Kilts in the English Civil Wars/War of the Three Kingdoms

[Woodsheal]

Matchlocks were the cheaper, more common longarm in armies of the period, but "sparking" arms - snaphaunces, wheellocks, flintlocks, etc. - had been around since the late 1500s. Very few Highlanders (and I assume that's who we're talking about, not Scots in general) could afford firearms, only the upper-crust "clan gentlemen" being able to do so. Their longarms were primarily hunting pieces, used in war only secondarily, and were by and large NOT matchlocks, which were mostly a military weapon. Snaphaunces and early flintlock forms were the preferred long guns of the clansmen - again, the ones who could afford them! - a small percentage.
The fowling piece I have in the photo is a Dutch gun, with a lock that dates to pre-1630. Scotland imported lots of arms from the Low Countries through her eastern seaports.
Bear in mind that highland "clan regiments" were a different animal than the typical army infantry regiment of the civil wars. The latter, which might include some highland soldiers, featured issued weapons: pikes and (mostly) matchlocks. The clan regiment consisted of a front rank of fully-armed clan gentlemen with the aforementioned personally-owned firelocks, broadswords, and targes; the remaining bulk of the men armed with polearms and a smattering of captured firearms.

[Jock Scot]

I have no idea what the Highlanders wore or what arms they carried, but at the Battle of Worcester(1651 I think!)the Highlanders fared very badly and Clan MacLeod, for example, (depending on whose account you read) lost between 400 and 700 men killed. After the battle(the last of the Civil War) several thousand Highlanders were deported by the victor, Cromwell, mainly to the West Indies I believe. One of the reasons Clan MacLeod never took part in any major way in military excursions after that, was due to the losses in this battle. You may find some information that is pertinent to your question from websites on the battle and Worcester Museum.

[MacSpadger]

After the battle(the last of the Civil War) several thousand Highlanders were deported by the victor, Cromwell, mainly to the West Indies I believe.

Many ended up in America, the lists of Scottish slaves can still be read and include many Highland names. The link is for just one journey on one ship, I believe. Estimates of the total number of Scottish slaves sent to the Americas at this time are high. Out of a total of 25,000 slaves in Barabados in 1701, 21,700 are reported to be white people known to the locals as "redshanks".

I am assuming that the Highland prisoners from Worcester would have been mainly "humblies" and dressed in that manner.

[Nick the DSM]

Many ended up in America, the lists of Scottish slaves can still be read and include many Highland names. The link is for just one journey on one ship, I believe. Estimates of the total number of Scottish slaves sent to the Americas at this time are high. Out of a total of 25,000 slaves in Barabados in 1701, 21,700 are reported to be white people known to the locals as "redshanks".

I am assuming that the Highland prisoners from Worcester would have been mainly "humblies" and dressed in that manner.

Most notably, Red Legs Geaves a Scottish pirate from Barbados.

And interestingly enough: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshanks

[Matt Richards]

I had no idea, Woodsheal! I stand corrected.

[Mark E.]

On the matter of clothing...Not much in the way of re-enactments here in the states, being geographically on the other side of the sea, but for all that I have seen, the Scots were wearing simlar bloused pants to their English counterparts. I did read somewhere a journal entry of one of the officers, however, that told of the "Scotii"- "charging like madmen and screaming like banshees from Hell, clad barely in their shurts and hair..." Someone here can likely attribute the line to a text-my memory doesn't serve much of a filing system. Doubt they would have been dropping what we assign the term of "great kilt" to, but...


Ok...this is a little before my time, but on historical notes...Wheel and snap lock guns almost immediately followed the matchlock variety. To arm and train entire companies of men who understood the firelock to be a pike that went BANG would be an unnessary expense-both time and moneywise-regardless of the nationality of the company. Second, given the choice of training swordsmen OR musketeers, and given the evolution of the weaponry and gunpowder, the newer companies would almost always have been trained with muskets. That, and they were training the musketmen like pikemen-formation and maneuvering. Given the Scottish tendency to be a bit opposed to formations and dicipline in the face of adversity, combined with their likely being swordsmen first....I have swung a Brown Bess with a bayonet (plug as well as socket), and used both ends on dummies...it is a heckuva weapon, from one end to the other-just not necessarily the butt end in close quarters with men rank and file to your left and right. I have also heard accounts of muskets at Culloden (archaelogical finds) that appeared to be "chopped apart" by swords.

Probably the field commanders put them at the front-figured they were cheaper than the regular troops, and would do as much damage as they got.

Nobody has brought up the Scottish cavalry in the conflict...?

[Pleater]

During my stay in the English midlands I went to follow John Lilburne's regiment of musket and pike, but in none of the battles I saw were there any kilts.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[BoldHighlander]

I've always had a great interest in this era of Scottish history as well (including the Mackay Regiment during the Thirty Year War). Here are some prints I had scanned some while back from the Osprey series of books on the Scottish Highlanders in the ECW. I hope you find them of interest.


Mercenaries of the Army of Gustavus Adolphus (Thirty Year War 1631)



Covenant Musketeers (1643 - 44)



Preston (1648)



Moss Troopers (1650 - 51)



Dunbar (1650)



Scots Lancers (Dunbar 1650)



Covenant Pikemen (Dunbar 1650)

[BoldHighlander]

*IF* I ever finish my 18th century German Jaeger rifle this is another project I'd like to tackle, a German Wheel lock pistol (perfect for the earlier ECW period):

[BoldHighlander]

And here's another ECW era pistol I wouldn't mind having, a Middlesex Village Trading Company Doglock Pistol pistol: