"Confederate Artillery Kepi " Topic

Not sure, my first attempt to post this worked so if it did, my apology for the redundancy.

My Confederate artillery are wearing the kepi, and I am trying to confirm the proper coloring for this cap for them. My research shows two types of coloring – officers with the entire upper part all red, and the other ranks with a wide red band at the bottom and the upper part gray. Is this correct, or would an all red upper part be correct for all ranks?

I am also assuming a gray shell jacket with red collar and pointed cuffs is correct, and with a red band along the back seam?

Thank you for the help!

Terry

Like ALL things Confederate, it depends…

Mostly on theater. And time.

In general any Confederate cannoneer anywhere anytime should look JUST like his infantry brethren, but without infantry accoutrements. Recall too infantrymen were assigned to batteries as extra men, so depicting them, minus muskets, assisting a detachment is a nice touch.

It is doubtful those in the Trans Mississippi EVER saw any red, unless it was on officers.

ALL officers bought their own uniforms, plain or fancy, so red kepis on your big bugs are perfectly proper, ditto all that gaudy red frumpery on their uniforms. Please, NO red backed gold galloons though, they simply did NOT exist. Also avoid a Richard Harris fashion statement & forbear from giving your officers chicken guts, collar bars or stars, AND Federal style shoulder straps, all at the same time!!

The Richmond Depot began issuing enlisted men 1st pattern Artillery kepis with the all red top in 1862. So conceivably your ANV cannoneers could be wearing them by 2nd Manassas. By 1863 a 2nd pattern with the red band only was more commonly issued to Eastern artillerists. Some credit the change to a shortage of red cloth, which is plausible, we simply do not know.
Personally a red hat makes a splendid target amidst the swirling black powder smoke clouds…
Late in '64 some 1st pattern kepis began appearing again, made of high quality, blockade run British wool.

Yet by far most kepis issued would be plain, unadorned, non-branch specific. Remember too that any request of the quartermaster would likely bee short filled.
Need 30 caps, tough, you get 8, and you get what I can grab, NOT those pretty red ones you asked for, don't have any more of 'em, especially not for your battery.

This is true of all uniform items, and field gear too. Your lads get some of the same things at the same time, and at another time get some of the same things together, but different from previous issues, producing an odd random incomplete 'uniformity'. Like issue by battery, partially and sequentially.

For shell jackets as well, there would be many more plain grey than those with trim. On some jackets only the NCO chevrons are red. Others had collars, but not cuffs. Those with cuffs are more usually straight, pointed not so much. Some uniforms were piped or welted, instead of tape or lace or cloth.

I like to believe more branch trim very early in the war when everyone was equipped & clothed locally, less trim as the CS Depot System geared up, more later in the war as artillery battalions took over their own supply duties. All this is for Eastern troops, ANV specifically.

The Army of Tennessee worked very differently. In the first place, artillery batteries were assigned to infantry brigades, so NO artillery specific quartermaster channels existed. If your battery needed uniform items you requested them from an INFANTRY quartermaster, who had many more dustbeater bodies to clothe as best he could, so you were going to get what he had available, most likely plain. If trimmed AT ALL, it would be Infantry Blue from late '62 through winter '64.

Red trim in the AOT was SO rare as to be remarkable, in letters, reports and memoirs. Indeed one 1864 survey of the ENTIRE AOT artillery establishment by a former battery commander states that he has NEVER seen proper branch trim on ANY artillerist, the trim he has seen was BLUE, and the ONLY time he ever saw RED trimmed uniforms issued it was to the infantry, rather than to a battery of artillery, as it should have been…

Keep your AOT cannoneers plain, more hats than kepis too, trimmed in blue after '62, add red chevrons for the NCOs as a nice contrast. NO red kepis on AOT rank & file,they weren't available. Save it for your officers only. Overall Westerners would exhibit a harsher less uniform look than their Eastern counterparts.

I know it's not as pretty, or visually interesting, but plain cannoneers with a sparse sprinkling of red sparingly done and mostly on officers will more properly reflect history.

DO NOT use artillery reenactors as your modelling guide!!
I'd be hard pressed to point out more'n 50-60 nationwide who understand and embrace an accurate Confederate cannoneer impression, and fewer still who are able to span theaters, depots and campaigns. Most have "retired" to the artillery, and suffer serious material culture delusions rooted in fantasy, inspired by post-war UCV "uniforms", Hollywood and 150 years of Romantic Confederate Mythos.

I never tire of fighting this fight, though I usually lose out to the History Channel Harlots who all seem to cheerfully embrace rampant rabid Chiggerheadism while ignoring the available data contrary to their own keen fashion senses.

