Figure 1.--This portrait was taken in 1913 of a new American Scout. Notice how long the sleeves are, suggesting that it was was just bought for him. Notice also that there ar no badges nor does he wear a scarfe. As with many early Scouts, the hat is rather shapeless.

The first American Scout uniforms were based on U.S. Army uniforms and included a rather long jacket with pockets rather than a shirt and knickers with a Smokey the Bear hat. American Scouts were the only ones to wear knickers rather than shorts. Many early Scouts did not wear kerchiefs. This early uniform was the most short lasting uniform style. We assume that the BSA must have assessed how practical the uniform was in the early years of Scouting and then decided to make changes after 12 years. Presumably there are records of these assessments, but HBU has not yet been able to find them. The uniform does seem to be more appropriate for cold weather than warm weather. The jacket does seem to have plenty of pockets for what ever boys wanted to carry. The U.S. uniform appears to be quite different than the uniform of British and other European Scouts. The most obvious is that the American uniform has knickers rather han short pants, but the jacket-like tunic rather than a shirt is another major difference. We also note that the Smokey the Bear hats worn by early American couts are quite often rather shapless. Also early Scout uniforms have no badges, suggesting that the badges and unit designators had not yey been developd by the BSA.