Some six miles farther on our march, I observed "Three-legged Willie" galloping up to General Houston dressed in buckskin and with a coonskin cap ornamented with some half a dozen old coons' tails that were dangling on his shoulders. -Dr. Nicholas Labadie’s Journal 1836
The mythical and magical coonskin cap. A cemented icon of Westward Expansion and yet to many when it comes to actual material culture it is relegated solely to the land of fiction and 20th century nostalgia. Transversely to this there is another mindset where whole animals are draped over the heads and shoulders of some strange communicants as their fantastical badge of some old timey religious sect uniformed in yellow skins. Does either position hold merit? And to what use in early 19th century living history should they be utilized?
First let’s establish their 18th century existence.
When I came into the fettlement my clothes were almoft worn out, and the boy had nothing on him that ever was fpun. He had buck-fkin leggins, mockafons, and breech-clout — a bear-fkin drefled with the hair on, which he beltedabout him, and a racoon-fkin cap. I had not travelled far after I came in before I was ftrictly examined by the inhabitants. -An account of the remarkable occurrences in the life and travels of Colonel James Smith
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. -George Roush pension papers.
“a coonskin cap on his head with a long tail hanging down”. -George Fearis, Draper Manuscripts
In 1793, the Indians being restless and discontented by the advance of the whites, Captain Foote was authorized by the Goyernor of Georgia to organize a troop of horse for the protection of the frontier. Putting a steady old man in my place on the farm, I volunteered for the service. Our accoutrements were a ‘coonskin cap, bearskin vest, short hunting-shirt and trowsers of homespun stuff, buckskin leggins, a blanket tied behind our saddles, a wallet for parched corn, coal flour, or other chance provision, a long rifle and hunting-knife. -Life and times of Gen. Sam Dale, the Mississippi partisan
These four accounts all not very far removed from their respective times do establish some variety of furry head covering existed but what could they have looked like?
This soldier is wearing a Canada cap but the style of the “tail” hanging down seems to be within the same branch of decoration as many descriptions we’ll read in a second.
Patrick Campbell 1791, New Brunswick. Remember the general look of this cap and compare to some quotes of the 19th century fox skin caps.
In general the following quotes will come in no particular order or chronology, it is very encouraged for all to take a second to note the localities of each quote as they are read and even decipher various minute construction details when given. Nuance in history and its extension through Living History is something lacking many places and it would be a shame if this study was used to suggest things that I would not endorse. Indeed, it would be right at this point to say that even with the evidence presented there should not be a helter skelter run on the woods for everyone to get their own ringtail or any variety of furry top. Felt and straw hats, and every variety of civilized cap have a solid footing in living history even far into the wilderness as the major documented bracket. Anyways, let’s kick this off.
James P. Gorman, well known in the vicinity of Bastrop, was appointed wagon master. He picked up a Mexican sword, for which he made a cowhide sheath. With that strapped to his side and his head surmounted with a fox- skin cap, the ears standing erect on top and the tail hanging down behind, he cut a grotesque figure. With a number of other men I was standing on the porch of Elisha Robins' boarding house when a grotesque figure surmounted by a coonskin cap sauntered slowly past the group, scrutinizing each face as if in search of some one. Here a broad-brimmed sombrero overshadowed the military cap at its side ; there a tall "beegum" rode familiarly beside a coonskin cap, with the tail hanging down behind, as all well regulated tails should do. -Evolution of a State, (Texas 1830’s-40’s, account written late century, published book form 1900)
When he got up to where I was he reined in his horse, evidently intending to wait for me, and I had a chance of observing as curious a looking "specimen" as I ever saw before in any country. He was a tall, spare-built chap, dressed in buckskin hunting-shirt and leggings, with a coonskin cap on ; a long, old-fashioned flint -and -steel Kentucky rifle on his shoulder…. I had a splendid suit of buckskin given me by my old friend "Bah - pish -na-ba-hoo tee," (which means " Little blue whistling thunder " in the Tonkawa language,) made of the skins of the " big-horn," and rigged off with buffalo tags and little copper bells, that jingled musically as I walked along; and when I was dressed up in them, and had my coonskin cap on, with its tail hanging down behind, I do believe there was n't a young woman in the settlement that could look at me with impunity. -Adventures of Big-Foot Wallace, the Texas ranger and hunter (Texas 1840’s-50’s, published 1870)
