"cany kind of camo in this era?" Topic

Gents, An other strange question any camoflage to blend in the back ground by cassions by stripes or some thing else? him again serge joe

No. The closest I can think of is giving light infantry green uniforms, like the 95th rifles.

But this was an era when war was about showing off in front of an enemy who had crappy weapons, not hiding from machine guns and snipers.

also with the battlefield covered in clouds of black powder smoke, being bright and recognizeable was a tactical benefit, so everyone knew who was where

Technically, Highlander Tartans began as camoflage, but I doubt having plaid kilts significantly improved anyones concealment.

@Rich Bliss

Really!

Can you name your sources?

Green was fairly typical for hunter/jaeger/rifles. More of a motif than camo though. :)

Tartan came from traditional weaving patterns and was not a camouflage deliberately. If your wife wove a brown or dark green based one then the tactical advantage was pure serendipity. There were no clan tartans as such before Walter Scott and Prince Albert got a hold of Scottish romanticism and indeed the first group of Highlanders to all wear the same tartan were the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment (the Black Watch) because their plaid was mass produced in a 'Government set'. If the history was otherwise, I would love to hear it.

What would be the point of camo in a period where the main infantry weapon was inaccurate beyond 40 yards?

My source is a National Geographic article on color. The original patterns were based on plant dies from the estate where the material was woven. Worn while hunting, the colors naturally blended in with the grass and other plants and provided some basic concealment. This, of course, presaged any of the official clan tartans as I have a tough time conceiving of a terrain where the Buchanan plaid would blend in.

@ Rich Bliss

I don't think so. The earliest plaids were the result of using various natural wool hues.

The 'Falkirk tartan' is our earliest surviving example.
link

I think you're confusing necessity with outcome. That they were dull was a function of the raw materials at hand.

The Buchanan tartan (& all the others) was invented in 1822 by two Sassenach con-artists, pretending to be off-shoots of the Stuarts.
link

Read about their 'Vestiarum'

link

This is one of the very, very few, authentic, Stone Age tartans, designed to allow Mesolithic hunters (from the MacFluro clan) in Scotland hide in a field of wild flowers while they stalked their giant tartan elk prey:

A trophy from those far off times:

Many thanks Ochoin,

for educating us while we're rolling on the floor laughing!

My pleasure.

Hoots Mon!

@ Jim
Dinnae ye fash yersel, pal.