[split] Phalanx warfare: use of the spear

[Dan Howard]

i'm afraid we are going to have to differ. Originally 'Breast-and-Backs' were worn over the buff coat, but once it was realised that the buff coat provided sufficient protection, 'breast-and-backs' were generally abandoned.

Actually the opposite happened. The buff coat was abandoned, not the plate. By the end of the Civil War it was all but impossible to find them and, even at the start of the war, they were getting scarce. This was written in 1640:

"For your buff coat I have looked after, and the price: they are exceedingly dear, not a good one to be gotten under ten pounds, a very poor one for five or six pounds."

A decade earlier a good buff coat cost 2-3 pounds, which was already a lot more than cavalry plate, which cost around 1.5 pounds. FWIW a buff coat weighs around 20 lbs and provides less protection than 1 mm of steel.