Author’s Note: This is the second part of a two part series of related articles and that I
originally prepared for the Journal Of The Early Americas; unfortunately, it was never published.
It is a follow-on to an article that was published by the Journal,
called “…whether Indians or white men had now gone by...”, [HERE] before they ceased operations. Incidentally, this article is my daughter and chief
proofreader’s favorite article, thank you Kiernan for all of the times that you
read through this.
In addition, in this increasingly politically correct world, I felt it
wise to emphasize the following disclaimer: George Henry Loskiel, writing in
1794, stated that European colonists were called “white people…thus the Europeans and
their descendants are called in America, to distinguish them from the Indians”. I
will use this terminology throughout the article, in keeping with the
conventions of the colonial and post-colonial era.
While researching an article on tracking in the 18th
century, I noticed something startling: many early 19th century
observers claimed that Indians had a different manner of
walking than did white people of colonial and post-colonial American 2 and that this difference was so
distinct that you could tell a person’s ethnicity from the tracks they left,
even if they were wearing moccasins or shoepacks.
This difference in the manner of walking as reported by early
19th century observers left me with three questions. First, how was the manner of walking so
different that early 19th century observers noted it? Second, did this different manner of walking
exist prior to the early 19th century and was it a learned habit or
a natural trait peculiar to the white people of post-colonial North America. Third, why was this difference in the manner
of walking only observed beginning in the early 19th century?
I believe that exploring these questions will reveal some
interesting and significant facts about post-colonial life in North America and
the preconceived notions of the people of this time.
“…heels drawn in, and toes
turned outward, which is the most natural position…3”
First, how was the manner of walking of white people and
Indians so different that early 19th century authors noted it? Observers in the early 19th
century described Indians as placing their feet on the ground parallel to each
other and the direction of travel when they walked. In contrast, white people were described as
walking with a swinging gait and placing their feet upon the ground with their
toes turned out at an angle to the direction of travel.4
Sir Francis Head described this difference in the manner of
walking, with the following diagram and commentary.
 |
| Track of the feet per Sir Francis Head |
“…the red Indian sneers as he points
to the footmarks of the white man, which are always strangely and strongly
contrasted with his own. The redman never
turns his toes out…5”
His observations were amplified by Jonathan Kneeland, who wrote
in 1863 that, “it is well known that the
toes of an Indian point straight forward in parallel lines in walking, and are
not directed outward on diverging lines… 6”
Therefore, it can be seen that there was a large and obvious
difference between the way Indians and white people walked, with Indians
walking with what we would today consider a more natural gait as compared to
what we would consider a very unnatural gait for white people7.
Secondly, did this difference in the manner of walking exist
prior to the early 19th century and was it a learned habit or a
natural trait peculiar to the white people of post-colonial North America?
It is clear that this difference in the manner of walking did
not exist before the early 19th century as no observers writing
prior to the late 1700s remarked upon it.
It has been shown that trackers during the 1700s found it difficult to
distinguish between the tracks made by Indians and those made by white settlers,
if they were wearing moccasins or shoepacks8. If this difference in the manner of walking
existed before the late 18th century, then the trackers of this
period would have had no difficulty in determining whether Indians or white men
had passed by. That they found it
difficult to tell the tracks of Indians and white settlers apart is clearly
shown by Colonel Adam Stephen, who wrote in 1755 that by wearing something
other than shoes, the tracks that his scouts made when on patrol would not be
recognized as being made by white people. 9 Colonel Stephen’s observation that he could
disguise the ethnicity of his scouts by changing their footwear; argues against
his scouts walking with their toes out, as such an obvious trait would have
been readily apparent to the Indian trackers who were following his
patrols. Additionally, Colonel Daniel
Boone wrote in 1776 that he had found moccasin tracks at the scene of an
ambush, but that he could not determine whether they were made by white men or Indians10. Colonel Boone, an expert tracker, would have
known of the difference in the manner of walking of Indians and of white
settlers if it had existed in 1776. His
inability to determine whether Indians or white settlers had left the tracks implies
that there was no difference in the gait of white men and Indians at that time.
However, Lewis Wetzel, an expert tracker who lived from 1763
to 1808, knew of this difference in the manner of walking of Indians and white
men and made use of this knowledge to determine the ethnicity of the individuals
who had passed by: even when they were wearing moccasins or shoepacks. A biographer writing in 1837 described Lewis
Wetzel’s method of distinguishing between the tracks of white people and
Indians.
