"leatherhead"

[Victor Steinbok]

My apologies for the long post.

I actually find the use of "powder-monkey" intriguing because it matches
the /fig./ part of its OED definition.

> *1.b.* orig. and chiefly /Naut/. A boy employed to carry gunpowder
> from the powder magazine to the guns, esp. on board a warship. Also
> /fig./ Now /hist/.
>

There is one fig. example among the citations (1706)--the rest are all
literal, even the one that puts the term in quotation marks. But there
is something else--the "powder monkey" was only /called/ powder monkey
because he carried the powder, but, in reality, even the OED citations
belie this definition--the powder monkey's responsibility was to carry
ammunition, sometimes ignited, to the weapon to be loaded. And the one
here  has a different angle entirely--clearly, the boy is not aboard a
ship or even dealing with guns or cannons, yet, he is obviously
providing ammunition to rioters. So it's an interesting and natural--but
not literal--use of the original meaning. (Of course, the 1.a. meaning
is right out!)

But "leatherheads" is interesting too. With apologies to Jesse
Sheidlower and others who only want to see specific /earliest/ dates--as
a matter of practical importance, I expect--I will delve into a bit of
biblioarcheology. No dates are suggested below for use for specific
dictionary entries, but plenty of definitions that never made it into
the OED and even more /other stuff/.

Of course, there is no reason to believe that there was only a single
definition for "leather-heads" and that the OED captured it. For
instance, what are the chances that "leatherhead" in the sense
"blockhead" was used because a literal block-head covered in leather was
used as a dummy for practicing fencing? In some sense, would that not be
a literal meaning of "leather head"? After all, a "blockhead" is a
derivative from a wooden block for wigs and hats. There is not enough
context in the 1700s dictionary that the OED cites, but, perhaps, some
evidence can be found elsewhere?

http://bit.ly/9jVeMA

Perhaps I am over-reaching and Fish literally meant someone swinging at
leather heads, rather than using it as a term of art, so to speak, to
refer to leather-headed dummies. But the use of such dummies certainly
goes back a few decades, to say the least, so why would it not be
possible for this to be the origin of "leatherhead" as dummy? This might
limit the original slang use to cavalry. One caveat is the connection
between the 1700 British slang citation and the late 1800s and early
1900s use in the US Cavalry. Once again, this seems to be something for
military historians to confirm--I simply don't have access to this kind
of information. However, I can post-date my speculation with some
relevant detail.

Imagine a post with a smallish wooden pin inserted at the top, on which
a wooden head sits, clad in leather. This is the leather-head dummy for
saber exercises.

http://bit.ly/9As0by
Journal of the US Cavalry Association, Vol. 18, No. 67, January 1908
The Saber, by Captain G. B. Prichard, p. 538
> The reason for using wooden pins and heads instead of leather heads
> resting directly on the posts, is to insure the runner's making the
> cuts in the horizontal manner prescribed.
> With the leather head, nine men out of ten will habitually tap it with
> the saber or cut down vertically at it with more or less awkwardness,
> depending mostly upon the amount of attention consumed with a
> fractious horse.

Still, the metaphorical sense of "leather[-]head" is preserved at least
as late as 1879 (Punch, Oct. 18):

http://bit.ly/bf984x
> The head of the unfortunate nobleman found to have been converted into
> leather, however, can certainly not be said to be the only head of
> that material extant. The family of the Leatherheads, as of the
> Woodenheads, is a large one.

Given that this is Punch, it is not much of a stretch to read between
the lines here. There is also Kent Knowles's Quahaug of 1914, but there
is some word play there and I am not sure if the meaning is the same.

http://bit.ly/cSmSS5

However, I disagree with Joel Berson's assertion that this is
necessarily the same meaning in the 1835 piece. Compare that use to the
following.

Going back to Farmer (Dictionary of slang etc.--1896, but I haven't
checked the 1890 edition), this one actually has citations (unlike
Farmer's entry for "leatherneck", which is on the same page ;-). Farmer
has two heads--one for swindler, with citations for 1690 and
1884--something entirely missing from the OED, but is present in
Partridge & Beale (2002); the other for "policeman or watchman" filed as
"old: American". I am not sure what "old" means in this context as the
citations are from New York publications from 1882 and 1888. Both are
quite convincing in their claim that "leatherheads" was a term for
policemen.

http://bit.ly/bJZ5JF

I haven't looked at HDAS, but these two certainly suggest that the use
far predates 1845--in fact, it was already out of use by 1845 for the
reason that will become obvious shortly. Also note that the OED entirely
omits the sense "swindler" which is attested with citations in Farmer.

