7th Cavalry (Military) Tartan
- Name of Tartan:
- 7th Cavalry (Military)
- ITI Number:
- 644
- Category:
- American Military
- Designer / Source:
- Paton, J & D
- Date:
- pre 1900
- Slog:
- NWG:RWN
- Colour Sequence:
- NWGYWYGWRWNBGBNWR
- Thread Count:
- BN62 WW4 LG4 Y2 WW2 Y2 LG4 WW2 R10 WW4 BN6 PB4 LG2 PB4 BN6 WW4 R4 .BN47 WW4 LG3 Y2 WW2 Y2 LG3 WW2 R8 WW4 BN5 PB3 LG2 PB3 BN5 WW4 R4 WW4 BN5 PB3 LG2 PB3 BN5 WW4 R8 WW2 LG3 Y2 WW2 Y2 LG3 WW4
- Notes:
-
Swatch in STA’s Johnston Collection. Said to have been designed by J & D Paton of Tillicoultry in whose ‘Paton Collection’ it can be found.
Extract from ‘People’s Journal’ of Saturday 5th March 1949 talking of the Tillicoultry weavers J & D Paton.
"An entry from the nineteenth century shows a scrap of largely blue and red tartan with the thread count falling in sevens, entitled ‘The 7th Cavalry Tartan’.
No British military formation has such a name, although there was an American 7th Cavalry, which achieved fame under General Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, (June 25 and June 26, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in the eastern Montana Territory) where it was massacred by the Sioux Indians. Apparently, General Custer had a liking for military bands and formed ad hoc brass and bagpipe bands. It is probable that the 7th Cavalry wrote to Scotland to commission a tartan for their pipers and drummers, since the regiment contained many Americans of Scottish descent."
It was said that at one time the threadcount was divisible by 7 but that is not the case now. In May 2006 the woven sample from the Paton Collection was checked and the threadcount entered here. Warp and weft were different which produced a rectangular block of dark blue.
