Early Boy Scout Uniform and Insignia Notes

Early Uniform. Recent research into early Boy Scout uniforms and insignia in preparation for outfitting our Centennial Celebration Team in authentic 1910 reproduction uniforms tells us that the first BSA uniform was an impractical copy of the US Army uniform, which disregarded the far more practical English uniform designed by Baden-Powell. The early BSA uniform had no neckerchief, and Scouts generally wore knickers with leggings and a button-down coat with metal insignia on their hats (adults were allowed to earn merit badges and ranks right along with the Scouts).

The uniform coat was buttoned with embossed BSA metal loop-shanked buttons in two sizes, the smaller used on the pocket flaps. The buttons were fastened by a wire ring threaded through the loop behind the buttonhole. Metal four-hole buttons were used on knickers or breeches to attach suspenders or stays used with a belt.

Early Insignia. During the 1910s, Boy Scouts typically wore their insignia as follows: On the lower right sleeve, Boy Scouts wore a combination of service stripes indicating their years of service. A green stripe stood for one year of service, and a red stripe for three years of service. Above the service stripes on the right arm the Scout wore his Second of First Class badges, as well as any combination badges. Above the right breast pocket, Boy Scouts (in the last year or two of the 1910s) sometimes wore "Boy Scouts of America" strips, and above the

left breast pocket they wore Life, Star and Eagle badges, or any other special awards they had received. On the flap of the left breast pocket, a new Scout wore his tenderfoot pin. Finally, on the collar of the jacket Boy Scouts sometimes wore metal "BSA" pins and troop number badges.

Unadilla Troop One...Two...Three...Forty-Eight? Ready, Set and Go!

Although it was from the very first a Boy Scouts of America policy to make Scouting available to any boy regardless of church affiliation, occasionally religion was a barrier. Troop 1's membership was limited to the first five charter members and other youth of the St. Matthew's Protestant Episcopal Church, though Yale Lyon admitted he allowed a few Roman Catholics and

St. Matthew's Church (right) and the mansard-roofed Rectory (left), Unadilla, NY, c.1912.
In the early years, the troop met in the rear upstairs recreation room of the Rectory.

some "out-of-town" boys on his roster. Glen Whitaker, an admitted infrequent Catholic, rebuffed as not being "one-of-us" when he showed up to join at an early troop meeting, resolved the problem by immediately joining St. Matthew's Church.

Other boys in Unadilla formed a second troop under the leadership of a Miss Sarah Polhemus, the daughter of the Presbyterian minister. This second troop, at first referred to as the "Christian Endeavor troop" and later as Troop Two when it received official recognition in 1916, frequently shared camping and hiking activities with Troop 1 and were friendly rivals in sports and Scout skills competitions. Newspaper accounts show both troops were active as early as 1910 but the second troop apparently suffered from a lack of male leadership.

Miss Polhemus (later Mrs. H. Lee Ward) complained, "We tried to have the troop registered in 1910 but there was not a man leader and I could not find one until Amasa Teed took over as Scoutmaster." Registered officially in 1916, the troop's charter lapsed in 1920, was reinstated in 1922, and lapsed again for good in 1925.

The second troop had originally planned to participate in the first State encampment at Cooperstown in 1911 with Troop 1, but at the last minute instead camped on the banks of the Susquehanna above the village. The encampment was to be held in Cooperstown on July 12-18, and although the promoters had planned that some 2,000 to 5,000 Scouts would participate, only a few hundred actually showed up for the event.

Newspaper accounts of the time reported that the first patrols of both the St. Matthew's and the Christian Endeavor troops planned to go for the entire week; arrangements were made to take the younger members of both troops to the camp for at least one day.

Another BSA policy limited membership in the Boy Scouts to boys 12 or older. To extend camping and outdoor skills to younger boys in Unadilla, Yale Lyon devised the Lion Patrol for boys aged 10-12 years. Members of the Lion Patrol were registered with the Pioneers of America, another Scout-like organization started in 1915 by students and faculty at Hamilton College and for which Lyon sat on the Board of Directors (see article Rev. Yale Lyon and the Pioneers of America elsewhere on this blog). Yale Lyon also by 1918 was using Baden-Powell's The Wolf Cub's Handbook in unofficial Wolf Cub programs for his younger boys that continued

as late as 1929.

Daniel Carter Beard's confusingly named Boy Pioneers of America, also initially accepted younger boys but had merged with the new Boy Scouts of America movement by 1916; the Pioneer Division of BSA continued to serve young rural boys after the merger until the mid-1930s when the Cub Scout program was instituted.