But let me stay on topic, for the moment. I mentioned that both
citations--along with George Thompson's snippet--are from New York. This
is not accidental. I already had an idea that this was a meaningful
connection and, in fact, the guess proved correct.

http://bit.ly/dbayyA
History and Commerce of New York, Second Edition, 1891, p. 66
> Prior to the year of 1844, a force of men known as OLD LEATHER-HEADS
> guarded the city in the lamp-lighted districts. Their numbers were
> recruited from laborers, stevedores, cart drivers and porters, who did
> not constitute a regulatory organized force, but undertook their
> labors out of a sense of duty of self-protection. Their head-gear
> consisted of a leather hat after the stile of old firemen's cap
> without a front piece. This was made of leather--hence the names of
> the wearers, Leather-heads.

Given this context, I have little doubt left that George is correct in
his identification of "leather-heads" in the snippet as "watchmen".

A virtually identical passage can be found in Matthew Hale Smith's
Sunshine and Shadow in New York, 1869. Smith also states that the "lamp
district" was below the 14th Street. (There is no copyright date in the
book, but both Harvard and Brandeis libraries list it as 1869.)

http://bit.ly/aPFgac

The October 1869 Harper's (38:233) confirms it as well, in the history
of the treatment of the homeless in New York City (to date). [Also in GNA.]

http://bit.ly/aqIP2R
Public Lodgers, p. 754
> In truth, the system of relief that has now become the perplexity of
> the Police Commissioner is the outgrowth of the overflow of humanity
> of the primitive watchmen who belonged to a force so pervaded with the
> spirit of Dogberry that its time lives in municipal tradition as the
> "Leatherhead days."
> ...
> Many roamed the streets, stopping occasionally in some liquor shop for
> warmth and rest; others crawled into cellars, or vacant houses, or the
> sheltered nooks of lumber-yards, but a fortunate few fell into the
> good graces of the Leatherhead watchmen. ... In 1845 the Leatherheads
> gave way to the Municipal Police, and a station-house was established
> in each ward.


In fact, there are earlier and specific references (emphasis added).

http://bit.ly/bac72n
Proceedings and Debates of the Constitutional Convention of the State of
New York Held in 1867 and 1868
Vol. 4, p. 2978
January 23, 1868
> Mr. S. Townsend: ... If the committee will excuse me again for a
> moment for detaining them, I will say, sir, that it was my lot to take
> an active part, many years ago, in suppressing the celebrated riots of
> the days now a matter of history, *the election riots of 1834*. At the
> time I had the honor to be in command of a company of artillery in the
> city of New York, doing duty as infantry. We found no difficulty
> there, sir, though long before the metropolitan police system, and
> when the watchmen in the city were much fewer in proportion to the
> population than the police are now--and I may remark, sir, that *those
> watchmen were known by the sobriquet of "leather-heads," from a
> massive ribbed leather cap worn by them, whose principal duty was done
> in the night, but done openly, not covertly, at that time, sir, when
> they were the only police force of the city, except a few constables*,
> we found no difficulty in suppressing riot. Owing to the weakness of
> the police force of the city on the emergency of that riot, resort was
> properly had to the military. ... I myself saw, sir, *a fearful attack
> made upon one of these "leather-heads" by the mob*, and I recollect
> distinctly hearing the sound of the clubs beating upon the barrier
> that was fortunately presented between them and his skull.

It seems this would safely put the context of George's citation to rest.
In fact, George's antedating for this particular meaning is excellent,
except that it likely can be improved with a bit more digging in NYC
publications of the early XIXth century.

Browsing HAN at BPL, I came across a rather substantial number of hits,
but only a few pre-1845. The earliest is from 1800 Constitutional Diary
and Philadelphia Evening Advertiser. The next one is from 1805 Albany .
> *Headline: *[Washington; Leatherheads; Histories; God]; *Article Type:
> *News/Opinion
> *Paper: *Constitutional Diary, published as The Constitutional Diary
> and Philadelphia Evening Advertiser; *Date: *01-02-1800; *Volume: *I;
> *Issue: *27; *Page: *[3]; *Location: *Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
p. 3/1
> Some of our would be philosophers, who pretend to understand the
> mechanism of the human mind, believe that no man on earth possesses
> abilities capable of giving sufficient colouring to the actions of the
> great Washington. Would not these LEATHERHEADS make most excellent
> constables? Histories of the Son of God have been written, yet we have
> neither heard nor read of any murmur, or complaint, having been made
> against those who wrote them.

It looks like a rant, but it highlights "LEATHERHEADS" in all caps,
which seems to mean "block-heads" here.

