Métis women played many roles during the War of 1812, including harvesting, caring for the sick, and inventing a familiar piece of clothing: the Mackinaw jacket.
In the winter of 1812, a British commander at St. Joseph Island, Captain Roberts, realized he had no suitable winter clothing for his soldiers:
"All hopes having now ceased of the arrival of the schooner Hunter or any other vessel from Amherstburg with the clothing of the detachment, I am this day obtaining, upon my requisition to the storekeeper of the Indian Department, a consignment of heavy blankets, to make their greatcoats, a measure the severity of the climate strongly demands.”
The storekeeper of that Indian Department was a Métis man named John Askin Jr.
Roberts secured the necessary blankets from the Hudson’s Bay Company. He then commissioned Askin to enlist Métis women to make the garments:
“Within a few hours the King’s store had put on the appearance of a wholesale tailorshop for John Askin had eight or ten white and half breed women to work on the blankets, making the great coats for the King’s soldiers.”
The women worked tirelessly and completed the coats in only two weeks.
These stylish and functional double-breasted coats, deemed “superior to the regulation army coat… warmer and of finer appearance”, are now known as Mackinaw jackets. They are made of thick wool and generally have a black-and-red or black-and-white plaid pattern.
Without these “great” Mackinaw jackets and the Métis women who made them, many soldiers would have nearly frozen to death in the Upper Great Lakes’ fierce winter conditions.
This stylish creation, which has endured the test of time, is a testament to the skill and resourcefulness of Métis women in the Upper Great Lakes.