush pension papers.  Early 19th century, describing 1777 campaign


"As we enlisted our men, we dressed them uniformly in the Indian manner, with breech-clouts, leggins, mockesons and green shrouds, which we wore in the same manner that the Indians do, and nearly as the Highlanders wear their plaids.  In place of hats we wore red handerchiefs, and painted our faces red and black, like Indian warriors.  I taught them the Indian discipline, . . . "  James Smith,  LIfe and Travels of Colonel James Smith.   1799 describing the "black boys" of the 1760's


"It was the silly fashion of those times for the riflemen to ape the manner of savages . ."  John Henry, An Accurate and Interesting Account of the Hardships and Suffering of that Band of Heroes, Who Traversed Thru The Wilderness in the Campaign Against Quebec in 1775.  1812


" April 10th. 1758 SIR Yesterday in the afternoon as Mr. Miller & 2 or 3 Countrymen more was riding from here to Jenkins's about 4 miles from this, they were fired at by Cocks & Lane who was lying under the fence, the Countrymen came in on a full gallop and inform'd me that they were fired on by some Indians. I immediately sent out Lieut. Weedon with a Command of Men who followed their Tracts till dark, returning home I sent Ensign Chew out again this morning to Reconnoiter on the other side the Mountain where he fell on their Tracts, and after pursuing them about 10 Miles he found a Beef that they had killed and cut out the Toungue and part of the hind quarters, he continued following them about a Mile farther and discovered a smoke in the hollow of a Mountain, Coming nigh perceived them Bacueing their Meet, they being acquipt every way like Indians and as he had followed their Tracts from pretty near the place where Lt. Weedon left them last night had great reason to believe they were Enemy/and immediately fired on them. Lane was killed Dead and Cocks mortally wounded, they brought to Bells Fort where he left him with a Sergt. & [manuscript torn] Men, he confessed it was their own fault & blame know one else but themselves for the Accident.1 I am Sir Your mo obt. Servt. J. BAKER"



“Lane and Cox appeared to have been disguised as Indians, and it was under the impression they were such that Lieutenant Chew shot them.”—Washington to President Blair, April 17, 1758



"400 Virginian Volunteers, all armed with rifles, and excellent marksmen, dressed alamode de sauvages, with painted shirts and fur caps stained with paint" Scots Magazine, Oct of 1764


"…8 blankets, 7 yards of stroud for making britch cloth and leggings, and 4 shirts for the volunteers of Kentucky" Clark Papers, 1992-2-656-658-July 1, 1779

"Capt. Hugh McGarry request to conductor of store for 20 blankets, 20 shirts, and 9 yards of blue stroud for 20 men of his company of Kentucky volunteers." Clark Papers, 1866-2-573-574-July 5, 1779.

"Honble. Sir: An unlucky, but unavoidable accident happened in the neighborhood of Patterson's fort the other day. The proceedings of an examining court of officers on that occasion (which are herewith sent) will bring your Honor acquainted with the circumstances. I caused a very strict enquiry to be made into the conduct of Mr. Chew, that equal justice might be done to the dead and to the living; and it appeared that Mr. Chew had acted with great spirit and activity in pursuing the tracks of those people; and that in shooting them (altho' it was unlucky in the event) he had done nothing that was not strictly warrantable, Lane and Cox appearing both in dress, disguise and behavior, to be no other than Indians."  JOHN BLAIR Fort Loudoun, April 17, 1758.

"I have had the happiness of seeing Captain Michael Cresap marching at the head of a formidable company of upward of one hundred and thirty men from the mountains and backwoods, painted like Indians, armed with tomahawks and rifles, dressed in hunting-shirts and moccasins; and though some of them had traveled near eight  hundred miles from the banks of the Ohio, they seemed to walk light and easy, and not with less spirit than at the first hour of their march."  Anonymous letter to Philadelphia, 1775



"Joseph Neal a soldier in Col' Rawling's Regiment was brought before the Court on suspicion of Deserting. Denies the Charge. No proof appearing against him & the suspicion arising only from Cutting one of his Ears & painting like the savages."  General court-martial, Col. Stephen Bayard, President Washington Papers.



