James Eads Built seven "City Class" gunboats in 1861 for the Union Army's Mississippi River Squadron. They were the Cairo, the Carondelet (the first launched, October 12, 1861), the Cincinnati, the Louisville, the Mound City, the Pittsburg, and the St. Louis. The St. Louis was renamed the Baron de Kalb in September, 1862, when she was transferred from the Army to the Navy, because the Navy already had a USS St. Louis in commission. Much has been written about these historic vessels, and it is available in numerous volumes about the Civil War and the navies involved. Therefore, my intention is not to recount their exciting adventures and campaigns (or at least in one case, a less than exciting career). Instead, it is my intention to describe the color schemes of these gunboats and to pursue alternatives in painting models of them. First, we must state some general rules or assumptions about warships of that time, and particularly,about the Federal Navy. This is the basis to overlay the available details of these vessels. At the turn of the century, during the Napoleonic Wars, the universal color scheme of a vessel of war became a black hull with a white band through the gunports. This was the standard color scheme by the end of the War of 1812. The development of improved weapons and the advent of the pivot gun altered the arrangement of artillery along the hull line. During the 1850's, the white band through the gunports began to diminish to a decorative stripe along the gunwale, or to completely disappear. Therefore, by the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, the standard warship color scheme was a black hull with, possibly, a white stripe along the gunwale. The "City Class" gunboats, although originally built for the Army, were no exception to the standard color scheme. Their hull and casemate were black. This color identified the vessel as awarship. and prevented rust and deterioration. It also helped to hide the fact that the entire casemate was not iron plated. The hull below the waterline was red. I haven't found any conclusive data, but I assume that this red paint was an early version of today's lead anti-fouling paint. Except for some of the ironclads which had iron decks, commercial and military ships' decks were either pine, oak, or teak. Good seamanship necessitated that these wooden decks be maintained and constantly holystoned to a nice pale buff gray color. Deck housings (skylights, hatchways, etc.) were painted white. The smokestacks and vent pipes were painted black. Photographs make the inner portion of the vent pipes appear lighter than the outside. However, I have not accurately determined the actual color of the inner portion. Finally, wide identification bands were painted around the upper portion of the two smokestacks. Since all of these gunboats looked alike, these bands became a means of identifying them from a distance as well as during the heat of battle. The colors assigned to each of the gunboats is as follows: Cairo - light gray; Carondelet - red; Cincinnati - blue (probably a light or med. blue); Louisville - green (probably a pale green); Mound City - orange; Pittsburg - light brown; St. Louis (Baron de Kalb) - yellow. Now I will apply the above information to painting models of these ironclads. For this article, I will focus on the very fine 1:1200 scale metal models available from Richard T. Houston at Lyzard's Grin. However, little alteration would be required to paint one of the excellent wooden models offered. My first concern was in painting a predominately black ship and having a dull black blob of metal for a finished product. Therefore, I try to determine exact paint colors. I studied every available photograph I could find on Civil War ironclads. In the photographs, I noticed that the vessels appeared to be a lighter color than the uniforms that the sailors were wearing. Since the uniforms were a dark blue, we might assume that the hull and casemate of the ship were really some shade of gray instead of black. However, every reference gave the exterior color as black. Evidently, the paint on the ship reflected the light differently than the crew's uniforms. To verify this theory, I visited the USS Cairo at the Vicksburg Military Park. The paint on the side of the casemate is a true black in reality, but it showed up as a shade of dark gray in the photographs I took while there. Therefore, the best way to avoid a dull black blob is to paint the black portions of the hull and casemnate a very dark gray (a black-gray, not a blue-gray). Then you can pick out the detail with a true black, or highlight with a slightly lighter shade of gray. The net result will be a weathered look to the hull of the vessel, thereby realistically representing a Civil War ironclad. On my models, I paint the lighter colors first and then the darker colors. I paint the deck, launches, and identification bands, and then I paint the hull and casemate. Finally, I paint the gunports, smokestacks, and vent pipes in true black which adds dimension to the model. Just for the record, the water around the model was painted a sea blue, then dry brushed with a lighter blue, depicting the tops of the waves. The very tops of the waves are again dry brushed with a very, very pale blue (almost white) to represent the foam of a wave breaking. I have spent several years researching the color schemes of Civil War vessels, but I don't proclaim to be an expert on this subject. Therefore, I welcome all comments, both positive and negative. Back to The Zouave Vol IV No. 1 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1990 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