BGR

Since you say that your figures are in kepis and shell jackets, then your painting is correct. I have done the same with mine. I did mix in a few shirt sleeve and hat guys to add color and variation, but my artillery uniforms are closer to "uniform" than the rest of the army.

Matthew

Oh thank you so very much,BGR and Matthew. I could truly not ask for better information.

BGR, that is so nice of you to take the time to share so much, and such truly excellent information to boot! Very much appreciated. It sure helps me understand the variety of pictures and prints I've been seeing. Again, just excellent!!!

Matthew, I very much appreciate your thinking too, as my thought has always been that the artillery was the , shall we say "most proud" so I will have some uniformity to them for that reason. My infantry a will be a smattering and in my cavalry I have the Texas lads with shotguns, so some real mix there, and some early war Virginia. I know my army is not pure, but being a HotT army and small I am wanting as much variety and color as possible. While staying accurate as far as the uniforms go.

Again, my very sincere appreciation to both of you!

Terry

Appreciate all the info, thank you! : )

Red kepi with a dark blue band (just like those worn by the French army at the time*) were regulation at first. (And of course, light blue/dark blue for the infantry and yellow/dark blue for the cavalry.) Later this was replaced with a gray kepi with a colored band (red for artillery). However, that doesn't mean that they actually received such items. Officers would more likely have them, as they bought from private suppliers; EMs had to take what they got.

The only official difference between the officers' and the EMs' kepis would have been the gold braid on the officers' (and probably better materials and workmanship).

* I have to wonder if some French kepis were imported!

As noted, there was a lot of variation in Confederate uniforms – and I agree, red trim in the West would be very, very rare – in the East, the gunners seemed to like their red trim and tried to keep it as long as they could, but again as noted shortages – especially mid-war – meant a lot of hats and plain caps

I have also found in my reading that the only trim used for Confederate gunners in the West – when it was used at all – was blue

I have to say that it is all of this variation in uniforms, from east to west that keeps me interested in ACW. There really is no right or wrong. I have a lot of "generic" units, but then I have the special units that I have done some reading up on and feel like I want to paint.

Matthew

I'll add this much. The CS Depots operated in the same manner as the federal ones. They took in completed clothing and equipments, and issued them to fill requests as they arrived.

However, any unit could also request custom-made clothing if they were willing to pay the extra costs for it's production. The depot looked at what needed to be manufactured, and contracted to have them made.

Such an example of a unit's custom clothing may be found in the Visitor's Center at Manassas Battlefield. It is an enlisted artillerist's jacket and was part of a custom issue in the spring of 1864 for the Washington Artillery.

The entire battery was issued with new, custom made clothing prior to the Overland Campaign. These consisted of jackets and trousers made from English Army cloth, a bluish-grey (cadet-grey) broadcloth. The jackets had red piping on collar, cuffs, and trousers were plain. Allegedly, caps of the same material with red piping were included, but no examples have been located to date.

So, if you have a battery (or troop or battalion) that has the funds available, you could still have whatever you wanted made and delivered.

But, as stated above, by Sharpsburg, at the latest, the Richmond Depot had begun to produce untrimmed clothing so as to be used for all branches. By 1864, excess devices, such as epaullets were also removed from the jackets to save money and material.

So it is very much a unit/date/theater situation. My personal opinion is that whenever in doubt, less is more.

I would vary the type of hats, kepi and slouch hats. Kepi colors, red, various shades of gray and butternut. It seems to me that wearing a red kepi makes you an easier target.

Check out the various Osprey books and reenactor web sites. Unless your going for a special unformed unit like the early uniform of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans, I would not worry about it. Do a variety of hats and colors on each stand, you'll be fine.

I am also assuming a gray shell jacket with red collar and pointed cuffs is correct, and with a red band along the back seam?

To answer this part of the original question: If you mean piping along the more-or-less vertical seams on the back of the jacket, as on Union artillery and cavalry jackets -- No. The official uniform did not have that. It did have piping down the front and around the bottom, however. But, again, I have to doubt that many artillerymen ever received the official uniform.

Oh great Don! Thanks, yes that is what I was asking about – re the piping. You sure know your stuff.

Thanks again,

Terry

Hello Gents,
I wholeheartly agree with Valerik statement, Like ALL things Confederate, it depends…

Without being specfic to a theater, unit or year Gray with a touch of red will do you well.

What I will highly suggest is painting all their jackets the same color and painting all their pants the same color. Now jacket and pants dont have to match color wise but they certianly can. The Ragged Reb is a look way over done especially in an artillery unit.

I agree with 5th Zouve my 10/12mm forces have far more uniforms in them, I am though doing more civilian clothing for the western force, in 10/12mm it is also affordable to different flags for different periods and theatres of war.

But my artillery is uniform based and use the same uniform for each battery as far as I can.