"Pryor and Hammond were dressed in the Indian style . . . . . . . They passed the Indians without being recognized"  Extract from Hugh Taylor's "Notes".  Frontier Advance on the Upper Ohio, 1778-1779



I'm just going to let the quotes speak alone on this post.  Basically white dudes aping Indians.  Whole companies of them, a pair of buddies, spies . . . As cool of an impression as can be had . . .

And a huge, huge THANK YOU to Fred Lucas.  The man is bottom less pit of awesome resources and research.  99% of this stuff came from him.  Thanks a ton!

Fred Lucas, "the Frontier Yoda"

"to tie or strap up our packs..."

"Sappers String - what we used to have to tie or strap up our packs with, blankets, or budgets, or anything of that kind.  String about three fingers wide and then tapering off to go behind.  Made of nettles I suppose, stuff like hemp, platted, wide to go across their shoulders and then a string from there out. . . . . . . . . . Had gotten the string I think from the Indians."  William Clinkenbeard interview in the Shane portion of the Draper manuscripts.

Bedrolls!  It's one of those extremely critical items of gear for going out and doing much of anything.  Mine consists of two handwoven blankets, usually two pairs of spare moccs rolled inside, and a hemp tumpline.  While my intention of this write up is more to show the "how" of how i go about tying up the tumpline to the blankets, I feel some explanation and myth dispelling is in order too.  

The blankets -  I use two center seam blankets most of the time, both white in color, one thick but not too big with blue stripes on the ends, the other thin but larger with red stripes on the end.  If the weather is going to get below 15 to 20 degrees at night I usually add another blanket to this.  Think what you want but I'm no one blanket man.  I like to sleep at night.  When I started this game, I was scared to use white blankets.  I'd heard all sorts of horror stories of the bugs eating me alive with white.  I've found this to not be true.  The skeeters (at least around here) will find you and eat you alive at night no matter what color the blanket.  And white, for me at least, is the best choice because of the historical record.  White blankets predominate every thing I've ever seen.  

The choice of two blankets is as follows.  In warmer weather in this part of the country, bad weather can pop up at a moments notice.  The smaller blanket easily serves as a ghetto rigged lean to cover to keep hail and rain off.  The thinner blanket keeps the skeeters at bay and doesn't smother me too bad with heat.  Cooler weather means not as bad of storms, but I really enjoy having an extra thicker layer between me and and cold ground at night.  

The moccasins - A minimum of two pairs of moccs are at all times inside my bedroll.  I'd prefer about 5 extra pairs at all times, but don't always have that luxury due to lack of extra pairs laying around.  Real brain tan moccs soak up water like a sponge, and wear out about as fast chainsaw chains on rocks.  Wet worn out moccasins are not fun.  

The tumpline - My tumpline is one I twined and wove out of hemp.  It's about 21 feet long total.  The center section is equal to my three middle fingers in width and about 20" long.  That part is twined, tapers down to a diagonal finger woven portion, then braided at the tail splits.  Since I've made this tumpline I've learned a few things about proper construction, and have plans to make a newer better one very soon.  Evolving, progressing!  (it's my hope if nothing else is conveyed in these blog posts, that the take away is always trying to improve and do better)

The how -

Step 1.  I start by folding my blankets long ways (hot dog bun style!) and then cross ways (hamburger bun style!).  I lay one on top of the other, with the moccs piled up near one end, and lay the tails of my tumpline across this end with a big loop extending towards me where the burden portion is.  

Step 2.  I make one fold over the tumpline tails, with the moccasins right in front.

Step 3.  I roll the blankets up all the way to the end keeping it as compressed and tight as possible, and knock off leaves and random debris from the ground as I go.

Step 4.  I pull the tails of the tumpline, cinching it down, leaving the burden portion that goes across my chest the length of I can fit my elbow against the bedroll and my palm hits the center burden part.

Step 5.  I bring the tails back into the bedroll and go around it once, bringing them back under the initial wrap.

Step 6.  I start really cinching it down tight, and bring the tails of the tumpline into the center and cross them.

Step 7.  I come around the center portion of my bedroll with the tails, flip it over, and cross them again.

Step 8.  I come back around to my starting side of the tumpline tying by coming across the bedroll horizontally, across the ends.  

Step 9.  I do several wraps around and around the existing tumpline tie on the horizontal plane, rather than tying any knots.  I've found hemp swells with moisture and a bedroll with knots can be hard to untie after a rain storm.