http://www.academia.edu/3336557/_kind_of_armour_being_peculiar_to_America_The_American_Hunting_Shirt
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This is an excellent source for Hunting Shirts in the different time periods.
The one problem I have with the information is that it is a little unclear as it bounces back and forth in the time periods and a lot of the information seems to have been repeated twice or more.
I got a bit confused on the length of the shirts in the different time periods. I may have this wrong, but it seems to me it went something like this:
1. Early to Pre Rev War length, Mid thigh to Knee and maybe a bit longer than that.
2. Rev War length, got a bit shorter and this seems to be supported by the Original Sketch at the start of this thread and other information as well. Also, making them a bit shorter allowed more of them to be made from the same amount of cloth during war time normal supply problems.
3. Post Rev war through the end of the 18th Century, went back to a bit longer perhaps mid thigh or so? Stated reason it was easier to get more cloth.
4. War 1812 length mid thigh to knee though MAY have been a bit shorter as pants' waists were cut higher in this time period and suspenders were often worn with civilian pants?
There is another reason Hunting Shirts may have gotten shorter in the Rev War and that is because civilian coats, sleeved weskits and regular weskits were shortened from what we may think of as the French and Indian War Period. IOW, it could have been copying the STYLE of both civilian and military clothing being a little shorter starting around 1760-1770.
Of course, something else that is not usually thought of as to the length of Hunting Shirts was WHAT were the breeches, pants, trousers or breech clout the person preferred to wear UNDER the Hunting Shirt.
If one was wearing Indian Leggins, I imagine one would want their Hunting Shirt to be long to cover exposed skin at the sides of the hips down the thigh a ways to cover the tops of the leggings?
If one was wearing Breeches, Breeches and Leggins, or pants/trousers/overalls – the Hunting Shirt need not have been as long because there is no exposed skin to cover?
Bottom line is now we have much better information on the rest of the “cut” of the Hunting Shirt at different time periods and the length of even Rev War Hunting Shirts MAY have been a little longer if the men were wearing breechclouts and Indian Leggins?
Gus
PS Back in the 70’s when Friends of mine and I often volunteered at Historic Fort Wayne in Fort Wayne, IN; we decided to “do” a Militia Uniform for the 1812 period Special Events Weekends. So we chose “Brush’s Separate (or Independent) Company of Ohio, Militia" because their uniforms were very plain Lined Hunting Shirts and Pants that definitely were cut different than Rev War period examples. The most expensive thing we had to procur was a rather specific Black Hat, though not that expensive.
Brush’s Company was composed of Waggoner’s and Cattle Drovers who followed the American General Hull’s forces. However, they never quite caught up to them for any of the major battles and most just turned around and went home when Hull managed to get his clock cleaned even though he had numerically superior forces to the Canadians he opposed. IOW, he went to rather fantastic lengths to wrestle Defeat from the Jaws of Victory. Grin.