“…Wetzel stated his manner of
distinguishing the footsteps of a white man from those of an Indian, although
covered with mocasins, and intermixed with the tracks of savages. He had acquired this tact from closely examining
the manner of placing the feet; the Indian stepping with his feet in parallel
lines, and first bringing the toe to the ground; while the white man almost
invariably places his feet at an angle with the line of march.11”
It would appear from the Lewis Wetzel’s observation that
within just a short time of the American Revolution there was already such a
noticeable difference in the manner of walking that it was possible to
determine the ethnicity of the person leaving tracks, even when they were
wearing moccasins or shoepacks. This was
something that was not possible before the late 1700s, so we would have to
conclude that this difference in the manner of walking did not exist prior to
the late 18th century and only became common during the early 19th
century.
“…we drill our soldiers
(as well as our children) to stand and walk with their toes turned out…12”
The fact that the toes-out gait of white people was not
observed before the late 18th century and was only consistently mentioned
beginning in the early 19th century strongly implies that this gait
was a learned habit and was not a natural trait peculiar to white people of
post-colonial North America. This is
reinforced by the many 19th century observers who reported on both children
and soldiers being trained to stand and walk with their toes turned out.
Parents taught their children to stand with their toes turned
out at an angle, as shown by an excerpt from The Baptist Magazine for 1858.
“The poor child used to
stand for two or three hours a day in a constrained posture, in a back-board
and stocks, (instruments of torture used in my young days, to turn the toes out
and the shoulder-blades in,)...13”
Mrs. Merrifield agreed that parents were teaching their
children to stand and walk with their toes out when she wrote, “The American Indian will trace a European
by his footprints, which he detects by the turning out of the toes; a lesson we
are taught in our childhood…14”
British military recruits were also trained to stand and walk
with their toes turned out. This was
observed by the editor of the 1809 The Annual Register, who wrote “…He immediately proceeded to have them
taught secundum artem; eyes to the right, toes out, and so on…15”
Another example of military recruits being trained to turn
their toes out is given by an early 19th century American author,
who described West Africans who had been rescued from slave ships and who had
been enlisted into the British Army, noted this training when he wrote “they are taught to turn their toes out …16”
It is clear from these observations that walking with yours
toes turned out was not a natural trait peculiar of white people in post-colonial
North America, but was a learned habit which was taught both in childhood and
also during military training.
“…that artificial
deformity called beauty…17”
Third, why was this difference in the manner of walking only
observed beginning in the late 18th and early 19th centuries?
People of the early 19th century, much like their
modern counterparts, were slaves to fashion and it was considered natural, beautiful
and graceful to stand and walk with your toes pointing out at an angle. As the United States became wealthier and
more cosmopolitan during the late 18th and early 19th
centuries, the wealthy and the upwardly mobile had the time and income to train
their children to stand and walk fashionably, with their toes turned out.
Writing in 1834, J. L. Comstock, M.D., had this to say about the
fashion of standing and walking with the toes turned out:
“The base, on which a man is
supported, in walking, or standing, is his feet, and the space between
them. By turning the toes out, this base
is made broader, without taking much from its length, and hence persons who
turn their toes outward, not only walk more firmly, but more gracefully, than
those who turn them inward.18”
 |
| A detail of Plate 2, “Shoulder your Firelocks”, from A Plan of Discipline, Composed for the Use of the Militia of the County of Norfolk, showing the soldier standing with his toes turned out. |
Another reason that the toes out manner of walking became
common during the late 18th and early 19th centuries in
North America was the need for systemized military instruction, to train the
thousands of provincial militia called out during the French and Indian War of
1754-1763. When training colonial militia,
British and Provincial officers used Bland’s Treatise of Military Discipline19,
which taught soldiers to stand with their “Heels
in a strait Line, and the Toes turn’d a little outward.20”
During the Revolutionary War, American officers also taught
their recruits to stand and walk with their toes turned out. Baron Von Steuben codified this practice with
his 1778, Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the
United States. This became known as
the “Blue Book” and continued as the official United States military manual
until 1812.21 This manual
stated that a soldier was to stand with his “…heels
two inches apart: the toes turned out…22”.
 |
| A detail of a water color by Jean-Baptiste Antoine de Verger (1762-1851) showing a soldier of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment and a New England militiaman during the siege of Yorktown, standing at attention with their toes turned out. |
Between the demands of fashion and the needs of the military,
by the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th
centuries, a gait that modern day people would consider an un-natural manner of
walking had become common throughout post-colonial North America. In fact, this manner of walking would come to
be a distinguishing trait of white people in post-colonial North America.