The foremost man, wearing a coon-skin cap, with the tail hanging down his back, his coat in rags, his shirt much the color of the hog-wallow lands of the west, one leg of his pantaloons off at the knee, his feet protected by rawhide moccasins, with the hair on just as it grew on the cow, and resting in rawhide stirrups, readily agreed, and dismounting invited us all to make ourselves "at home." -Flowers and Fruits from the Wilderness (Texas 1836, published 1872)
In addition to the German cloth cap, the covering for the head consisted of a broad-brimmed, peaked Mexican sombrero, or a fantastic fur-lined cap with the long tail of the native grey fox dangling from it. The coat was often made of yellow buckskin, fringed gracefully in Indian fashion, or it consisted of a kind of blouse with sleeves slit almost to the shoulders, fashioned and introduced by Prince Solms. -Texas, with Particular Reference to German Immigration & the Flora, Fauna, Land and Inhabitants (published 1849)
Here I encountered a tall sun-burnt man, dressed in buckskin rifle-shirt and breeches, finged at the seams and edges; a long rifle was slung under his arm, with powder-horn and bullet-pouch to match. A coonskin cap, Indian moccasons, heavy bowie-knife and pistols, completed his equipments, and indicated the character of his business in language plainer than words. -Wild Oats Sowing (Texas 1836, published 1857
Most all these accounts have been books concerning Texas, since that’s my personal wheelhouse. Besides those let’s start examining some period newspapers. Care has been taken to avoid any direct exert of romantic fiction that frequently graces papers of today and the past.
He was dressed in the most approved hunting fashion, having on buck skin pantaloons and a coon skin cap, with a for's tail in it. His face was particularly striking. from the fact, probably, of its having been repeatedly "struck," as it was covered with scars. The Empire County argus. [volume], March 25, 1854 (Kentucky)
The same paper speaking of the st. Paul dandies says, "the fashion here is fox skin caps, with the tail sticking out gracefully behind, and a moustache covering the whole face, which makes up a subjest for a painter, looking more like a polar bear than a human. -Burlington free press. [volume], February 18, 1853 (Minnesota)
Old Kentuck was soon up stairs, shak. ing the Captain by the hand in the most cordial manner. He was certainly a char-acterHe wore a pair of pants with enormous stripes in them; a most preposterous pattern; his vest was of rich silk, of a gorgeous fashion, while around his neck he had a neck-cloth black and red, tied in a curious kind of knot, in which he seemed to pride himself. A loose frock coat, brown and with a brown velvet collar thrown back, covered his body while his head was adorned with a huge fox-skin cap, with the tail of Reynard fantastically curled above it. But the face of the stranger was certainly attractive. -The mountain sentinel. [volume], July 04, 1850 (Ohio/Mississippi watershed)
There were certain whims, or eccentricities which gave him a wide notoriety wherever he peregrinated through the various neighborhoods, who, after becoming acquainted with his habits, began to look for his semi occasional visits in the fall and winter seasons he usually wore a coon skin cap with the tail dangling full length between his shoulders, like the cues of the lawyers in those days. The Richmond palladium. [volume], October 11, 1860 (Kentucky)
The pioneers, living in constant contact with the Indians, necessarily became more than half savages in appearance, habits, and manners; and frequently the whole savage character was assumed. Their ordinary dress was too unique to be forgotten. A coonskin cap, with the tail dangling at the back of the neck, and the snout drooping upon the forehead. The states and territories of the great West : including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minesota [sic], Kansas and Nebraska , published 1856
The object of our attention was a stalwart, red-cheeked youth, with foxskin cap, blanket coat, woolen mit-tens, and might have come down from Vermont with a load of vension and poultry.- Wisconsin herald. [volume], April 08, 1848 (New England)
Old Manasseh Smikepepper lived at that very extraordinary "gap" in the the Blue-ridge through which the traveller passed ere he was aware he had attained to the summit. Dickens would have called him "a remarkable, a very remarkable man." Not for his long white beard, foxskin cap. and mocaskins of his own tanning from the skin of the deer--nor for his rude but liberal hospitalities, which many a back woodsman shared, while the wintry night was beguiled with thrilling stories of perils passed, hardships endured. triumphs achieved. and pleasures enjoyed amid the defiles and fastnesses of his own native Blue mountains. Alexandria gazette. [volume], January 15, 1850 (Kentucky)
