Civil War Language

[UKReb]

I was sent this message from a fellow WBS re-eactor in the UK:

"Still reading 'History of the Seventeenth Virginia Regiment' by George Wise and came across the following, 'While here, the 'Pirooters' and 'Pisanters' (the latter, a sobriquet given to Company H by Col Corse).
I have tried the internet and can only come up with a reference to a piece of piano music and another reference to the Pinus Pisanter which is a Maritime Pine which although endangered has no link to the USA."

Sorry I don't have the book myself, as a longer quote might help explain what are the origins of these names and what they mean. Any information would be useful.

Thanks
Simon Morse
Co. H 17th Virginia (Southern Skirmish Association, UK)

[JKfifer119]

Re: Civil War Language

try piss ant or pissant, that brings up a meaning 1)One that is insignificant...
that other one is a real puzzler might want to mess with the spelling
I experimented and came close with pierrot which is a stock character in french commedia dell'arte, a sort of early form of improv full of stock characters
Mr Pierrot was a sort of sad clown perhaps someone was a fan of the theater when passin out the nicknames
good luck

joe korber