Interestingly, Indians found the toes out gait of the white
people to be both amusing and awkward, as was noted by the author of Account
of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to The Rocky Mountains.
“… the swinging gait so universal
with the white people, which is regarded by them as excessively awkward, and
which they imitate in their sports to excite the merriment of the spectators,
though not in the presence of those they ridicule.23”
“… they say that turning out the toes
in walking, as well as turning them inward, is a very disadvantageous mode of
progressing, in high grass or in narrow pathways.24”
This is something that George Catlin also discovered during
his travels, when he observed in 1830 that,
“I soon found upon trial, that by turning my toes in, my feet went more easily
through the grass... 24”
The answers to the questions posed in this article have
revealed some fascinating and surprising facts about life in post-colonial
North America. Not only did a person’s
manner of walking provide a 19th century tracker with clues to their
ethnicity, but the judgments that Indians and white people made about each
other, derived from their different manner of walking, come into clearer
focus.
Notes
1
Abbe Emmanuel Domenech, Seven Years’ Residence in the Great Deserts of North
America, Vol. 2, (London, printed by Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, [1860]),
329. Reprinted in http://books.google.com/books?id=eJrw4hjyVeEC&pg=PA329&dq=%22we+must+here+mention+that+their+manner+of+walking+%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yfI3T--7Lau70AGQqqCrAg&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22we%20must%20here%20mention%20that%20their%20manner%20of%20walking%20%22&f=false
(accessed February 12, 2012)
4
Writing about an 1819 expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, the
author observed the following:
“In walking they preserve a perfectly
upright carriage of the person, without any thing of the swinging gait so
universal with the white people…” and “In stepping the
feet are universally placed upon the ground in a parallel manner with each
other… ”
Edwin James, Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to
The Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819, 1820, Vol II, (London,
printed by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, [1823]), 5. Reprinted in http://books.google.com/books?id=9pk-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA5&dq=%22In+walking+they+preserve+a+perfectly+upright+carriage+%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hfM3T9rmE8jz0gH9_PnVAg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22In%20walking%20they%20preserve%20a%20perfectly%20upright%20carriage%20%22&f=false
(accessed February 12, 2012)
5
On the Dress of Soldiers by General
Sir J.F. Burgoyne, which included an earlier work by Sir Francis Head, who was
the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada from 1835 to 1838: Upper Canada was a
province in Canada which consists today of much of modern day Ontario.
7
Interestingly, while most observers described Indians as placing their feet
parallel to each other, some observers described Indians as walking
‘toed-in’. However, when compared to the
toes turned out manner of walking which they were accustomed to seeing; this is
how feet placed parallel to each other would have appeared. The Reverend O. M. Spencer, who had been
taken captive by Indians in Ohio, wrote:
“…I noticed that in running (as in
walking) they turn their toes in, hindering the full force of the muscles of
the leg; and that their movements resembled more the bounding of the deer than
the more rapid steps of the whites, whose lower, forward efforts, bore them
only onward…”
8
Eric Reynolds, “…whether Indians or white men had now gone by...”, Journal of the Early Americas, [Volume III, Issue I, March/April, 2013], p. 6, found [HERE]
9
Colonel Adam Stephen, writing on September 27th, 1755 noted that “The Indians discover our Parties by the
Track of their Shoes. It would be a good
thing to have Shoe-packs or Moccosons for the Scouts.”
Stanislaus Murray Hamilton, editor, Letters to Washington
and Accompanying Papers, Vol I 1752-1756, (New York, printed by, Houghton,
Mifflin and Company, [1898]), 99. Reprinted in http://books.google.com/books?id=UoN6tkdByacC&pg=PA99&dq=%22The+Indians+discover+our+Parties+by+the+Track%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OogbT57pIqLz0gG5k-WmCw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22The%20Indians%20discover%20our%20Parties%20by%20the%20Track%22&f=false
(accessed April 11, 2011)
10 In letter dated January 3rd, 1776; Colonel Williams from
Boonesborough describes the aftermath of an Indian ambush that took place on
December 23rd, 1775 and was reported by Colonel Boone.
