"Army of Northern Virginia" Topic

Been new to ACW gaming I would like some advice on uniforms. I have searched the www etc and have a basic grasp of Butternut and the greys used. I have just bought a lot of Newline Design minis and want to base my force on regiments that were at Gettysburg. So, for the army of Northern Virginia would the predominant colour of the mens uniform be Grey or Butternut? From what I have read so far they were well turned out and not too raged looking, but in Grey or butternut.

ANV would be more likely to wear grey than, say, Army of Tennessee, but lots of factors in play. I paint my CSA with a lot of variety.

My rule of thumb…
If specific for Gettysburg could not be found, newer regiments had more grey and
older ( and typically very depleted regiments by that time) more butternut with much variability( any replacements known to have recently occurred or extra bases to flush out units for other battles, I would have in more grey).

For butternut & grey shade (Brown grey to blue grey to black grey)- I would alter the amount of that shade between Va, NC, Al, Miss and Tx units (per what ever info I could find in paint guides that shed light to the local dyes or browns due to regional clothing supplies).
For example my Va units, the Greys are with brown shade and the NC units more blue grey shade for the boys in grey.
At 30000 feet wargamer's view it will look cool!

MG

Also note that several of Jubal Early's regiments were dressed in hundreds of civilian clothes captured here in York PA (I cover this in several of my books on the Gettysburg Campaign) as well as in parts of Union uniforms captured at Second Winchester. York was the largest and most prosperous town between Harrisburg and Baltimore and its leading clothing shops were cleaned out (one had just received 500 imported shirts from Europe in the latest fashion).

Lots of contemporary accounts of Early's men (Louisiana Tigers, Gordon's brigade, Extra Billy Smith's brigade, and Avery's brigade) talk about them wearing quite a few Union light blue pants in combination with recently procured civilian shirts and coats. Piles of worn-out and discarded Confederate uniforms were tossed aside by the soldiers on York's sidewalks and later burned by the populace after the Rebels left town on June 30 the day before the fighting at Gettysburg.

Many of Gordon's Georgians, in particular, wore black knapsacks captured at Second Winchester from the 87th Pennsylvania (ironically a regiment raised in York and Gettysburg). They also had the 87th's ambulances and supply wagons with them.

It was earlier in the war, but when asked about the holes and patches in the pants of the Texas regiments, Lee famously replied that the enemy never saw the backs of his Texans. Not sure about the condition of the uniforms in the Gettysburg campaign, but patches here and there seems appropriate.

Hood's Texans were in various shades of grey in 1862, with a lot of company variations. The brigade received a sizable reenforcement in late 62/early 63; Captain JJ McBride among other officers traveled back to Texas recruiting; he returned with 30 men for Company C, 5th Texas, which seems to have been the best results of all the recruiters. Don't know whether those recruits were uniformed and if so, how.

Uncle JJ reported in mid 62 on an equipment inspection that "the men are nearly naked." At some point, and almost certainly by Gettysburg, the Texans would have been dependent on imports through the blockade.

I assume that Lee, given his regard for the Texas brigade, would have had them high on the list to get uniforms when needed and available.

Of course other states' troops would have been in different circumstances, particularly when they could still get stuff from home.

I believe that many of Hood's troops received new uniforms from NC right before the Gettysburg campaign. Sorry, can't remember where I read this.

Thanks for the advice. i am painting them for the Lardies sharp practice rules and hope to build up forces for Fire and Fury and guns at Gettysburg eventually.

For the record: Hood's Texans received the majority of their clothing from the central government via the Richmond depot. There's a lot to consider, and I'll try and make this as brief as possible,

First off, those regiments who were too far from their home states (like the texans, etc) were able to draw through the newly created central government depot system. By early 1863, the central government had completely taken over uniforming, arming and clothing all confederate troops, with the caveat that NEW regiments brought into service would be initially clothed and equipped from their home state.

The CS depot system was designed as a means of supply the armies in the field while maintaining strategic reserves of stores for emergency use. The depots let out contracts for uniforms and equipment, manufactured new clothing and equipment, and restored damaged items returned or picked up from the battlefield, especially arms and accouterments.

Although specific styles of clothing are known to have been issued/associated with specific depots, that doesn't mean that ALL troops drawing from that depot received similar items. When stocks of one or another item ran low in any depot, it would contact the other depots and request stores to make up the needed inventory. It was quite possible for units in the ANV to receive Columbus Depot style jackets (as noted in one specific post-war image) and there are numerous extant records of, say, the Atlanta depot shipping cases of federal brass coat buttons (salvaged from, again, battlefield pickup) to Richmond and Charleston depots, and likewise and constant redistribution of knapsacks, cartridge boxes, etc amongst all the various depots.

Butternut" Although wargamers associate this with various shades of tan, in reality "butternut" referred more to the various shades of clothing within any specific group of men. It was a reference to the seeds of the Butternut tree, which change shades over time. In reality, all clothing issued to the various armies, and even civilian clothing, would change hue over time as a result of the natural dyes used being exposed to sunlight and wind, rain, etc. Some tannish or dun colored jackets were originally grey in issue, as attested to by the unexposed portions of cloth found inside felled edges and seams. While certainly some clothing was issued in various shades of tan, the regulation color for CS uniforms was grey, and that was constantly been striven for in all aspects of manufacturing and issue.

By late 1862, quantities of English Army cloth was being imported, and by the fall of 1863, this was supplemented by finished jackets, trousers and caps. This material had a pronounced bluish cast to the grey nap, and it was the reason that the Texans, issued with clothing made of this material, were mistaken for federal troops and fired upon by their own side at Chickamauga.

At Gettysburg, the majority of the CS 1st and 3rd Corps were clothed in various shades of grey, with much of it leaning towards the English Army cloth, although most officers were wearing clothing, at least coats, of a Cadet Grey shade. CS use of sky blue trousers was rare, and as Scott noted above, was very specific to time/place/unit. Absent research pointing towards them being worn, wargamers would be well advised to substitute shades of grey, brown, or almost any other earth tone rather than sky blue. Known issues of CS manufactured sky blue tended to be towards a medium "electric or royal" blue rather than the dusty-sky blue of federal issue.

Lastly, the term "uniform" didn't mean all of the same shade like we think of it today. It was a uniformity of appearance, meaning the same TYPE of jacket, the same TYPE of accouterments, etc. Folks back then had no expectation of more than a single company wearing the same shade of grey, because it wasn't possible to MAKE more than one batch of clothing in any specific shade at a time. Dye lots were almost impossible to match due to the vagaries of chemicals in the water, the type of wool used, the amount of lanolin in the wool, the materials used to make the dye, the temperature of the water and even the type of mordant used. It wasn't until the 20th century that we got better at it, with anolyne dyes, and not until computers were used to match dye lots could we create the type and amount of matching clothing we have today.

Anyway, sorry for the length, but just wanted to add this to the discussion.

V/R

TKindred …no apologies necessary, that was interesting and informative! Thank you for posting

FWIW, here's a very interesting article by Fred Adolphus, a leading expert on Confederate clothing and equipment.

He suggests that the Richmond Depot had settled on a "style" of uniform for the ANV by late 1863 and that, by the time the Wilderness rolls around, the majority of Lee's army would have been clothed in a similar style and color, at least for jackets and caps. It's worth the few minutes to read and contemplate.

link