> *Headline: *For the Register. on Turnpikes; *Article Type: *News/Opinion
> *Paper: *Albany Register, published as The Albany Register; *Date:
> *02-05-1805; *Volume: *XVII; *Issue: *1365; *Page: *[2]; *Location:
> *Albany, New York
p. 2/3
> Strong prejudices have been excited against Turnpike generally, by a
> few leather-heads--but the clouds are happily dispelled by the light
> of truth and experience l and there is every appearance that the
> present enlightened legislature will be guided by the conviction of
> their own minds, regardless of the frightful phantoms of old
> women--that Turnpikes will become the order of the day,--with wise and
> salutary checks to guard the public against the abuse of a privilege
> so happily calculated to promote the great good of the whole, and to
> advance the population and wealth of the state.

Same meaning as before. There is one more from The Columbian from 1809,
but also with the same meaning. An alternative search revealed a few
hits for "the village of Leatherhead, County Surrey" in the 1790s; one
more hit in a Philadelphia newspaper in 1802 (the aforementioned
Independent Whig), also undoubtedly meaning "block-head"; one more in
the Rhode Island Republican in 1835; and an assortment of proper names
in various contexts (surnames and town/village names). The earliest hit
for "leather-head" as "watchman" is from 1838. Nothing before 1835, so
George's find remains the standard.

> *Headline: *Chapter II.; *Article Type: *News/Opinion
> *Paper: *Hudson River Chronicle, published as The Hudson River
> Chronicle; *Date: *09-25-1838; *Volume: *1; *Issue: *49; *Page: *[1];
> *Location: *Sing-Sing, New York
p. 1/3 Born Rich, by T. Noah [HAN identifies the piece as Chapter 2, but
that's merely Chapter 2 of the same story, not a separate one.]
> Late in the evening young Walter sallied out into the street. A good
> looking tipsy man is considered a rich prize in Boston, as the
> magistrates in that town "fine" according to appearances, and our hero
> soon found himself an object of great interest to a watchman, who hove
> along side of him. On this occasion, however, "Leather-head" had
> caught a /Tartar/, for Walters was used to scrapes with watchmen, and,
> before he was aware of it, his club was flying in the air, his cup lay
> in the gutter, and he had received a blow in the eye, which almost
> knocked him over.

Although this location of this part of the story is in Boston, the
newspaper is from New York, so it should not be surprising to find a
reference to a watchman as "Leather-head" (with quotation marks in the
original). So, based on available evidence, I would conclude that the
use of leatherhead == watchman is not only regional, but highly
localized to New York City and the surrounding area. In the rest of the
US--and in England--"leatherhead" appears to have been restricted to
"block-head" or "dummy" during the same period. The former remained in
use in historical literature about New York, but the latter lived on
into the early XXth century.

=======

But there is more. The Leather Workers'  Journal (1906-1909 and
thereabouts) used the term routinely to refer to *leather workers* (or,
perhaps, specifically to union members, although I was unable to confirm
that)--a rather obvious contextual sobriquet.

==
An odd citation lists "Leather-heads" as "inhabitants" of
Pennsylvania--no idea where this came from and the source says very little.

  http://bit.ly/8ZWevm
American Agriculturist, Nov. 1893
American Sobriquets. p. 622/2-3
> The good people of Maine are by no means sly and yet are nicknamed
> Foxes; probably on account of the lumber trade employing so many the
> pine forests. Those of Maryland are known as Craw-thumpers; of
> Michigan, Wolverines, from the horde of those animals abounding there;
> Minnesota, Gophers; Mississippi, Tadpoles; Missouri, Pukes; Nebraska,
> Bug-eaters; Nevada, Sage hens; New Hampshire, Granite boys; New
> Jersey, Blues or Clam catchers; New York, Knickerbockers (although
> this is chiefly confined to those of Holland descent); and North
> Carolina--which produces and exports immense quantities of
> turpentine--Tar boilers and Tuckoes.
> So, also, the inhabitants of Ohio bear the name of Buckeyes, from the
> buckeye tree that there flourishes in great profusion; those of Oregon
> are known as Wet-feet and Hard-cases; Pennsylvania, Pennanites and
> Leather-heads; Rhode Island, Gun-flints; South Carolina, Weasels;
> Tennessee, Whelps; Texas, Beef-heads; Vermont, Green Mountain boys;
> Virginia, Beadles; and Wisconsin, Badgers.

