After many years of teaching, wargaming, and re-enacting, it has come to my attention that both the wargaming public and figure manufacturers are pretty much in the dark as regards the actual uniforms and colors of the basic ACW vintage infantryman. Perhaps I can shed some light on the topic while helping the wargamer better paint his units. Let me start by saying that I intend to discuss the average soldier's uniform and will stay away from the more exotic and specific units. The first thing anyone should do in studying uniforms is look at pictures of the fighting man in his time off. Photography was not capable of capturing a moving image, so most of the. pictures we have are of soldiers at rest and play. It has always struck me as strange that figure manufacturers seemingly have not done this. We are all familiar with the long lists of Union soldiers in knapsack and kepi, and of Confederates in slouch hats and blanket rolls. Nothing could be further from the truth. BOTH Union and Confederate soldiers wore kepis, 1859 forage hats, and various types of slouch hats. So, ignore the fancy titles and concentrate on the equipment in those figure lists. COLORS: We all know, or should know, that the basic Union uniform was of dark blue coats and kersey blue pants. The problem arises in the shades of blue. "Dark blue" could be anything from blue/black to a faded blue jeans color due to exposure in the elements. I once read an article describing the unrolling of a roll of original kersey blue material discovered somewhere in a dark corner. As it was unrolled and checked, it was discovered that, due to the dying process then in use, it had no less than 123 different shades of the sky blue kersey. It should be apparent from this that there are no wrong shades of a color on ALL figures, just wrong impressions of the colors. According to the regulations, Confederate coats were to be of gray, while pants were to be of kersey blue. But, as we know, things did not always go the right way. Thus, we have that famous color that has come down to us as butternut. Due to the many different ways that cloth dyers used to make this elusive color, the true color of butternut does not exist. It is, instead, a general term that the color brown could most easily be replaced by. Butternut was in fact brown--almost any shade of brown that could be thought of. The dying process was anything but uniform or stable. The elements could bleach out a dark brown cloth to any shad., including cream or off-white. Painting Confederates can be a fun experience if you like variety. Confederate Gray While I'm poking holes in the theory of colors, let's discuss Confederate gray: Confederate gray is that which the CS regulations intended, a clear medium gray exactly like that of the Old Army and used at the beginning of the war for volunteer troops, state guards, and militia all over the country. Steel gray is a light shade of gray with a blue cast. By shading with a bluish tint, the producer lessened the chances of getting a brownish shade. In those days, dyers ran the risk of getting a greenish shade also. Tuscaloosa gray was probably the most common shade of domestically produced Southern wool. This was a brownish gray caused by: 1) lack of control during dying, 2) natural discoloration of dyestuffs, and 3) a scarcity of blue dyestuffs. These would allow a tint of a light to medium gray shade which would avoid browning of the wool. A brownish gray wool was known to have been produced at Tuscaloosa, being generally earmarked for the Eastern theatre. No doubt similar shades were produced at a great many mills. Richmond gray was a dark gray, so called because it is known that uniforms of that color were used on the Richmond front during the war. This color has been documented and approved by the staff of the Petersburg National Military Park, National Park Service, following a study of original uniforms. Cadet gray is very much a bluish gray, still used today by West Point and Virginia Military Institute cadets. Other Uniform Colors HATS: The basic uniform hat of both sides was a variation on the 1859 forage cap-- kind of a tall kepi . Union wore dark blue and the Confederates wore gray or butternut. Both sides also wore slouch hats, civilian hats, or Hardee hats. The most popular color was black - but again, black, when exposed to the elements faded into a dark grayish color. Other colors used were gray, brown, and off-white, maybe extending to a yellowish color associated with straw hats. COATS: There were three types of uniform coats used by both sides during the war. The frock coat was a long coat reaching to just above the knee. The fatigue or sack coat came down to thigh level, while the shell coat only came down to the waist. There was also the false shell, whihch was made by cutting the skirts off of the frock coat and was favored by many western Federal soldiers. PANTS: There were two basic styles - civilian loose fitting, which were the same style as regulation, and the chasseur pattern, which was even of looser fit. Confederates, more than Union, would be inclined toward the true civilian, with a variety of colors. Tht regulations called for kersey blue, which allowed for wholesale steal ing of captured Federal pants. The use of gray was also widespread in the Confederate army. US troops mostly wore kersey blue and medium to light blue, but dark blue was also found~ especially in the early part of the war. Gray was worn by a few Union units, the most notable being the Irish Brigade. Before advancing any further, let's talk leather colors. The basic color for leather equipment was black. The GSA ran out of this color dye rather quickly and substituted a color known as russett. In truth, russett was not a "color", but was the natural appearance of tanned leather. In other words, the Confederates would issue undyed leather which would age and take on a brown cast. This "color" has come down to us as russett. LEATHERS: This category includes cartridge box, cap box, bayonet scabbard, frog, and belts. The USA used black and the GSA used whatever they could get their hands on black, buff, or russett. KNAPSACKS: The basic knapsack was of "tarred (kind of brown/black) ducking, which is a type of light canvas. The Confederates also used a single-bag knapsack of untarred ducking, which would have been in various shades of off-white. Straps could be either black of brown. HAVERSACKS: These would be the same as knapsacks, with Federals having a black tarred version, while Confederates would have either black or natural duck i n g. BLANKET ROLLS: There were three possible items used for blanket rolls -blankets, of which the majority would be either a gray shade, or, less often, a brownish color (there were also civilian blankets, which could be any color); Gum blankets, which were of gutta-percha (a type of rubber material that has an off-black cast to it); or a Shelter-half, that is, one half of a dog tent. These were made of ducking and were of an off-white color. CANTEENS: Canteens were usually covered by a colored wool. Gray was the most common, followed by light blue, dark blue, and brown. Sometimes the cover was removed or lost, and the natural color of the tin revealed a dull steel color. There were also canteens made of wood which would be of brown color. Canteen straps were of ducking and were off-white. LEGGINGS/GAITERS: There were three main types, natural ducking (off-white), tarred (off-black), and leather (either black or reddish/brown). That covers the basic uniform and the colors found in it for both forces. Zouaves, etc., would wear more exotic uniforms, as would specific units of the different states. I hope this article will be of help to you as you paint merrily along! Back to The Zouave Vol I No. 2 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1987 The American Civil War Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com