"Zouave in Fez v. Zouaves in Turban; Union or Confederate?" Topic

I am in the process of painting some Old Glory 10mm armies. I would like to add a unit or two of Zouaves to both sides for a little color. But, as usual, I need a little help from the TMP first.

Old Glory makes two different Zouaves in 10mm; Zouave in Fez and Zouaves in Turban.

Which one would be better to use for which side?

What was the difference between Union and Confederate Zouaves?

The Unions was better dressed and maintained thier dress longer. Where are Your armies based, East or West? I think the Classic Zouave look endured longer in the east than west.
As for headdress IIRC kepis and straw hats were more common with southern zouaves.

The Union had far more zouaves than the Confederates (the only full Reb unit I can think of is Coppen's Zouaves). The turban was wrapped around the fez, and could be left off. If I'm not mistaken it was usually worn in parade dress, and you can find photos of the same zouave unit with or without (for example, the 5th NY).

As noted, the Union had many more full units that were Zouaves – the Rebs had some, mostly from Louisiana – and in 1863/64 the Army of the Potomac actually converted some units from their conventional uniforms to Zouave uniform in recognition of good service (as well as, probably, to provide incentive to keep veterans in service!) – in the field, zouaves usually wore a fez without a turban – the turban was for full dress; the 114th PA wore them a lot in 1864, as they were named as the Headquarters Guard for the Army of the Potomac after two years of hard service in the field

The reading I've done indicates that none of them wore the turban into battle, but I don't see anything wrong with doing it any way to add a little flavor to the table top.

Lord Bluebottle: There was Stuert's Maryland Zouves in kepi and Wheat's Tigers in a combination of fez and straw hat.

JW

I think Coppen's wore kepis but a red fez would be adequate.

I recommend finding a specific zouave unit and modeling your zouaves after them.

For Confederate zouaves you could do Maryland Guard Zouaves with kepis. Louisiana had Wheat's Tiger Zouaves with fez or straw hats and I think there were also some chasseurs a pied, who wore kepis, which were combined with the LA Coppen's Zouaves). There's also the Charleston Cadet Zouaves with kepis.

Some Union zouaves with kepis include 14th Brooklyn (chasseur a pied), Baxter's Zouaves, Goslin's Zouaves, and Birney's Zouaves. Some Union zouaves with fez and/or turban include Collis' Zouaves, Hawkin's Zouaves, Duryea's Zouaves, Ryan's Zouaves, Pearson's Zouaves, and Garrard's Zouaves. Some of Meagher's Zouaves had havelocks in addition to kepis.

Do a google search for Don Troiani and check out some of his paintings of the various zouave units. Have fun.

Shagnasty – It's my understanding there was a company or so of chasseurs a pied which wore kepis that was combined with Coppen's zouaves which wore the fez.