Hello, Rose!  It's been a while since I have seen your name pop up here on the forum.  I hope your holidays were wonderful.
From everything I have read, all of the drawings and paintings that I have seen, and all of the "experts" (aren't we all?) that I have heard on the subject of dress for battle, it depends on who you were, where you were from, and what the weather was like as to what a Jacobite wore into battle.  I can't believe that any Highlander in his right mind would have considered shedding any wool on the bitter cold and wet Drummossie Moor before or during the Battle of Culloden. 
Those who wore woolen trews would not have removed them before battle.  Those who wore wee kilts probably would not have removed them before battle.  Those who wore great kilts may or may not have chosen to leave them behind before entering the fray, both for economic reasons (wool, especially the "whole nine yards" has never been cheap) and for military considerations (ease and speed of movement), or to leave them on for warmth in battles taking place during foul weather.  I cannot for the life of me remember seeing any depictions of Jacobites in battle in only their shirtsleeves, but that may be simply because there are yet a lot of paintings and drawings that I have not come across yet.

so sorry I have been away for so long! I always learn so much on here!  I will try not to be a stranger.  You all are such a gem!  For one thing, I lost your website addy and it took me awhile to acquire it again. 

I just felt in my heart that the Highlanders did not remove their kilts while in battle, but the gals on the site I am on kept saying so and included the one source I posted in here. So because I am an 18thc re-enactor and "living historian" I wanted to make sure what I felt was true was backed up by you all as you all have tons more experience  than me.   

many thanks to all and any more info is more than welcome! Thanks! 

Many many, thanks, Brian!  I found it hard to believe cause didn't clans identify each other in battle by the tartan they wore?  Feel free to educate me more if any of you so would like.  thanks!  

Now, what about when the Highlanders were our working on their fields and such, the gals said that the Highlanders removed their kilts and wore only their shirts and tied "between their legs."  Anyone if there is any truth to that?  I feel so silly asking these questions but as some of you  know, we as re-enactors get asked all kinds of questions and I just feel I need to know.  From my research, I find nothing mentioned about this either!  So would appreciate your sharing any knowledge of this as well...thanks!

Oh, I realized why I have not received any replies on this site. My pc crashed way back in April of last year and I lost everything!!  I forgot to change my email on this site when I got the new pc and signed up for broadband as well. Plus, it helped to find the site again, thanks to a friend!  Now I am back in business here with you all.  

I forgot to say hello to the Vicar and hope you and yours are doing well and will have a terrific new year!  Love your avatar pic, btw!  Take care!



I have another silly question too, but that will be for another thread.  

Bahahahhaha! That is a great answer, Webbie! I love it!  many thanks! 

The plaid, along with (later) the philabeg, were the everyday, workaday outdoors dress of the highlanders in pre-Proscription times.  One should not attach romantic "warrior garb" status to these items, as they were worn by cattle drovers, boatmen, oat farmers, ghillies, and any others who spent most of their time employed out-of-doors in that culture.  For the poor clansman, his plaid was worn and worked in all day, slept in all night, and became rather nastily odorous! 
As Henrik says, these fellows were not averse to donning typical knee-breeches either. but for "in-the-field" usage, bare legs were preferred in the wet, heathery, boggy environment of the Highlands.  That's why the kilt evolved there, afterall (Celts having always been a trouser wearing people).
And, I do recall a period reference to clansmen going about in only their shirt-tails, but only at home and in one's own house.  Perhaps it was in Burt's "Letters"....

Sorry Brian, I think you're right. The "warrior-garb" thing must have been some later notion because of its' use in the Army etc.

I didn't know about the clansmen walking about in their shirttails. Interesting. These clansmen must have been either of the mid-ranker or rear-ranker sort, then..? I find it hard to believe that any Highland Gentleman would do it. After all, they were peacocks with a sence of both fashion and, as our Webmistress said, decorum.

Is there any modern print of the "Letters..." by Burt available?

Cheers,
Henrik

Rosemary,
What you are running into is quite typical of historical re-enactors.  There are more than enough "experts" and far too little documentary evidence upon which their "expertise" is based.  I know that folks like Brian, Henrik, the Webmistress, Larry and Missy Clark of Barkertown Sutlers and myself do our best to be reasonably well informed on such matters as these, and yet, if you were to poll the lot of us on any particular item of clothing, you would probably come up with as wide a variety of responses as you would have in personalities.  
The other aspect is that Scots, most particularly Highland Scots are a hard lot to pin down with generalities.  They had their own traditions and rationale, and didn't care one whit for anyone else's.  
They dressed for practicality, not fashion, when working and fighting, unless they were well-off enough financially to do otherwise.  Kilts or trews, hose or barefoot, buckle shoes or ghillies, they were all matters of practicality and affordability.  If they weren't wealthy enough to buy buckle shoes which had to be made by a cobbler, they made their own currans or ghillies, or went without.  If they preferred the versatility and utilitarian qualities of the great kilt or wee kilt with plaid, that's what they wore.  If they were more Continental in their personal taste in fashion and had a wife or relative clever enough with shears, needle and thread to tailor a pair of trews, then that was what they wore.  
I would think that a great kilt or wee kilt and plaid would have been much more durable than trews, and afforded much greater freedom of movement (and freedom when nature called), and so may well have been the choice of more Highlanders than not in the mid 18th century, but that's just my opinion, no better or worse than yours or anyone else's.
Back to the "fighting stripped to the shirt sleeves" issue, I would have to agree with those who feel that it would be by far the exception for a Highlander to be seen in public (as most battles were) in his underwear without both kilt and waistcoat on.  
Sans kilt would also imply sans kilt belt and all that would have hung from it, such as sporran and dirk, good weights to keep a kilt down in front in a stiff wind (hence my definition of the difference between a rich and poor Highlander--the rich one had enough coin in his sporran to hold down his kilt in a stiff wind!).  What would have kept the lightweight linen or raw silk shirt down with no such weights?  I am not sure how the shirt might have been securely tied between the legs to keep the Highlander from exposing himself to any and all spectators during battle.  I would choose to ignore the speculation of any who would state emphatically that it was a regular practice for Highlanders to fight in only their shirts, except in extreme exceptions, such as extremely warm temperatures, as previously stated was the case at the Battle of the Shirts (Kin-Loch-Lochy) in 1544 and Killiecrankie in 1689.
Rule of thumb, if it sounds like an emphatic statement of fact about the fine points of what Highlanders wore when and where, it is probably more hot air than hard fact.  Think like a practical, penny-pinching spend-thrift in the hard times and harsh environment of the Highlands of the mid 18th century, and you will probably arrive at a very reasonable conclusion! Relax about the details and just concentrate on getting the general facts of Scottish history down and you will enjoy our very addictive hobby more.
Alba aye!