The mackinaw jacket, also known as a mackinaw coat, is a short

double-breasted A double-breasted garment is a coat, jacket, waistcoat, or dress with wide, overlapping front flaps which has on its front two symmetrical columns of buttons; by contrast, a single-breasted item has a narrow overlap and only one column of b ...

coat made of a thick heavy woollen material, generally with a red-and-black plaid pattern.

Etymology

The word "mackinaw" is derived from the

Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ) are an Indigenous North American people who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, now in jurisdictions of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. Their territory long prec ...

Ojibwe language Ojibwe ( ), also known as Ojibwa ( ), Ojibway, Otchipwe,R. R. Bishop Baraga, 1878''A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language''/ref> Ojibwemowin, or Anishinaabemowin, is an Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous la ...

word "Mitchimakinak" meaning a large turtle.Mencken, Henry Louis. (1945).
The American Language: An Inquiry Into the Development of English in the United States
'. pg. 173.

Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

. When

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

fur traders transliterated the word, they spelled it as

Michilimackinac Michilimackinac ( ) is derived from an Ottawa Ojibwe name for present-day Mackinac Island and the region around the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.. Early settlers of North America applied the term to the entire region ...

but pronounced the final consonant as "aw" Rather than "c". The

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

later shortened the word and changed the spelling to match the French pronunciation: Mackinaw (though the French spelling was used for

Fort Mackinac Fort Mackinac ( ) is a former British and American military outpost garrisoned from the late 18th century to the late 19th century in the city of Mackinac Island, Michigan, on Mackinac Island. The Kingdom of Great Britain, British built the f ...

when constructed in 1780–81).

Origin

The origin of the mackinaw jacket is owed to the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Captain Charles Roberts, while commanding Fort St. Joseph along the St. Mary's River near

Sault Ste. Marie Sault Ste. Marie may refer to: People * Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, a Native American tribe in Michigan Places * Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada ** Sault Ste. Marie (federal electoral district), a Canadian federal electora ...

. Roberts was unable to obtain military-issued winter

greatcoat A greatcoat (also watchcoat) is a large, woollen overcoat designed for warmth and protection against wind and weather, and features a collar that can be turned up and cuffs that can be turned down to protect the face and the hands, while the Cap ...

s from his general headquarters (G.H.Q.) located in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, for the forty soldiers of the 10th Royal Veterans Battalion under his charge.Wooley, H. J. L. (1911)
The ''Sword of Old St. Joe''
Chp V, pg 17–21.HBC Heritage: Hudson's Bay Point Blanket Coat
/ref> The date was November 20, 1811, and Captain Roberts, wrote a letter by

candle A candle is an ignitable candle wick, wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a Aroma compound, fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. ...

light to the then Captain Thomas Evans,Dictionary of Canadian Biography – Captain Evans
/ref> adjutant general in Montreal,

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, making a requisition, written as follows: To alleviate this

health and safety Occupational safety and health (OSH) or occupational health and safety (OHS) is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at work (i.e., while performing duties required by one's occupation). OSH is re ...

concern, Captain Roberts acquired a supply of 3.5-point

Hudson's Bay point blanket A Hudson's Bay point blanket is a type of wool blanket traded by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in British North America, now Canada and the United States, from 1779 to present. The blankets were typically traded to First Nations in exchange for ...

s and requisitioned John Askin Jr., a

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

and keeper of the King's stores at the fort, to design and manufacture forty woollen

s. In response, Askin hired his spouse and eight to ten local

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Common meanings *Anything from the Caucasus region or related to it ** Ethnic groups in the Caucasus ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus re ...

and Métis women to

sew Sewing is the craft of fastening pieces of textiles together using a sewing needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era. Before the invention of spinning yarn or weaving fabric, archaeol ...

the forty greatcoats, which were completed and presented to Roberts within two weeks. Everyone agreed that the newly tailored greatcoats were of superior quality than the British Army standard issue greatcoats and helped to increase the morale of the King's soldiers. HBC Mackinaw Jacket

On July 17, 1812, during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, Roberts and his men defeated Captain Porter Hanks and the 61 men of the 1st American Artillery Regiment during the

siege of Fort Mackinac The siege of Fort Mackinac was one of the first engagements of the War of 1812. A United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British and Native Americans in the United States, Native American force captured the island soon after the outbreak ...

and then occupied

located near present-day

Mackinaw City, Michigan Mackinaw City ( ) is a village at the northernmost point of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, United States. Divided between Cheboygan and Emmet counties, Mackinaw City is located at the southern end of the Mackinac Bridge, which carries Inter ...

