Uniforms of the Confederate States Armed Forces
Each branch of the Confederate States armed forces had its own service dress and fatigue uniforms and regulations regarding them during the American Civil War, which lasted from April 12, 1861, until May 1865.
The uniform initially varied greatly due to a variety of reasons such as location and limitations on the supply of cloth and other materials, State regulations that were different from the standard regulations, and the cost of materials during the war. Texas units, for example, had access to massive stocks of U.S. blue uniforms, which were acquired after Confederate forces captured a U.S. supply depot in San Antonio in 1861. These were worn as late as 1863.
Early on, servicemen sometimes wore combinations of uniform pieces, making do with what they could get from captured United States Army soldiers, or from U.S. and Confederate dead or just wear civilian clothing. There are some controversies about some of the exact details of a few of the uniforms since some of the records were lost or destroyed after the Civil War ended.
Service dress uniforms overview
The original Confederate uniforms from all branches of the military closely followed the lines of the U.S. Armed Forces. This was until June 6, 1861, when the Confederate Council issued General Order 9, the new regulations for the Confederate infantry, cavalry and artillery.The new uniforms were designed by Nicola Marschall, a German-American artist who also designed the original Confederate flag. He was heavily influenced by the mid-1800s uniforms of the Austrian and French armies.
Although the regular Confederate military had a paper strength of 6,000 personnel, the first 100,000 volunteers from all over the South participated in a variety of dress. Many were from state militia outfits, which had their own state-issued uniforms. In the early battles, some Confederate units that wore dark blue uniforms were often mistaken on the field of battle for the enemy. Conversely, many U.S. units that were originally militia units went to war wearing gray.
It was not until the depot system was established in early 1862 by the Confederate quartermaster in Richmond, Virginia, that uniforms were mass-produced and supplied to troops. Until that time, the "commutation system" was in place; this allowed soldiers to have their own uniforms made to the new CSA regulations and to be reimbursed by the CS government. The allowance for uniforms was $21 per six months. In a letter from 2nd Arkansas Cavalry Regiment Company D's Lieutenant Walter Greenfield to his wife on April 11, 1862, from his encampment near Shiloh, Greenfield writes:
Officers had to buy their own uniforms until March 6, 1864, when General Order 28 was released; this allowed Confederate officers to purchase uniforms from the same sources as the troops, and at cost price.
Following the Richmond Depot, other depots started up throughout the South to supply their respective regional forces. Major depots were in Columbus, Athens and Atlanta, Georgia for the Army of Tennessee and Houston, Texas and Shreveport, Louisiana for the Trans-Mississippi forces. The use of the depot system meant that army-wide uniformity was impossible, as different depots had unique uniforms. This resulted in a varied set of uniforms worn by different Confederate units.
As the war progressed, the image began to shift from the "ragged rebel" look to a well-uniformed Army in the eastern and western theaters. In the last 12 months of fighting, these Confederate forces were well-uniformed, the best they had ever appeared in terms of consistency, wearing clothing made of imported blue-gray cloth, either manufactured locally or bought ready-made under contract from British manufacturers, such as Peter Tait of Limerick, Ireland, who became a major supplier of uniforms for the Confederacy.
In the Department of the Trans-Mississippi, problems with the distribution of the plentiful uniforms made in Houston and Shreveport meant that the south western forces went without proper uniforms for some part of the war.
Confederate headgear was to be the chasseur cap, or "kepi", a French military cap. Often broad felt or straw hats or even slouch hats were worn instead. The Federal Army style forage cap was also popular. General Stonewall Jackson was famous for wearing the forage cap. Confederate Cavalry troops often wore Hardee hats, much like the U.S. Army Cavalry, which was a representative of the additional "flair" associated with the Cavalry troops. Two examples of CSA Cavalry officers famous for wearing these hats are Colonel John S. Mosby and General J. E. B. Stuart.
Design
The use of wool in the uniform meant that the uniforms were not suited to the warm climates that were common in the South. This contributed to many Confederate soldiers suffering from heatstroke on long marches. However, one understanding of the heavy woolen garments is that after the marching during the day time, when the soldiers would rest at night and cool themselves down, the thermal-shock could render some men unable to function the next day. As such, the woolen garments would protect the soldiers from this, and keep them able to keep marching the next day to fulfill their duties. This was also the case with the better equipped U.S. Army. Many Confederate soldiers started the war with frock coats. However, cloth shortages and wartime wear ensured that, by 1863, waist-length cadet gray or butternut shell jackets were generally worn by Confederates in the Eastern and Western Theaters. Examples of frock coats being worn by enlisted men can be seen in photographs taken after the battles of Gettysburg,, and Spotsylvania,.Gray was not chosen for camouflage. It did, however, at times provide enough of a mask along tree lines during battle, keeping the line of Infantry hidden long enough to strike effectively. At the time of the American Civil War, the usefulness of camouflage was not generally recognized. Gray was chosen for Confederate uniforms because gray dye could be made relatively cheaply and it was the standard uniform color of the various State Militias. The gray uniforms worn by early State volunteers was normally a shade of cadet gray, which is not suitable for combat wear, as it gives away the position of the individual easily from its bright blue-gray tones, and for this reason it was preserved by some men for dress-parade functions. The gray mentioned is dull toned, often varying in color depending on the region and time during the conflict, resulting in a uniform that could blend in with the tree lines, or hide the men in the field wearing them.
Generally, the uniform jacket of the Confederate soldier was single breasted, made of gray or brown fabric, with a six to nine button front. The design of the garment featured several variations: a four to six piece body, and one or two piece sleeves, usually with lining, often of a cotton material. The fabric used in these jackets, ranged from the finer kerseys and broadcloths used early in the war, to the cotton/wool blends of jeans, satinette, and cassimere, to name several examples. The exact color of the fabric also ranged from the prewar bright cadet gray, similar to the fabric used by Virginia Military Institute, or U.S. Military Academy dress uniforms, to the sumac and logwood dyed fabrics, that would eventually fade to the ragged butternut appearance. Epaulettes may have been used in the construction of the jacket, as was the case for the Richmond clothing bureau designed jackets, commonly called today, the Richmond Depot types I, II, and III. Belt loops were also in intermittent use, such as the Richmond and the Charleston clothing depots. Trimming on the jackets range from piped or taped collars, cuffs, and front lapel edges, to full facings on the collar and cuffs, commonly in light blue, dark blue, red, or black. Owing to the difficulty in obtaining yellow dye ingredients as the war progressed, yellow was infrequently used by the Cavalry Corps throughout the conflict.