Confederate tartan anachronisms

[macwilkin]

Something to keep in mind: In general, displays of ethnicity in the mid-19th century United States tended to be at the community level, such where a fairly large number of a particular ethnicity lived through churches, fraternal/social organizations, militia companies, etc.

The late Fernec Szasz, author of "Scots in the North American West, 1790-1917" states that the Scots as a rule were more accepted by their White Anglo-Saxon Protestant neighbors due to their shared Protestantism than the large number of Southern Irish or German immigrants who began arriving in the United States in the 1840s after the famine and the '48 Revolutions. However, Scottish immigration, especially from the Highlands, never was a large movement after the Revolution as it was to places like Canada, Australia, etc.

When I was reenacting and doing living history presentations (the latter never includes mock combat scenarios) for the National Park Service, I displayed my ethnic heritage the way my Scottish great-great-grandfather did when serving with the 11th Iowa Infantry: by carrying a period-copy of the works of Burns in my haversack. I took the idea from an article in the reenactor magazine "The Camp Chase Gazette" that suggested carrying a period rosary or wearing a period Marian medal was much more likely for Irish immigrants than the over-the-top displays of Irish harps on uniforms (bejabbers and begorrah!) that you see at reenactments.

Such symbols certainly were found in some (but not all) ethnic regiments, especially on regimental flags. If I remember correctly, the ubiquitous Irish harp badge sold by many a Civil War sutler is actually a post-war design for the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) regalia.

T.