This seems to be only a subset of the list that appeared a full decade
earlier. (Note, however, the broader range below and Nevada being listed
as "stage hens" rather than "sage hens", with the Oregon listing for
"web-feet" rather than "wet-feet"--something that can be seen today in
the college nickname of Ducks.)

http://bit.ly/cccLQG
London Society, May 1883, p. 592
> American Nicknames
> The following are the nicknames by which the States in the American
> Union are designated in the familiar political vocabulary of America:
> Alabama, lizzards; Arkansas, toothpicks; California, gold hunters;
> Colorado, rovers; Connecticut, wooden nutmegs; Delaware, blue hen's
> chickens; Florida, fly-up-the-creeks; Georgia, crackers; Illinois,
> suckers; Indiana, hosiers; Iowa, hawk-eyes; Kansas, jayhawkers;
> Kentucky, corn-crakers; Louisiana, creoles; Maine, foxes; Maryland,
> craw-thumpers; Michigan, wolverines; Minnesota, gophers; Mississippi,
> tadpoles; Missouri, pukes; Nebraska, bug-eaters; Nevada, stage hens;
> New Hampshire, granite boys; New Jersey, blues, or clam-catchers; New
> York, knickerbockers; North Carolina, tarboilers and tuckoes; Ohio,
> Buckeyes; Oregon, web-feet and hard-cases; Pennsylvania, leatherheads
> and Pennanites; Rhode Island, gun-flints; South Carolina, weasels;
> Tennessee, whelps; Texas, beef-heads; Vermont, Green Mountain boys;
> Virginia, beadles; and Wisconsin, badgers.

Yet another decade earlier, it was The Maine Journal of Education (Vol
6:6, June 1872, p. 225-6) that took up the list. The results were
largely the same, but the article listed /no hyphens/ at all, either
splitting the words or joining them. There were a few variations:
Georgia, Buzzards; Kentucky, Corn Crackers [with a c]. In addition,
"Territories, etc." also got coverage.

http://bit.ly/csMSbn
> Utah, Polygamists; Dakotah, Squatters; New Mexico, Spanish Indians;
> Idaho, Fortune Seekers and Cut-throats; Nova Scotia, Blue Noses; New
> Brunswick, Fishheads; Canada, Canucks.

Immediately preceding it is a list of state /names/ with supposedly
complete etymology. For example, Iowa is claimed to be  'From the
Indian, signifying "drowsy ones".' One should not be surprised, also, to
find in an article on teaching English, on p. 205, that "the
spelling-lesson should contribute more than it now does." Interestingly,
the suggestion is to contextualize word use rather than keeping it a
"dry and boring... practice in the collocation of letters".

I found no lists of state nicknames prior to 1872 (although I was not
looking too closely), but there were plenty in the 1880s and 1890s. For
more explanations of the meaning of each nickname (and also of state
nicknames, such as "The Old Line State" for Maryland), see the Universal
Dictionary of 1897.

http://bit.ly/90YP5n

[UPDATE: I lied! I found an 1871 reference that reads, "A London paper
informs us that the Yankees are great at nicknames." Then it proceeds
with the entire list. American Bibliopolist, vol. 3, Nov. 1873, p. 438/1
http://bit.ly/9nPO2K ]

But, returning to the original subject, residents of Pennsylvania in the
mid-nineteenth century, apparently, referred to themselves as
"leatherheads". The 1897 dictionary helpfully suggests that the nickname
was derived "from the abundance of tanneries". In the words of Johnny
Carson (and his SNL parodies), I did not know that!

Now, to placing this in a historical context. Although the following
piece deals with "Buckeyes"--and places /that/ in historical
context!--it also mentions Leatherheads.

http://bit.ly/93ny8I
Cincinnati Miscellany, August 1845 [GB has 1846, but that's wrong]
The Buckeye, J. H. J., August 14, 1845, p. 97
> The first I ever met with the name in any other than an opprobrious
> sense was in 1823, when reading Long's Expedition to the Yellowstone.
> In speaking of Cincinnati, he says (as I remember now, for I have not
> seen the book since) that the natives were called Buckeyes, in
> contradistinction to emigrants, who were generally called Yankees.
> This was laughed at then as a piece of amusing information, entirely
> new to the inhabitants. But /tempora mutantur/, the mistake spread,
> and in a few years more the art and talent of your city were combined
> to assume the name of Buckeyes or Leatherheads, and to elevate the
> opprobrious epithet into diginity.

It is interesting that we now have colliding uses. Was "leatherhead"
used "opprobriously" in Pennsylvania, as Buckeye was used in Ohio? In
this case, we would have yet another derivation for the negative meaning
of "leatherhead" (as in OED 1.a., but clearly independent of it). If
not, then both were used, at one time, in Pennsylvania. Or, perhaps, the
"block-head" use died out there prior to the 1840s use as a nickname for
state residents.

     VS-)

On 2/28/2010 9:29 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> At 2/27/2010 09:50 PM, George Thompson wrote:
>
>> 1837:   . . . the boy O'Brien was identified as a kind of
>> *powder-monkey* in the action, having been seen . . . carrying his
>> arms full of stones and brick-bats in an alley way leading to the
>> houses of the rioters, and heard to exclaim, "Let's beat the d----d
>> leather-heads' heads off."
>>          N-Y D Express, September 11, 1837, p. 2, cols. 4-5
>>
>> HDAS: (3) 1845
>>

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