The Presbyterian Church in Unadilla sponsored yet another troop, Troop Three, in 1924. Otschodela Council records show Troop 3 was organized for more than five years before it officially registered with the BSA with a Rev. J. Graydon Brown as Scoutmaster. Short-lived, it was dropped from the council's roster in 1926.

Due to the fact that many of the boys of Scout age lived out of town, a school troop was formed in 1938 under the leadership of Mr. Glen Harris, the school principal, Mr. Charles Schultz and Mr. August Kehr. The troop met in the Unadilla High School during the "activities" period, went on hikes and camping on holidays and weekends, and attended the highly publicized Otschodela Council Camporee and Circus in Walton that year. School Troop 48 averaged about 15-20 boys, changed leadership often (Charles Schultz was Scoutmaster in 1939, William Cunningham in 1940, and August Kehr in 1941.) In 1941, the school troop membership was chartered with Troop 1, and though it continued under the leadership of teachers and faculty of the Unadilla School throughout the war years, it ceased to exist as a separate troop.*

____________________________________________________________________

*School Troop 48 registration records in Troop 1 archives; Otschodela Council registration records were lost during the council office flooding in 2006. Unadilla Central School yearbooks for the years 1938-1940 provide a good insight into school-sponsored Boy Scout activities during that period.

The "Army" Scout Uniform

By August 31, 1911, a new Handbook for Boys replaced the hastily drawn A Handbook of Woodcraft, Scouting, and Life-craft by Ernest Thompson Seton, who combined parts of his own manual The Birch Bark Roll and Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys. In Seton's handbook, the suggested uniform was a British model.

The new Handbook for Boys gave the new American Scout Oath, Law, advancement requirements, showed the newly approved uniforms and badges, and offered guidance for organizing patrols and troops. The handbook showed a uniform that looked like a miniature of the U.S. Army's garb. It called for a khaki campaign hat, a five-button, choke collar coat, knee

britches, and canvas leggings. The whole outfit cost $4.05; a haversack "closely modeled after those supplied the U.S. Government" was an additional $2.25. Neckerchiefs, a part of the uniform for decades to follow, at first were not offered.

Two distinct types of uniforms for leaders was offered--an adult version of the boys' uniform with leather puttees or a Norfolk coat-and-breeches combination for $6.50.

In Troop 1's archives are photographs of a young Yale Lyon and the original five boys of Patrol 1 of Troop 1--Charles Hildreth, Howard Morse, Thomas McKay, Cecil Stearns and Neal Stearns--all fully accoutered in the new uniform, ready to spend a week in the open on the shores of Otsego Lake tramping through Leatherstocking country or putting in a smart appearance at a local parade. In the only known photograph of Yale Lyon displaying his Lion Patrol pennant, he is wearing the Norfolk-breeches-puttees combination, a white shirt and a definitely nonregulation bow tie!

The uniform was both a plus and a minus for the young troop. Many of Troop 1's older alumni at their 75th reunion remembered that the uniform was a big attraction, that the two things that gave Scouting its distinction from other youth programs was the uniform and camping.

Old English Christmas: "Boy Scouts Will Have Regulation Hats!"

One of the earliest fundraising efforts for Yale Lyon's boys was an Old English Christmas entertainment held at the St. Matthew's rectory on January 9, 1911 to raise money for new uniforms. Announced in the Unadilla Times under the heading "Boy Scouts Will Have Regulation Hats!" the popular event included dramatic readings by Yale Lyon, a Yule log in the fireplace, and an authentic English boar's head dinner. Attended by a capacity crowd, the Scouts netted a "snug sum of $18" to purchase campaign hats for the twenty-seven youngsters who composed three patrols at that time.

The annual Yule Log celebration, a favorite of Yale Lyon's carried over from his Oxford college days, became a popular event that benefited the troop until one year the resplendent roasted pig's head on a platter scared the willies out of a young Scout and the event was discontinued.

But the new army-type uniform posed a problem, too, because it hinted at military training. That perception was understandable, given Baden-Powell's military background, the army-type uniform, and a program that at first included a lot of marching and drilling. With the impending loom of World War 1, people soon got the idea their boys would graduate from Scouting straight into the Army.

Louis A. Hornbeck, Otschodela Council's first professional Scout Executive remembered joining Troop 23 in Brooklyn in 1912 over his parent's misgivings. "Many people came here from Europe because the male member of the family was threatened with military service," he said. "I remember that was true of my father, who came here from Denmark. He didn't absolutely discourage me from joining, but there was definitely a concern."