"US Coloured Troops Uniforms" Topic

were they all dressed in dark blue tunics and kersey trousers? (I know that the 1st South Carolina had red trousers for a while)

cheers
jon

The vast majority were in standard blue, but there were some exceptions. Quite a few photos show USCT units wearing frock coats and some even have the brass shoulder scales.

The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers got gray trousers initially, but later got sky blue. Picture of them in action here (scroll down): link

Grelber

I once read that some US Coloured troops received regular uniforms of superior quality because the quartermaster department had run out of shoddy uniform material! Is this true?

I know the US Colored troops took great pride in their uniforms and regular appearance, trying to be as presentable as possible.

I know the US Colored troops took great pride in their uniforms and regular appearance, trying to be as presentable as possible.

Many of them were freedmen, and the clean, brand-new and sharp-looking uniforms were worlds beyond the cheap cloth their former owners gave them. By wearing and maintaining the uniform, they became men and equals to their former masters. Even better, they became government men deserving respect beyond anything their former masters deserved. That was linked in part to a feeling that they have to prove that they were worthy of that respect (and worthy of their freedom). The only Texan to earn the Medal of Honor was a freedman, Milton Holland. Thomas Wentworth Higginson (a Northern preacher and abolitionist who became an officer) explored the psychology of the freedmen in his book, Army Life in a Black Regiment.