Was buff leather made from Buffalo hides?

[major bill]

I thought we might have a dicussion about buff leather, blackened buff leather and waxed leather ca. Civil War. So the first question is was buff leather made from Buffalo hides?

 

[major bill]

Did early European buff leather come from waterbuffalo hides?

 

[kevikens]

Buff leather was worn by Continental troops during the Revolution. Buffalo, whether Asian water buffalo or American bison were pretty hard to come by on the East coast circa 1775. Yes there was an uncommon sub species of Bison found in the East at that time but I cannot imagine a leather industry based on it, especially as it was not until after the Civil War that a Pennsylvania tannery developed a practical method for tanning bison leather. Good news for makers of machinery drive belts, bad news for bison and Plains Indians. As for buff leather used before the Civil War that was most likely from ox hides, oxen being common in 18th Century America and well before that. The Old French word for ox was buffle.

 

[BillO]

I have always just assumed that buff was finished white. Every example I've heard that was referred to as buff was white.

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

No, it was not buffalo.....

 

[Ralph Heinz]

Buff leather may be what today is called "splits" -- that is, heavy thick leather that is split mechanically to produce a couple pieces of thinner leather from one thick one. Buff leather as we know it is rough on both sides and was sometimes waxed to produce a smooth surface. Some white buff leather has a paint like finish. A normal tanned hide is rough on the flesh side and smooth on what was the outside after hair is removed. The attached photo shows an Enfield cartridge pouch with one of these white finished "pouch belts" (shoulder sling) made by A. ROSS & Co with the 1861 date stamp. It belonged to a German in the 68th NY probably in the "Second German Rifle Regiment" who deserted shortly after he was issued this pouch and inked his name on the inside of the sling twice and in time to avoid serving at Manassas.

 

[major bill]

I understand that the first buff Leather came from the ancient Urus, a type of wild cattle that roamed Europe, Asia and north Africa. The Urus was commonly called a Buffe. The term Buffe came to designate any type of wild oxen.

The United States used buff leather before the Civil War. This type of tanning is expensive and the United States Army was switching to waxed leather goods. Some Civil War goods were surplus white buff leather sent back to the tanneries to have the whitener removed and the buff leather oak stained and then re-dyed black, some was made as blackened buff leather, but most Civil War leather was waxed leather.

 

[John Winn]

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[major bill]

Pre Civil War militia often wore white buff leather belts. The militias believes the white belts were more dashing than the black belt. Civil War marines also wore white belts. When evaluating Civil War photographs, any photo showing white belts should be studied to see if it is a pre war militia or militia units soon after they volunteered for federal duty.

 

[5fish]

Robes were the item... Buffalo robes the hot item... there a famous political cartoon on the topic with this link...

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0606.html

snippets... Learn what Grant did not do and what Cleveland did do...

his gruesome Harper's Weekly cartoon graphically reveals the devastation wrought on the buffalo population of the American West in the 1870s.
When the first Europeans colonized the Atlantic coastline in the seventeenth century, buffalo could be found from southern New York to northern Georgia. As the settlements spread, the buffalo were pushed further westward. In the 1750s, Daniel Boone hunted buffalo in the Carolinas, but by 1769 he could only hunt them on the western slopes of the Appalachian Mountains. In 1832 the last buffalo living east of the Mississippi River were killed in Wisconsin.

The market for buffalo robes was already flourishing by the 1840s, and the hunting of the animal for sport became popular in the Kansas Territory during the 1850s

Through 1871, the major commercial product derived from the buffalo were robes, and as the supply increased, so did the demand.

By the mid-1880s, only a few hundred buffalo existed, located primarily in the area of Yellowstone National Park. The 1872 law establishing the park prohibited the "wanton destruction" of fish or game "for the purposes of merchandise or profit." Poachers, though, took advantage of the absence of enforcement mechanisms and no funding during the park's first five years. Conditions were so bad in 1886 that a U.S. Cavalry unit had to police the park. The situation remained much the same until 1894 when President Grover Cleveland signed the Yellowstone Protection Act into law. It banned killing game, cutting timber, or removing mineral deposits upon penalty of fines and jail time. Other preservation measures were taken throughout the twentieth century.

Learn what Grant did not do and what Cleveland did do...
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0606.html

 

[major bill]

I do not believe Army Buff leather belts were made buffalo hides.

 

[WJC]

Buff leather: a strong supple oil-tanned leather produced chiefly from cattle hides. <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buff leather>
Although at some point bison hides may have been used, my understanding is that buff leather was made from domesticated animals.

 

[tbuckley]

Not really relevant to buff leather military belts, but one use for bison leather was drive belts for steam engines because it was tougher. I can't remember where I read this.