“…could make no other discovery than
two mockisson tracks, whether Indians’ or not, could not be determined.”
James Hall, Sketches of History, Life, and
Manners, in the West, Vol. II, (Philadelphia, printed by Harrison Hall,
[1835]), 241-246. Reprinted in http://books.google.com/books?id=2ykVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA246&dq=%22could+make+no+other+discovery+than+two+mockisson%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DIkbT4qTI8PW0QHu9v2ZCw&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22could%20make%20no%20other%20discovery%20than%20two%20mockisson%22&f=false (accessed May 5, 2011)
(accessed February 13, 2012)
(accessed February 13,
2012)
19 During the French and Indian War many Provincial militia officers, such
as the Virginian Provincial Captain Robert Stobo and the Massachusetts Provincial
Colonel Ephraim Williams, used Bland’s Treatise to drill the raw militia
recruits that they were responsible for.
“The most popular
military treatise among eighteenth-century colonial officers seems to have been
Treatise of Military Discipline by Humphrey Bland, a veteran of the Duke of Marlborough’s
European campaigns. Originally published
in 1727, this work had run to nine editions by 1762. By reading Bland, a colonial officer could
gain a good introduction to the mechanics of soldiering as practiced in Western
Europe in the first half of the eighteenth century.”
Armstrong Starkey, European and Native American Warfare,
1675-1815, (Norman, Oklahoma, published by University of Oklahoma Press,
[1998]), 45-46
“Colonel Washington
himself studied war from Humphrey Bland’s ‘Treatise on Military Discipline’
first published in 1727 and the leading English tactical manual of the
day. He recommended it to other militia
officers, that they might better mold their part-time soldiers into
approximations of the men-at-arms of Europe.
Evidently it was widely used throughout the colonies”
Russell F. Weigley, History of the United States Army,
(Bloomington, Indiana, published by Indiana university Press, [1984]), 11.
21 Frederick William Baron von Steuben, Baron von Steuben’s
Revolutionary War Drill Manual: A Facsimile Reprint of the 1794 Edition, (New
York, Dover Publications, Inc., [1985]), publishers note ii
22 Ibid. p. 11
23 Edwin James, Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to The Rocky
Mountains, performed in the years 1819, 1820, Vol II, (London, printed by
Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, [1823]), 5. Reprinted in http://books.google.com/books?id=9pk-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA5&dq=%22In+walking+they+preserve+a+perfectly+upright+carriage+%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hfM3T9rmE8jz0gH9_PnVAg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22In%20walking%20they%20preserve%20a%20perfectly%20upright%20carriage%20%22&f=false
(accessed February 12, 2012)
24 Ibid. p. 5
Illustrations
The diagram detailing the difference between the manner of
walking of white people and Indians was included in “On the Dress of Soldiers”,
by General Sir J.F. Burgoyne, from Papers on Subjects Connected with the
Duties of the Corps of Royal Engineers, Vol XII, (Woolwich, England, printed
by W. P. Jackson, [1863]), 122-125. In
his “On the Dress of Soldiers”, General Sir J.F. Burgoyne references an 1820
work by Sir Francis Head. Reprinted in http://books.google.com/books?id=ORZ-AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA122&dq=%22the+red+Indian+sneers+as+he+points+to+the+footmarks+%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KfM3T9JD59rRAZ7ewaYC&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22the%20red%20Indian%20sneers%20as%20he%20points%20to%20the%20footmarks%20%22&f=false
(accessed February 12, 2012)
The detail of Plate 2, Shoulder your
Firelocks, from A
Plan of Discipline, Composed for the Use of the Militia of the County of
Norfolk, showing the
soldier standing with his toes turned out, is from A
Plan of Discipline, Composed for the Use of the Militia of the County of
Norfolk, by William
Windham & George Townshend, (London, printed for J. Shuckburgh, [1759]),
p151
The water color “Four Soldiers” by Jean-Baptiste Antoine de
Verger is in the collection of Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection at Brown
University Library
