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