"Coppen's Louisiana Zouaves?" Topic

Am I correct in thinking that Coppen's Louisiana Zouaves was the only Confederate Zouave regiment (as opposed to company) to wear their Zouave uniforms throughout the war until their disbandment in 1864? What flags would they have carried? The Star and Bars and what I assume is the flag of Louisiana, as I've seen in some pictures of miniatures?
thanks

I looked around on the internet and note that GMB Design offers the colors of Coppen's Zouaves together with those of the Louisiana Tigers. The Coppen's flags are shown as the first version of the Confederate States flag and the flag of Louisianan (blue, white and red stripes with single yellow star on a red canton). I also found a reference to the Coppen's flag being lost at the battle of Williamsburg and that it was similar to a "Louisianan Tigers" flag captured at Gettysburg which was in the typical ANV battle flag design with white background and red Saint Andrews cross. This design is offered by GMB.

I will leave it to someone with actual knowledge to direct you more authoritatively. If I ever paint the Coppen's Zouaves, I'll probably use all three – I love flags!

My no so encyclopaedic knowledge includes seeing a blue flag with a pelican and a motto beneath attributed to Coppen's Zouaves – given that they primarily served in the Army of Northern Virginia they would I assume also carry the ANV battle flag

My unit carried the battle flag and the pelican flag. We wore the early war 1st Manassas Tiger Rifle uniform.

Most historians believe that Coppen's Louisiana Zouaves were in Jean wool uniforms by the end of 1862. Their extra original uniform items were destroyed in a fire during the Peninsula Campaign. Resupply of original style zouave uniforms would have been hindered given the fall of New Orleans in early 1862.

It has been suggested that the regiment eventually received new Zouave uniforms (with yellow lace rather than the original red) as evidenced by a painting in the West Point Museum, but this is doubtful given the very few members of the regiment left after Antietam.

tigrifsgt….When I re-enacted, we did the same.

One other Confederate unit that wore a zouave uniform into the later war years was Dupiere's Battalion, also known as the 2nd Louisiana Zouaves. It went into Confederate service in April 1862. It was first planned to send the battalion to Virginia to reinforce Coppen's Zouave Battalion, but this never happened and instead the battalion remained in the west. It was at the Battle of Corinth and was subsequently part of Waul's Texas Legion during the Vicksburg campaign.

Confederate uniform researcher Lee White described these zouaves as wearing flowing red pantaloons and short gray jackets as late as 1863.

The only surviving flag of the 1st Louisiana Zouaves belonged to Company B and is in the collection of the American Civil War Museum (formerly the Museum of the Confederacy). It is a first national and can be seen here:

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A reconstruction of the flag is here:

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The date of the flag's presentation is somewhat problematic. On the first site listed above the flag is described as "Made by the Ladies of Williamsburg, Virginia, and presented to the unit immediately after the Battle of Bethel in 1861". But the 1st Louisiana Zouaves was not present at the June 1861 Battle of Big Bethel. The MoC book Colours of the Gray (1998) in turn states the flag was "Made by the Ladies of Williamsburg, and presented to the unit, spring 1862" (p. 12).

For other flags carried by the Battalion there is an invoice found in the National Archives for 40 flags made by Almedea Tompkins for Magruder's Army of the Peninsula. These would have been part of a list dated April 18, 1862, found in the order book of the Army of the Peninsula. This list, which included the 1st Louisiana Zouaves, indicated the units that were to be issued the distinctive flags of Magruder's command.

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For the most part these Magruder flags would have been replaced by ANV 2nd Bunting pattern flags in later 1862.

Pretty good article about Coppen's Zouaves from the Virginia Mariners Museum:

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Kim

The whole brigade eventually became known as the Louisiana Tigers.

I did some more digging and found that the 1st Louisiana Zouaves appear to have been issued an ANV flag in the summer of 1862.

By the time of the Seven Days Battles the 1st Louisiana Zouaves were part of Pryor's Brigade in Longstreet's Corps. On June 27 they took part in the Battle of Gaines Mill and suffered heavy losses. As recounted here:

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"Of his 1400 engaged soldiers, Pryor lost 860 killed or wounded. Coppens's and St Paul's lost 5 killed and 42 wounded, or roughly half of those present for duty. Colonel Pryor and General Longstreet both cited the gallantry of Coppens' men in their official reports. General Longstreet also presented the battalion with a battle flag, with "Williamsburg" and "Seven Pines!" battle honors on it, as a token of his appreciation for the conduct of its officers and men."

An image of this flag, a First Bunting Issue, can be found here:

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Unfortunately this website does not provide any information as to where this flag is presently located.

Thanks all!

Here is a reference to the white field / red cross flag mentioned by Red Jacket.

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