"4th Michigan infantry" Topic

Can anyone recommend a 25mm-28mm American Civil War manufacturer that makes a 4th Michigan (Wolverines) volunteer infantry figure? I want a stocking cap with tassel, standard issue sack coat, standard issue trousers, and leggings; a casting that looks like the one illustrated in Philip Haythornthwaite's Uniforms of the American Civil War.
I don't find standard Zouave castings acceptable; the trousers are way too baggy, the Zouave jacket doesn't look right, and a Zouave fez looks nothing like a stocking cap. On the other hand, I don't find a standard Union infantry casting suitable either; no leggings and no stocking cap.
I know I could probably get by with a standard Union infantry figure with kepi; paint the trousers dark blue and most if not all of them probably wore the standard issue kepi at Gettysburg anyway. I don't care. I want the way cool stocking cap and tan leggings.
Thanks.

You could, of course, just trim the brim off of the forage cap, and file it a bit (or use a bit of green stuff) to make the fez, and add a bit of thread for a tassle.

The other option is to find an Iron Brigade casting with a sack coat, and, again, reshape the hat into a fez.

I'll say this, however: I truly despise that book of uniforms. Most of the stuff in there (at least the small, hardbound copy I own) are terribly inaccurate, are not representative of the majority of ACW troops, and often portray the subject at a specific point in time (mostly early war) without making that point known to the reader.

For example, the 20th Maine image shows the soldier with dark blue trousers, and a grey canteen with the letters "US" stenciled on the cover. The 20th left Maine wearing heavy dark blue trousers, but those were replaced with sky-blue before they left Washington because they were so uncomfortable. The grey canteen cover is fine. the majority were a grey or grey/brown colour anyway, but the "US" stencil is a post-war addition, the canteens of this period being stenciled (if marked at all) with the company letter and soldier's number (and in white paint, not black).

respects,

They probably only wore that uniform at Bull Run, anyway. By the next fight (Peninsula?) they were probably in standard uniform.

Oh, that book. I'll never forget a game years ago – years, say around the early 90s – when a fellow showed up with a Confederate army that looked like something out of a mid-19h century "Imagi-nation" campaign.

All his infantry were wearing something that looked like Stetsons – I think they were old Minifigs – complete with white dress gloves and white crossbelts, and his cavalry were French cuirassiers, repainted into that Charleston horse regiment plate from the book. He had a full regiment of them. Unreal. Shakos everywhere.

My understanding on the Maine Regiments trousers is that they were the same as the light Blue ones, just in Dark Blue as that was the Army Regulation.

Now if on Campaign and trousers need replacing they are likely to get whatever the Quartermaster can find I agree.

My understanding on the Maine Regiments trousers is that they were the same as the light Blue ones, just in Dark Blue as that was the Army Regulation.

Now if on Campaign and trousers need replacing they are likely to get whatever the Quartermaster can find I agree.

The change to sky-blue trousers was ordered in the US Army in December of 1860, some 18 months before the 20th was raised.

However, the real issue is this: Federal regiments were, in almost all cases, issued with their initial clothing, weapons, and accouterments by the state in which they were raised. Thus, the various styles and colours of clothing in the beginning months of the war, as the uniforms issued then were of the patterns that the various states had adopted for their own use, rather than the US Army regulations.

The trousers issued to the 20th Maine were of a heavier weight of wool, and of a dark blue shade, issued by the Augusta Arsenal. A letter (private correspondence) in the 20th Maine's files at the Maine State Archives, mentions these heavy trousers, and the complaints from the soldiers about them, especially in the hot august days of 1862 in Washington, DC. It states that the regiment drew new sky-blue trousers while in Washington, which were of a lighter weight material and these were well-received by the men. I haven't a personal copy of that letter, but it is in the sept/oct 1862 correspondence folder under "private correspondence".

Many of the early-war Federal regiments would have worn dark blue trousers, and one really needs to break down the war into various stages for uniforms and arms. The early-war Federal armies, like their Confederate counterparts, were vastly different affairs than the armies of 1862/63, and those of the 64/65 period.

respects,

I can't think of any manufacturer that makes a figure with sack coat and gators, but if you find that, then you can buy redoubt heads with fez. I've seen actual pics of the 4th Michigan and to tell you the truth, it looks like they are wearing a fez as I recall. I don't know where the stocking cap came from. Like Tim Kindred says, that "Hawthornewaite" book is full of inaccuracies. The picture that I've seen of the 4th Michigan did have them wearing the fez and gators at the pennisula campaign.

Thanks FireZouave. The Redoubt head idea is a good one. But instead of a regular stiff fez Zouave head I think I'd use the Louisiana Tigers head with the softer fez.

On the other hand, I could just "dremel" a standard kepi/forage cap into a presentable stocking cap/soft fez with a "greenstuff" tassel. Since I found several period photos of 4th Michigan infantry privates with the dark blue trousers but no leggings and standard kepis/forage caps (see page 60 of Francis Lord's They Fought for the Union), I'm thinking I could get by with just customizing the hats of the color bearers and drummer/bugler and leaving the rest of the regiment with kepis/forage caps. Everyone would have the dark blue trousers though.

Re your comment about the stocking caps, see the period Brady photograph of a group of 4th Michigan infantry
on page 57 of Francis Lord's Uniforms of the American Civil War. To me, the tasseled caps several are wearing have too low a crown to be fez.

I thought they were more of a Chasseurs à pied style instead of a Zouave style. I think I even got that term from the same book.

Mosby65, I would have to look at the pic again closer, but I know that many zouave fez were high crowned probably when issued. However it was often reshaped by the men for their personal preference, not to mention the effect that constant rain on them would eventually do to their appearance. I'm sure there were different materials used and different shapes also.

You are correct. Most of the fez's, when issued, were unblocked and the men more or less shaped them as desired, and as the weather dictated

There is a photo in the old American Heritage Gettysburg book of a Union soldier in a fez whom Bruce Catton identifies as a Michigan private. I always thought he was a misidentified Collis Zouave but now it makes sense!