"Anyone paint some of their CSA troops in white uniforms?" Topic

I've been toying with this idea for a while, especially since my ACW armies are geared towards the west and Trans-Mississippi theaters. I know some Confederate troops in those theaters were clothed with un-dyed wool uniforms but I've never seen it reproduced on the table top. Anyone tried it? I've been thinking of doing a brigade in mostly this un-dyed look, with grayish or slightly off white tan. I think a wash of gray might also help give it a dirty white appearance.

Ive done more the grays and various shades of brown – Always assumed that un-dyed wool would quickly pick up a discolored look

I recently learned that convicts in the prison at Huntsville, Texas made shell jackets of raw cotton. I'm sure these things got pretty grimy after a few weeks of sleeping on the ground and one or two battles.
I sometimes use Golden Fluid Acrylic "Titan Buff" when I want a raw cotton color. I call them my "oatmeal suits."

link

I think a white base with a suitable wash would work well – as with Disaster Wargamer most of my Rebs are in grey or butternut, but this has me thinking of doing up a unit or two in "oatmeal"

The whit of the early war era were commander clothed national guard or volunteer units. Some military academies had white shirts or pants.
Later war the white was normally seen in summer when soldiers were wear only a white shirt rather than a gray shirt.

I do not know but would not be surprised if whites were more common in the Trans-Mississippi area.

Fred Adolphus wrote an extremely good article on "drab" uniforms for "Confederate Veteran" magazine.

PDF link

I paint a few Confederate units using Howard Hues "concrete." It comes out as a very light gray with a very slight tan tint and is nearly white. There's a craft paint that is similar, but I don't recall its name.

In Alabama the craft paint may be Apple Barrel.
When I painted ancients in the 1980-90s I used Humbrol. I used concrete for a wool color. I used light tan for linen.
Looking at the Rocco ACW book that I have in stock. I am checking a copy on the CSA shirt color.

Extrabio1947,

Yep, that's one of the things I came across recently. I think he has also written about locally made slouch hats that were cheaply made and ended up with a cone shape, something probably like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. That's a look we don't see on the table either, although I myself can see why. lol

Frederick,

I was thinking the same thing about washes may be the way to go.

I have several Confederate regiments in white. I undercoat with black and then dry brush with Apple Barrel antique parchment and finish with a wash of burnt umber.

I'll do the 2nd Texas at Shiloh at one point, and they will be an off-white.

The Missouri State Guards' only issued uniform was undyed cotton with blackened leather equipment. This was worn at Pea Ridge and the Federal troops said " they looked like ghosts moving thru the woods." Both pants and coats were white. Most would have worn a grey felt 'hillbilly', or as it was called during the period, horsethieve hat.

Undyed and unbleached wool, actually, and smelled like sheep, or so I've read.

The book Pea Ridge has a picture on the dust jacket showing some of them, painted by one of the men.

link

I have a handful of confederates with white pants as I've read of cotton pants being fairly common in the deep south.

During the Mexican war period the USMC had a white undress uniform. I've thought about doing them if I ever did a Mexican-American War army.

I've painted two Confederate regiments/brigades in white uniforms, with my standard dark wash over the whole figure. They do stand out, and from the research I've read, the white uniforms made of the undyed jean wool and wool cloth made in massive quantities at the Texas state prison at Huntsville were indeed worn. And as a tabletop gamer, it helps immensely to be able to distinguish units on the tabletop by their uniforms.

Definitely gonna have to paint up a Fire and Fury brigade or two for Western/Trans-Mississippi armies. Maybe one with mostly white/off white/light tan/light gray (recent issue), and another with several white pieces of uniform clothing as a group that's issue was several months before.

Here is an excellent article about "white" Confederate uniforms by Fred Adolphus. This article is amply illustrated with surviving uniform pieces. It updates his "Confederate Veteran" article referenced by Extrabio1947, above.

link

The author is an expert in Confederate uniforms and a retired Department of the Army museum professional.

He has a very well researched web site devoted to Confederate uniformology. link I've used this site when painting my Western Theater Confederate units.

Jim

Yep Jim, that's a great website!

Thanks for posting the link Jim. I recall reading about "cotton" uniforms being issued to troops in south western Virginia circa winter of 1861-2. Perhaps they tapped into some of those early supplies.

No, but now I have read this the final unit sat undercoated in white are about to become the Missouri State Guard,

Tally Ho!