Frontier cuirass c. 1720 believed Pueblo Indian in Spanish Style

[Jim McDougall]

To support the notable presence of scaled (cataphract) armor in the Spanish southwest is best described in the paper written by Dr. Peter Bleed of the University of Nebraska in 'Plains Anthropologist' Vol.60, #235, Aug.2015, p.199-122...." Scale Armor on the North American Frontier".
This describes an element of scaled armor believed of Spanish origin and likely dating from 18th century, possibly earlier, and which is of the form covering chest and shoulders in the sense of a gorget, known as a 'Bishops mantle'.
This came into the possession of Capt. John Gregory Bourke in 1870 while stationed at Ft. Craig, New Mexico.

It was acquired from an army doctor who had described its being found in expeditions in regions between the Rio Grande and Pecos, with the apocryphal and likely romanticized note it was several other items deposited along with bones of presumably Spanish soldier. While that cliche' had become well known in the discovery of numerous relics presumed from early Spanish explorers, the character of this armor was empirically examined by the State Historical Society of Nebraska. It had ended up there through a chain of custody well recorded, and donated in 1960s.

These types of scaled armor, in these cases of iron rather than leather, appear to have been from Spanish colonial provenance but had occasionally remained in use by Native American tribes for generations. In fact with Comanches there are two recorded instances of this, both with Comanche chiefs, one in 1780s, the other with the chief known as 'Iron Shirt' who was finally brought down by a shot from a 'buffalo rifle' in 1858 in Texas.
In both cases, descriptions of the armor were noted as 'scaled'.

The question came up regarding whether this armor might have been either fraternal or theatrical, which was a quite feasible suggestion, and I recall discussing this with Dr. Bleed, and this suggestion was disproven. The metal used in this armor was proven to be of 'bloomery' production, as described later in the paper to have only been obtainable from European sources earlier than the 19th c.

Therefore this type of scaled armor was circulating in the Southwest in earlier times into the 18th century and likely earlier. It appears that these forms, as well as the distictive cuir boulli example of my earlier research were forms which must have crossed the Pacific on the Manila galleons into Spanish controlled regions of Philippines. There native artisans likely reproduced their versions of the Spanish armor, and it is compelling to observe the combining of the scaled metal now in leather scales and the elements of the Santa Fe style cuir boulli decoration and tassets added as well.

Meanwhile the Moro armors of Mindanao and the sphere of the Sultanate used the Islamic armor models, with the interesting adoption of the Spanish combed morions used as well. In the research I did in degree on the armor used by Moros, the use of mail prevailed, and interestingly, the ultimate protection of the warrior was not the goal, but to accommodate further durability in battle, not necessarily survival.

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

... interestingly, the ultimate protection of the warrior was not the goal, but to accommodate further durability in battle, not necessarily survival.

Such was the Moro way.

[TVV]

Here are a couple of examples from the Spanish Military Museum in Toledo.

[Jim McDougall]

The coat at top is a cuera, late 18th into 19th, layered rawhide.
The shields are adarga.

Not sure about the scaled armor below but reminds me of I think something Ive seen that was Rajput from India. Does not seem Spanish or Filipino but cannot say for sure.

[TVV]

While I sadly did not take a picture of the museum label, from what I recall from close to 10 years ago when I took the picture is that this armor was from Mexico, and was parade in function. I could stand to be corrected on this.

[Jim McDougall]

This is a quandry!! Seems like there was some elaborate deity of worship through the Meso American history Olmec, Aztecs, Mayans which had the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl......possibly this was indeed a parade costume.
The notion of the feathering is compelling in suggestion to the lamellar armor we're looking at, but of course speculative as similar type of armor were in use in Europe in much earlier times.

Thanks very much for sharing the pics! Those adarga shields are REALLY hard to find, last one I saw was BAVIA and was in use in the Alamo context.

[TVV]

Jim, here is another adarga, currently exhibited in the Carmel Mission in Carmel, CA, which belonged to a soldier in Portola's expedition. It is interesting to see they were still used in the New World in the second half of the 18th century.