"What Type of Uniforms Did Civil War Soldiers Wear?" Topic

"In the early days of the war, Civil War soldiers, both the Union and the Confederates wore a variety of uniforms in many different colors such as blue, red, gray, white and even tartan.

There was no standardization of uniforms at the time and there was a lack of central organization to implement such a thing.

It wasn't until after the war began that both sides started to standardize their uniforms due to the confusion these different colored uniforms caused on the battlefield, according to James Schouler in his book History of the United States Under the Constitution Volume VI 1861-1865…"
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Amicalement
Armand

At the beginning of the war, each company usually came with its own idea of a uniform, often constructed by the ladies of their home towns. Only a few had prescribed militia uniforms.

Thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand

The fundamental issue was that the vast majority of soldiers were state volunteers and militias rather than regular soldiers. Obviously, the south was starting from scratch and the US army expanded some 20 times in size. So, individual towns and states ponied up supplies and money to get the units started. As the war went on, then the armies were able to regulate things. Well, at least the North could. In the south corners had to be cut.

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Amicalement
Armand

Prior to the Civil War, each state had its own militia units, and there was also a small national (federal) army, consisting of about 20 infantry regiments and 12 cavalry regiments, as well as artillery. Although some officers resigned their commissions, the national army remained intact and provided a small, but professional core to the northern forces. National army wore dark blue coats, light blue pants, "hardee" hats and black leather belting. The state militia consisted of the "beat" militia, as well as volunteer militia units. The "beat" militia were supposed to appear for drill periodically, but that requirement was ignored to varying degrees. Many "beat" militia companies had no uniforms, or wore civilian clothing that had been "militarized." The volunteer militia units were quasi-social clubs, and each such unit tended to recruit members from the same social class. Generally, such units were of about company strength (+/- 100 men). Because of they served as social clubs, these units adopted fancy uniforms of varying colors, though blue and gray were the most common. When the war began, the states amalgamated the company-sized units into regiments, which is why you get such a mixture of uniforms within a single regiment at the beginning of the war. However, the states did try to issue new uniforms that were, well, more uniform. The northern states had their own textile centers, so they were able to produce those uniforms more rapidly than the southern states. For more specific details, Osprey has published a number of books on the subject.

Actually, at the start of the war the US Regular Army consisted of ten infantry regiments, organized on the old one battalion, ten company system, five regiments of mounted troops, and four regiments of artillery. At the start of the war, an additional ten regiments of infantry were authorized, although only nine of them were ever created. These new regiments had an organization of two eight-company field battalions and a depot battalion. By 1863 most of these regiments had shrunk to the point that the two field battalions were consolidated into a single battalion.

The US Regulars are often portrayed as wearing frock coats, brass shoulder scales, and Hardee hats, but in fact they only wore that uniform at First Bull Run (where a single consolidated battalion of regulars was present). After that their dress uniforms were packed away and they wore sack coats and forage caps for the rest of the war.

The mounted regiments were (in order of seniority) the 1st Dragoons, 2nd Dragoons, Mounted Rifles, 1st Cavalry and 2nd Cavalry. Sometime in the summer of '61 (IIRC, late July) they were renamed, respectively, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Cavalry, and a new 6th Cavalry was raised. So what had been the 1st Cavalry became the 4th Cavalry, for instance.

All 5 of the original regiments wore the short jacket trimmed in arm-of-service colors, which were: dragoons, orange; mounted rifles, green; cavalry, yellow. How long it took before they were all re-issued with jackets trimmed in yellow I don't know.

A squadron of the 2nd Dragoons fought at Wilson's Creek under that designation, not having yet received the order making the change. I believe there was also a squadron of the original 2nd (later 5th) Cavalry at that battle.

whydid the south choose grey? was it theonly available color to make? could have used green to blend in with the scenery. Food for thought.

A lot of militia companies wore grey and with the US regular army in blue and most of the northern volunteers also using blue, the South needed something different (that became obvious after the confusion at 1st Bull Run). Some of the southern troops wore gray and many had a light brown color called 'butternut'. It could be produced easily with locally made dyes. Green would have been a lot more expensive and few people were worried about camouflage back then. Only the two regiments of US Sharpshooters (and the 212th PA) wore green as far as I know.

The West Point cadets wore gray, supposedly in memory of Scott's troops in the War of 1812, who were uniformed in gray because of a shortage of blue die. And, as said above, many militia units wore gray, possibly for the same reason. Didn't some British, or British-colonial, militia wear gray?

Many uniform books often state that the reason the South accepted grey is from being influenced by Austrian uniforms. Jaegers perhaps? How true this is is another story, it might be some early uniformologist put 2 + 2 together and got 22. There is a great painting of the Lynn Light Infantry(Mass.) boarding a ship to head to DC in '61 and they are wearing red tail coats and Guards style busbies.

In Mass. the "enrolled" or drafted militia was stood down in 1841 / 1842 leaving the "Volunteer" Coys. as the only militia. Techincally a male 18 – 45 was still in the militia, but under duties is reads "none".