. Roberts ordered a new supply of Hudson's Bay point blankets from the

British Indian Department The Indian Department was established in 1755 to oversee relations between the British Empire and the First Nations in Canada, First Nations of North America. The imperial government ceded control of the Indian Department to the Province of Cana ...

for the upcoming winter to manufacture more winter coats. The order called for blue coats; however, the number of blue blankets was inadequate and was supplemented with red and black-on-red

tartan Tartan or plaid ( ) is a patterned cloth consisting of crossing horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours, forming repeating symmetrical patterns known as ''setts''. Originating in woven wool, tartan is most strongly associated wi ...

pattern blankets. This time Roberts had enlisted the aid of professional tailors and seamstresses to produce the greatcoats. A despatch runner advised that the long length of the greatcoat was impractical for the deep snow drifts when travelling between Mackinaw and Montreal and requested it be replaced by the shorter

style, which became known as the ''mackinaw jacket''. At first, the mackinaw jacket was produced in blue and was later replaced by the more popular red and black

pattern. The new design of the mackinaw jacket was so beneficial for travelling through woods and trails that orders were received from people located from Fort William to

Penetanguishene Penetanguishene (, sometimes shortened to Penetang) is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeasterly tip of Georgian Bay. Incorporated on February 22, 1882, this bilingual ( French and English) community has a popu ...

. More than a century later, when the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

began to commercially sell point blanket coats the mackinaw jacket remained popular with their customers.

Poem

The mackinaw jacket, created as a child of grim necessity for cold weather conditions, had a short

rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually the exact same phonemes) in the final Stress (linguistics), stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of rhyming (''perfect rhyming'') is consciou ...

written about it, adapted from

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...

Charge of the Light Brigade The Charge of the Light Brigade was a military action undertaken by British light cavalry against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, resulting in many casualties to the cavalry. On 25 October 1854, the Light Br ...

Modern times

In modern times, the mackinaw jacket has proven to be effective as cold weather

workwear Workwear is clothing worn for work, especially work that involves manual labour. Often those employed within trade industries elect to be outfitted in workwear because it is built to provide durability and safety. The workwear clothing industr ...

and popular among the

blue-collar A blue-collar worker is a person who performs manual labor or skilled trades. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involve manufacturing, retail, warehousing, mining, carpentry, electrical work, custodia ...

working class including farmers,

fishermen A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishermen may be professional or recr ...

lumberjack Lumberjack is a mostly North American term for workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees. The term usually refers to loggers in the era before 1945 in the United States, when trees were felled us ...

longshoremen A dockworker (also called a longshoreman, stevedore, docker, wharfman, lumper or wharfie) is a waterfront manual laborer who loads and unloads ships. As a result of the intermodal shipping container revolution, the required number of dockworke ...

trappers Animal trapping, or simply trapping or ginning, is the use of a device to remotely catch and often kill an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including for meat, fur/feathers, sport hunting, pest control, and wildlife man ...

and outdoorsmen. The demand for the mackinaw jacket has decreased by the end of the 20th century; however, it continues to be manufactured by several companies including: C.C. Filson Co. and Johnson Woolen Mills.

In popular culture

Eva marie saint marlon brando waterfront 10

* In the 1954 movie

On the Waterfront ''On the Waterfront'' is a 1954 American crime drama film, directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando, and features Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning and Eva Marie Saint in her film de ...

the actor

Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century,''Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia''

wore a mackinaw jacket. * In

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

's short story, ''The Last Good Country'', the character Nick Adam's wears a mackinaw jacket. * On the 1970s television sitcom ''

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American sitcoms in the United States, sitcom television series that aired on CBS for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979, with a total of 205 episodes. It was later produced as ''Archie Bunker's Pla ...

'' the character

Archie Bunker Archibald "Archie" Bunker is a fictional character from the 1970s American television sitcom ''All in the Family'' and its spin-off '' Archie Bunker's Place'', played by Carroll O'Connor. Bunker, a main character of the series, is a World War II ...

wears a mackinaw jacket on cold days. * The fictional lumberjack

Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack and folk hero in American and Canadian folklore. His tall tales revolve around his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox, his pet and working animal. The character originate ...

is often depicted wearing a mackinaw jacket. * The

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (Canadian French, French: ) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL ...

mascot Big Joe wears a mackinaw jacket. * The mackinaw jackets and shirts were often worn by

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

's notorious Clark Park Gang during the late 1960s and early 1970s.Forbidden Vancouver - The Last Gang in Town
/ref> * The Mackinaw jacket is one of the best jackets acquirable in the game

The Long Dark ''The Long Dark'' is a first-person survival video game developed and published by Hinterland Studios. The player assumes the role of crash-landed bush pilot Will Mackenzie who must survive the frigid Canadian wilderness after a geomagnetic stor ...

and the best non-crafted jacket available on the hardest difficulty of an interloper.

References