His attire far surpassed any in which he had hitherto taken the field. It consisted of a hunting-frock of dressed deer-skin, fitting much closer to his person than nstal with such garments, and gaily embroidered with dyed moose-hair and porcupine quills. He wore the Indian leggins, with their gaudy fringes extending down the outside of the leg, and corresponding moc-casins, His cap was of fox-skin, with the animal's tail brought over the crown like the ridge of a helmet. Vermont phoenix. [volume], June 13, 1845 (New England)
Ten Dollars reward RAN AWAY from the subscriber , who resides in the town of Alexandria, on the 23d instant, a negro man named ISAAC, formerly the property of Mr. Ferdinand Marsteller-by trade a baker, stout made, supposed to be about 5 feet 7 or 8 inches high, 35 years old, hard of hearing, has lost two of his fore teeth- had on a roundabout jacket and trousers of home-made grey twilled cloth, and a fox-skin cap. It is probable he may change his cloathing as he has a blue coatee and trousers at his wife's. Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume], April 25, 1815 (Virginia)
He always prided himself on his hunting dress, and always looked neat in his per-son; his usual dress was a thick blanket hunting frock, of a dark brown color, bound round the neck, skirt, and sleeves, with strips of beaver skin. his stout home spun breeches was met at the knees by heavy buckskin leggins, his feet encased in strong Indian moccasins, and on his head he wore a sort of skull-cap of gray fox-skin, with the tail sewed on the left side, and hanging down on his shoulder. The mountain sentinel. [volume], March 13, 1851 (Pennsylvania 1849)
I was look ing round to see some good place, when I was starlled by the neighing of a horse ahead of me, and presently I saw two men approaching me on horseback. They were rough looking fellows dressed in hunting shirts, with squirrelskin caps on their heads. Fayetteville observer. [volume], May 22, 1856 (Tennessee 1815)
He was dressed in the peculiar costume of a Yankee backwoodsman-having on his head a squirrel-skin cap, and on his feet a pair of double-soled cow hide boots which would laugh out of countenance a Kamschat-kian winter. The Southern banner. [volume], March 23, 1839 (New England)
The Ranger prefers buckskin pantaloons, as these alone can withstand the chaparral; he wears a hunting shirt and cap of the skin of some wild animal, which, in the range of the regiment, will assume every variety of shape. Wilmington journal. [volume], July 02, 1847 (Texas)
While the 'Simpson' lay at our wharf last trip, a queer looking biped might have been seen wending his way towards the boat, "citing" a large hair-trunk under his arm. let us describe him. His upper story was topped with a coon skin cap, long uncombed stridy hair streaking out from beneath it and faling around like flax over a brake. -Southern sentinel. [volume], January 24, 1852 (Mississippi basin)
To give a general idea of this, without tedious details, let us select for enumeration a single article of costume, for example the orature of the head. Coon-skin caps, with and without the tail, were most abundant. Broad-brimmed woollens answering the twofold purpose of sun-shade and umbrella, came next in the order of precedence. Sunday dispatch. [volume], June 10, 1849 (Arkansas)
It should be noted these descriptions all are dated later than the times they describe but again, I have endevoured to only quote works where the author either witnessed the caps or was a removed academic secondary source.
Concerning one of the most famous people to ever don a fur cap: David Crockett has these descriptions written about him and his trip to the Alamo.
He was dressed in his hunting suit, wearing a coon skin cap.” -Matilda Crockett, interview late in life
He wore that same veritable coon-skin cap and hunting shirt.-James Davis, seeing Crockett leave Memphis, 1835
“Wore a buckskin suit and a coonskin cap.” -Enrique Esparza, interview late in life
He was a tall American of rather dark complexion and had on a long cuera (buck skin coat) and a round cap without any bill, and made of fox skin, with the long tail hanging down his back -Felix Nunez, Interview late in life, soldado at the taking of the Alamo
Now that all the reading is over here are all the images from the 19th century of fur caps.
More information will be edited to this work as it is discovered but for now I hope all have enjoyed their journey down this rabbit trail and have a better look and appreciation at this piece of Americana.
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