"Union Uniform at Shiloh" Topic

I have two boxes of the new Perry Union Infantry on their way to me and I would love to use them to represent Stuarts 2nd Brigade under Sherman at Shiloh.

I've done some research myself but havent found anything on the uniform of the three regiments that make up Stuarts command (55th Illinois, 54th Ohio, 71st Ohio). Are there any differences or specific elements I should be incorporating into their uniform or is it all pretty standard?

Also, the boxes come with broad brimmed hat options, was it common for these hats to be intermixed with the more common forage cap and did this extend to officers?

Any help is greatly appreciated

I am away from home so can't check references but for most units in the Western theatre you would not go too far wrong by using pretty standard units

As well in the West it was pretty common for broad brimmed hats and forage caps intermingled – based on period photos hats were pretty popular in the West

Agree with Frederick. Going with the standard issue sack coat is your best bet. A mixture of hats and forage caps would be appropriate. My Army of the Cumberland brigades have a hat to cap ratio of about 5:1. However, there are three known photos of men in the 55 IL all of which are wearing forage caps.

I thought the 54th Ohio were Zouaves?

Yes the 54th were Zouaves

I did not know the 54th were zouaves bit that's great news because they'll stand out.

I'm going to do the 55th first, I'll keep the ratio on the side of forage caps.

What was the most common headwear for officers though?

That zouave seems to be wearing a standard artillery shell jacket, and just added a couple of stripes to his standard blue trousers.

The real question is, how long did that uniform last before being replaced with something more ordinary?

Who cares, they are cool looking. Paint one with and one without. Shiloh is pretty early so they may have worn them. I would defiantly paint them up as Zouaves

I'd say 50/50 for officer headgear. Westerners were pretty practical.

All the books at Shiloh refer to them as Zouaves, so they probably still had that uniform in April 1862. Troiani isn't clear. He has a bio on the 34th Ohio, pictured by Extra Crispy above, which wore the same uniform as the 54th. But not much more information.

I would also use a lot of dark blue trousers. Prior to the war, the regulations for the US Army called for dark blue. The switch to sky blue wasn't official until December of 1861, though there were certainly issues of them being made at both state and federal level.

Consider, at least, doing an entire regiment in dark blue trousers, and maybe another in sky blue.

Oh, and FWIW, most volunteer officers preferred to wear dark blue trousers, and that continued throughout the war, as that was the color the regulars wore prior to the war. The regulars, however, for the most part switched over to sky blue because of the uniform regulation change, though in most cases, they were allowed to wear out their dark blue, since officers bought their own clothing and kit.

And lastly, there is this: Ohio issued a dark blue shell jacket to many of it's regiments, so much so that collectors and uniform buffs refer to the style and pattern as an "Ohio Jacket". On 28mm minis you couldn't tell any of the fine details,

Here's an image of a reproduction jacket. This jacket is copied off of an original jacket worn by an Ohio soldier. Similar jackets also appear in photos of Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri troops.

Anyway, as to the above, in wargaming scale, just use a CS mini and paint it as a federal soldier to represent the units wearing these jackets, if you like.

My Zouaves keep their cool uniforms until May 1865….

Many thanks TKindred. I'll have the 71st in the shorter jackets. Also, I've been painting officers with the sky blue pants so it's nice to know I can add a little variation that way.

This is sort of a follow on from my original post. I'm also interested in the 43dd Illinois, does anyone know the best way to represent their uniform? I've not found any pictures other than a picture of their original colonel and lt colonel

Check out ACW Gamer's 28mm 33rd NJ figures. Many would work I bet!

Frederick Todd, American Military Equipage, 1851-1872, has the following information:

43rd Illinois – Oct 1861:state fatigue uniform, full accouterments. 1862-1864: "Dresden" and "Suhl" rifled muskets.

55th Illinois – Oct 1861: US regulation uniform and accouterments. Dec 1861:"worthless foreign arms" issued. Feb 1862: issued "Dresden" rifles.

54th Ohio – !861 – "fancy three-cornered hat with red tassel" and "braided jackets" also "cap with tassel on it, bright colored blouse and baggy trousers." 1862: Belgian or Vincennes rifles with saber bayonets.

71st Ohio – 1862: Belgian or French rifled muskets.

Thank you!