ScottS | 18 Nov 2015 8:50 a.m. PST |
I've been working on putting together a Confederate Army. I've picked up a few uniform guide books, and I have been diligently reading threads and advice on here. In the guidebooks (Officers and Soldiers of the American Civil War by Jouineau, for example) a high proportion of the Confederate troopers are wearing blue trousers. Yet many of the threads on here make the point that blue trousers were a rarity. So – what's up here? I'm aiming at doing a relatively generic army for 1863-4 battles; should I avoid blue trousers or not? |
Ed Mohrmann | 18 Nov 2015 9:05 a.m. PST |
I would not avoid 'em – just mix them in with other shades. Don't forget, the CSA's supply of trousers for some of the war (early to mid) were Union stores – light blue trousers. |
Frederick | 18 Nov 2015 9:14 a.m. PST |
Those Confederate blue trousers are largely a myth – as well, while some captured Union trousers were used by 1863-64 the Rebs had a halfway decent supply chain – and from what I have seen the depots were producing jackets and trousers using the same grey wool for both So I am with Ed on this – don't paint many, if any, blue trousers |
Extra Crispy | 18 Nov 2015 9:17 a.m. PST |
Yeah, mostly myth. That said I put a few in my armies just for the color. But just a handful. |
donlowry | 18 Nov 2015 9:18 a.m. PST |
Pretty sure the official Confederate uniform -- at the start of the war, at least -- included light blue trousers. |
ACWBill | 18 Nov 2015 9:28 a.m. PST |
If you are doing Second Manassas or Antietam, the Confederates captured a large number of Union train cars full of uniforms at Manassas Janction just before the battle. These would likely still have been worn in large numbers at Antietam as well, especially in Jackson's Corps. At these two battles, blue trousers, and even some forage caps and sack coats were used by the Confederates. I would paint at least some Yankee sky blue trousers on some of the CS troops at these battles. |
Mister Tibbles | 18 Nov 2015 9:30 a.m. PST |
Crispy is right IMO. Except for a handful, I'd avoid them for the period you're gaming. And Bill Moreno raises a good point as well, if you like battle-specific gaming. If you were doing early battles, like 1st Bull Run or maybe Wilson's Creek, then all sorts of uniform mayhem is possible. That mayhem is what attracted me to very early ACW gaming. |
stephen phillip | 18 Nov 2015 10:07 a.m. PST |
Is it not true that some southern states militia units had blue uniforms at the start of the civil war and wore said uniforms until they could be replaced? Also werent officers trousers dark blue in some cases?And the confederates captured the federal supply depot in san antonio in 1861? I would have thought that the confederate states would have had a problem supplying grey uniforms in the early stages of the war and wore whatever they could supply or capture until a readily supply of uniforms could be produced by their factories therefore confederate troops wearing blue trousers wouldnt have been that much of myth. |
Ed Mohrmann | 18 Nov 2015 10:43 a.m. PST |
Militia units could be all over the lot in regard to uniforms. Locally, here in Orange County NC one of the local militia units, the Flat River Guards, sported a very dark green (almost Napoleonic Russian green) uniform. This unit was incorporated into the 6th NC Infantry as company B, and upon their muster in at Durham, they were issued a butter-nut shade uniform. I researched them for the O. County museum when I volunteered there. There were three units from Orange County (Durham county did not then exist), the Orange Greys (from the uniform color) and the Cedar Fork Rifles (sources claim blue AND grey uniforms for those, but given the similarity it was probably just one color). All three militias were raised in Orange county (some claim Person for the Flat River Guards) despite claims of Wake County (Orange Greys). The Cedar Fork Rifles were clearly raised in Orange County, in the settlement of the same name (now vanished). Both the Greys and Rifles were incorporated into the 6th NC Infantry, along with the 'senior' unit, the Flat River Guards (senior because raised in 1860; the other two in 1861). |
vtsaogames | 18 Nov 2015 11:37 a.m. PST |
Just finished reading Timothy Smith's book about Champion Hill. One Union soldier wrote home to his wife of the numerous prisoners that "they didn't have uniforms. All kinds of colors". This was Pemberton's army, which presumably was lower priority than Bragg's Army of Tennessee, which was on the food chain below Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. |
Extrabio1947 | 18 Nov 2015 1:09 p.m. PST |
In large battles with smoke hovering about 2-3 feet off the ground, given that silhouettes were so similar, the best way – perhaps the only way – to distinguish friend from foe was the color of the trousers. Blue trousers designate Union troops. Confederates wearing predominately blue trousers were in real danger of receiving friendly fire. In fact, some surviving diaries and letters indicate that many Confederates bleached and re-dyed captured Union trousers for this very reason. Read "Cadet Gray and Butternut Brown: Notes on Confederate Uniforms" by Tom Arliskas, available from Amazon for about $15. USD |
gamershs | 18 Nov 2015 5:05 p.m. PST |
In South Carolina Sherman's army captured enough uniforms to give every man in the Army of Northern Virginia a brand new uniform. The problem was that these uniforms were only issued to South Carolina units. So the Army of Northern Virginia was in rags while those brand new uniforms were burned. Any question why the south lost can start to be answered here. |
Bill N | 19 Nov 2015 5:11 p.m. PST |
Kindred is the go to guy for much related to Confederate Quartermaster issues, but it is my understanding that in 1864-65 the Army of Northern Virginia was fairly well provided with clothing. Where things tended to break down was on the transportation end. Even at the start of the war the transportation capacity of the Confederacy was pushed. As the war wore on it only got worse. |
hocklermp5 | 19 Nov 2015 7:23 p.m. PST |
Quartermasters throughout history are notorious for holding back supplies unless forced to issue them for the simple reason if it is not issued it cannot be lost. Happiness is a full warehouse. Soldier's memoirs down all the years are full of accounts of raiding the QM's stores for badly needed equipment. When transport from railhead was horse drawn supply lagged far behind fast marching troops and was heavy on beans and bullets. Shoes and uniforms wore out and were replaced with whatever would serve as well until normal supply resumed. Wearing the enemy's uniform would have been a tricky business. There is an account that Union troops that forced "Burnside's Bridge" at Antietam hesitated to fire on a blue coated unit that emerged from the smoke to their front until too late. It was AP Hill's Division fresh from taking the surrender of Harper's Ferry and 10,000 Union troops. Another account from early in the war has a Union regiment uniformed in grey turning their coats inside out for fear of friendly fire. The lining being white one wonders if they made things worse for themselves. |
donlowry | 21 Nov 2015 10:15 a.m. PST |
Also werent officers trousers dark blue in some cases? Officially, Confederate generals were supposed to wear dark blue trousers with gold stripes on the seams. IIRC, Pickett wore such in the movie Gettysburg. Lower officers and EMs were supposed to wear light blue trousers, but I doubt if many of these were ever manufactured or distributed. |
wingleader356 | 22 Nov 2015 5:23 p.m. PST |
What about all the English made cloth and trousers that came in to the CSA? I thought that light blue/ grey trousers were fairly common, especially in Longstreets corps when he went out west. I know these aren't the same color as Union issue, but do appear blue generally |
Akersminis | 25 Nov 2015 10:40 a.m. PST |
Wing you are correct as you saw artillery with dark blue British pants. Remember every state supplied their own troops so some would have been issued those pants if the state had any. I know North Carolina only issued officers the light blue pants with stripes down the side. Your average infantrymen though would not have them unless they captured them. Though some will confuse infantry for them in late war as the Artillery were converted into red hat infantry. |