North Carolina Hunting Shirts - Part Two (Military Use)

                                                   

So, I had to write a part two for this blog post.

The 1st part examined hunting shirts in estate/inventory records and runaway advertisements. 

Here is a runaway ad that I failed to add to the last blog post:

The Virginia Gazette Fri, Nov 14, 1777 ·Page 8

Runaway enslaved man named Baccus was secured in the gaol in Prince George, VA - he had belonged to a man from Granville County, NC.   He is wearing a hunting shirt over his clothing made of Virginia Cloth.   

Okay back to part 2:

This part is referring Hunting shirts in a military setting for North Carolina troops.  I tried to add as much images as possible but unfortunately it's going to be a lot of correspondence/text......   So the first evidence of hunting shirts for military use is the Battle of Alamance in 1771.

Battle of Alamance reference:

We find an invoice for supplies for the militia.   This is from the Documenting the American South: Colonial and State Records of North Carolina (https://docsouth.unc.edu).  Most of the documents listed below will be from this source.   We can see that they purchased 21 yards of onzabrig for hunting shirts at 1 pound, 6 shillings and 3 pence which was 1 shilling and 3 pence a yard..  The question is did they cost 9 shillings per shirt to manufacture or was it 9 shillings for all the shirts - which we don't know.

Invoice from Johnston & Thackston for supplies for the militia

Johnston & Thackston

1771

Volume 22, Page 455

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His Excellency Govt. Tryon to Johnston & Thackston,

1771.					Dr.
May 7.	To 1 quire paper				£0	1	6
11.	674 yd. Bedtyke for Shotbags, 4s. 4d.	£1	7	1
	47 yds. Cotton for blankets and tools, 3s.	7	1	0
	6 oz. thread for making Do, 6d.	0	3	0
	3 pr. Garters, 10d.	0	2	6
	5 doz. Vest Buttons for Shotbags, 10d.	0	4	2
	1 brod. hoe, 5s. 8d.; 1 quire paper, 1s. 6d.	0	7	2
	21 yds, onabs. for hunting-Shirts, 1s. 3d.	1	6	3
	2 oz. thr’d, Do, 6d.	0	1	0
	Cash paid for making Do	0	9	0	11	1	2
14.	5 narrow axes, 7s. 6d.	1	17	6
	3 Do, 6s. 6d.	0	19	6
	3 broad Do, 7s. 6d	1	2	6
	1 Do	0	6	8
	2 blanketts for the Hospital, 1s. 11d	1	8	0	5	14	2
	Rec’d June 20, 1771, the Above Acc’t in full.				£16	16	10

JOHNSTON & THACKSTON.