"Questions From a Newb" Topic

I just ordered my first batch of Union troops from Good Ground's Cracker Line. They are very nice little figures and I've already had a good start in cleaning, priming, and painting lots of blue pants.

Couple of questions.

I ordered a Regimental Pack and it came with 48 infantry. Half have the kepi style hat and the other half have what I believe are called slouch hats. Would a regiment of Union troops have a mix of hats or should the two types of troops be kept in separate units.

I have a great blue for the pants of the regular troops, but was not sure if the officer should also receive the same light blue for his trousers. I tried researching a bit and it came back as a "maybe" for me, as I saw some with the bright blue and others with a darker hue of pants.

These are just a few that popped up for me today – I'm sure I'll be back with more shortly.

You can definitely paint the trousers of the officer any type of blue you would like. As to the hats, feel free to mix or stay consistent within a unit. In general, the longer the unit was in the field, the more varied the uniform became.

Search for pictures of re-enactors. There must be thousands of them, and you can be sure that the uniforms (;-)) will be VERY varied, Confederate more than Union. But still also the Federal troops will not be uniform. These photos will give you a good impression how to paint them.

Officers had dark blue trousers according to regulations. HOWEVER, those were widely ignored on campaign. Paint some in the same color as private soldiers, militia (sky) blue. Mix the hats and forage caps in the same unit, especially if you're doing western theater. Paint most of the slouch hats black for the Yanks, with a few in browns and tans. Hope this helps. Also, there is a painting guide on my site. Take a look.

link
Confederate above

link
Federal

I hope this helps.

Bill Moreno
crackerlineminis.com

Depends on how you like it but a mix of slouch hats and forage caps works well – I tend to use all forage caps or all slouch hats by unit as I game in 15 mm and have about 60 -odd Union regiments so it makes it easier to keep track of the stands in big battles – but a mix of both also gives them the "hardened campaign" look

The comments on officer's trousers are spot on – while in theory they should have been dark blue, a lot of officers wore light blue pants in the field

Awesome – Thanks for the help guys!

The regs for Union officer's trousers were actually changed to sky blue about mid-way through the war. However, many field and general grade officers continued to wear the dark blue, as did some company grade officers.

Another factor to consider in the Union Army, the slough hat was more prevalent in the Western Theater units and the Forage Cap with the Army of the Potomac.

The prevalence of slouch hats in the Western Theater depends on which army and at what period of the war. From early 1862, once all of the militia stuff was pretty much used up and the volunteer regiments went from being supplied by their states to by the central quartermaster system, the forage cap was fairly universal in all the armies. Commanders like McClellan, Burnside and Buell were fairly strict about following the regs, while others like Grant, Sherman and Curtis were less so. The big switch over to hats in the Army of the Tennessee (Grant's army) seems to have come during the summer of 1862 – after Shiloh. Buell's Army of the Ohio appears to have retained them at least up until Perryville, and maybe even as late as Stone's River. When Rosecrans took command and renamed it the Army of the Cumberland he apparently loosened up a bit, especially prior to and during the Tullahoma and Chattanooga campaigns in the summer and fall of 1863. The caps remained more prevalent in the East (especially the Army of the Potomac) at least up until Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and even more so after Grant came east prior to the 1864 campaign.

There were also differences in what was required in garrison and camp as opposed to what was allowed in the field on campaigns. I read one memoir by an Iowa soldier who served in the Trans-Mississippi who said that they were allowed to wear hats in the field but had to have their forage caps with them for dress parades and other formal duties. And a soldier might temporarily acquire a civilian hat if he had lost his cap, at least until he was able to draw another one.

There were a lot of variations, which of course presents problems to us as wargamers. If you want the most generic figures possible that will basically work for the most periods and theaters, then just go with all forage caps on your Federals except for a few specialty units like the Iron Brigade.