Cowboy Duds

"I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy." This line was forever stamped in our consciousness of the old west cowboy when it became a song lyric in The Streets of Laredo. But exactly what was it about those cowboy duds that made the man wearing them identifiable on sight?

Since the cowboy worked with cattle and horses in some of the wildest terrain in the west, by necessity his clothing had to be durable. A cowboy’s clothing could also tell a lot about where he hailed from and the job he performed.

Stetson Champie

Hats gave a big clue to a rider’s origin. In the north, the brims were narrow and the crowns low. But just like a jackrabbit’s ears, the farther south you went, the bigger they became to shade their owners from the sun. In a previous post, Lauri Robinson gave us some great information about the Stetson and the various ways they are creased and what the creases signify. Stetsons came in a variety of styles, including the Dakota, Calgary, Champie (my fave), and the Ten-gallon. A common misconception about the Ten-gallon hat is that it referred to liquid measure. It didn’t. In Spanish, the word "gallon" refers to the band on a hat. The more gallons it had, the more expensive it was. Cowboys eventually started calling any hat that was large and expensive a Ten-gallon. Besides protecting him from the sun and rain, a cowboy’s hat had other uses. He could carry water in it or use it to fan a fire to life. If need be, he could use it as a whip to urge his horse to a faster run. On occasion, he might even stuff the crown with dried grass and use it as a pillow.



A bandana, also known as a wipe or rag, was just as necessary as a hat. They usually came in blue or red and were worn loosely around the neck. When the weather turned frigid, a bandana could be pulled up over a cowboy’s nose to prevent frostbite. It also served as a mask when a man pulled drag duty and had to ride behind the dusty herd. A bandana was long enough to be draped over the crown of a cowboy’s hat and tied under his chin to prevent the hat flying off in a high wind. This also protected his ears from frostbite if he got caught out in a blue norther. And just like his hat, a cowboy’s bandana had other uses and was sometimes brought into service as a potholder, towel, or bandage. If the only available water was muddy, the bandana could be used to filter it for drinking. In a pinch, the bandana probably had a couple of other uses, too, but I’d rather not mention those and put you off your feed this early in the day.

Shirts were always long-sleeved and most often were the pullover type with a three or four button placket on the front opening. See the young cowboy in the photo; he’s wearing a pullover, probably made of wool. Fabrics used were some variety of cotton or wool, depending on the climate. Let’s not forget gloves and leather cuffs, which fastened around the lower arm and extended down to cover the wrists. These were necessary to protect against rope burns or injuries from barbed wire and sharp animal hoofs, plus they saved wear and tear on shirt sleeves.

Contrary to popular culture, the most common pants worn by cowboys in the old west were made of heavy wool, not denim. As I mentioned before, the clothing had to be durable and wool lasted longer than other materials. Levi Strauss didn’t perfect his denim jeans until 1873, and I imagine it took quite some time after that for them to become readily available in dry goods stores throughout the west. So if you have your cowboy set in any time period prior to that, he’d most likely have worn wool or some other material.



Can you imagine wearing that hot, scratchy wool from waist to ankle? I can’t. Which brings me to the reason most cowboys wore their unmentionables year round. Since the great westward migration began after the Civil War, that’s where I’ll begin—with the union suit. The first union suit was patented in 1868 as "emancipation union under flannel." Normally, they were red flannel with full-length arms and legs. The front buttoned up from groin to neck. There was a flap in back that unbuttoned for easy access in the outhouse. After a time (don’t have an exact date) the union suit gave way to long johns, which were very similar to the two-piece suit of long underwear we’re familiar with today. Just fyi, it wasn’t unusual for men who didn’t have an easy means of doing laundry to wear their long johns for an entire summer or winter between washings. How romantic is that!



Back side of Batwing Chaps



As if two layers of garments weren’t hot and sweaty enough for our cowboy, let’s add a pair of leather chaps to his outfit. Chaps were necessary to save wear and tear on precious clothing. Plus they offered some protection from cactus thickets, thorny bushes, barbed wire, and even an occasional love nip from his best friend, his horse. Chaps came in three basic styles: shotguns, batwings, and woolies. Shotgun chaps were slim and close fitting and had to be pulled up the legs, over the pants. Sometimes awkward because the boots and spurs had to be removed to get them on. Northern cowboys preferred woolies for extra warmth. They were most often made from sheep hide with the long wool left on. For pure comfort and convenience, most cowboys preferred batwing chaps. They were looser and fastened around the legs, which didn’t require removing footwear. They also allowed more air to flow in, which was essential on the sun-scorched ranges of the southwest.

Last, but not least, no cowboy would be caught dead without his boots. Back in our cowboy’s day, a pair of boots cost between $10 and $25, depending on how much fancy stitching he wanted and the quality of the leather. Most cowboys only owned one pair, and they held onto that one pair as long as possible and resisted buying new ones. If you’ve ever worn a new pair of cowboy boots, you can sympathize. When new boots were required, they sometimes soaked them in water before putting them on the first time so they would conform to the shape of their feet. Toes were pointed for ease in and out of the stirrups. The heels were high and slanted for gripping the stirrups. The slanted heels were also good for gripping the ground when a cowhand had a rank steer on the other end of his rope. The leather loops, called mule ears, at the tops of the shafts were used to pull the boots onto the feet. No pair of cowboy boots would be complete without spurs, and they came in too many shapes and sizes for me to elaborate on in this post. A cowboy who had a care for his horse filed down the tips of the spur rowels so they wouldn’t damage the animal’s skin. And if a cowboy wanted an extra jingle in his step when he went to town, he added a pair of jinglebobs to the end of the shank.

Ah, those cowpokes and their jinglebobs. Puts a smile on my face every time. :)

Happy reading and writing!

Devon

http://www.devonmatthews.net/

Resources for cowboy clothing in the Old West:

The Book of the American West –Section 6, Cowboys and Horses of the American West by Ramon F. Adams 
How the West Was Worn by Chris Enss 

Bandannas, Chaps, and Ten-Gallon Hats by Bobbie Kalman