Uniforms of the Civil War (1 / 3)

In the collective imagination, the Civil War remains the conflict of "Blues" (the Yankees) against the "gray" (Southerners), referring to the color of the uniforms worn by soldiers on both sides. This vision is the contemporary meaning of the concept of uniform, in which standardization is still the main feature. The result for the conflict before us the impression of a certain poverty, especially in comparison with the flamboyant and varied uniforms of the Napoleonic wars - which in some military units (the Hussars, for example), there were no two regiments of the same army who wore the same outfit. But if you look closely, the uniforms of the Civil War are in reality much more diverse than it appears, although this variety tends to fade over the conflict for reasons practices.

The use of a weapon

Dark blue was the color of the main army of the United States in 1779, when the first regulations on uniforms were adopted - at a time when it was still called "Continental Army". The blue was the traditional color of the "Whigs," opponents of the power of the British monarchy, a name that took over when American revolutionaries fought for their independence. This is the explanation most frequently given this choice, but the blue was already among the leading uniforms gave each colonial militia companies raised occasionally in the ^eighteenth century, to fight the Indians or the French. Nevertheless, the dark blue vehicle such symbolic the Army that it has returned since 2008 for its uniforms - after decades in olive green.

The cut, meanwhile, remained inspired by contemporary European armies, whether in dress or hat. In the classic coat was replaced in 1812 a coated, a sort of tail-coats cut to the waist in front, but left long behind, and imposed itself shako from 1810. The uniform becoming progressively less and less suitable for field, the army soon supplementation of "fatigues" cap round in 1825, short jacket and blue sky in 1833. Added to the trousers of blue service dress, these elements will be in uniform most often used by American soldiers in the war against Mexico, the local climate making frankly uncomfortable wearing the prescribed uniform.

In 1851 the army adopted a uniform federal largely inspired from his cup, by the French army - then arbiter of fashion in the military. The main difference lay in the coated, abandoned in favor of a long dark blue coat. It is impractical to mount on horseback, cavalry and artillery were given instead a short jacket, close enough to the fatigues - which was also, now dark blue. Another innovation involved the color of the siding, which adopted a new system of identification of units. These colors were blue skies for the eight regiments of infantry, red for four regiments of artillery, orange for two regiments of dragon, green for the regiment of mounted infantry, and black for officers of Staff. Were created when the two regiments of cavalry in 1855, they received yellow facings.

Round cap fatigues for his part was replaced by a dark blue cap, also derived from the red cap of the French army. The shako persisted in holding operation until 1858, when he was replaced by a blue felt hat. Known as the "Hardee Hat" or the "Jeff Davis hat" because it was originally designed as Jefferson Davis was Secretary of War (between 1853 and 1857), he was decorated with a black feather and identifying marks: a line of color body of troops that had occupied the soldier, and brass badges, another novelty. These were two crossed cannons for artillery, a bugler for the infantry, two crossed swords for mounted units and a castle for engineering.

Clothe the volunteers

As soon as the outbreak of hostilities did flow into the recruiting offices of dozens, then hundreds of thousands of volunteers, the issue of the dress proved more problematic than that of the arm. The federal army in 1861, obtained supplies from a uniform of its own facilities, the Schuylkill Arsenal in Philadelphia. Sufficient to ensure the clothing of an army of 16,000 men, this one was no longer manufacture clothing for the 75,000 volunteers requested in April 1861, let alone the 500,000 men called up in July. Not to mention the volunteers also had to consider the strengthening of the regular army, decided by the President in May and approved by Congress in August: 11 regiments with a total of 24,000 soldiers.

To overcome this shortcoming, it was necessary to call on private industry, both in country and outside it. Tens of thousands of outfits and were imported from Europe, factories northerners have not yet production capacity that they would acquire during the conflict. To make matters worse, the first supplies were to be marked with the seal of corruption. Unscrupulous contractors sold to the government of poor quality clothing at exorbitant prices. All too often, these shoddy uniforms fell to pieces after a few weeks or months. The soldiers even invented a word, shoddy, to designate the material as second-class department supplies (Quartermaster Department) distributed to them - most often against his will and his own dam.

This allowed many war profiteers to enrich themselves handsomely. It was compounded by the presence at the head of the Department of War Simon Cameron. The Democrat joined the Republican party - he had accomplished the feat to be a senator twice in each of the two labels - going to be the most corrupt member of the Lincoln administration. So much so that he attributes this inspiring quote: "The honest politician is one who, once corrupted, the view never changes." Cameron made a specialty of placing orders on behalf of his department without the need for a tender, focusing systematically suppliers of its home state, Pennsylvania. Only after its replacement by Edwin Stanton, January 1862, the situation improved significantly. At the end of 1862, the Yankee soldier could be estimated properly dressed.

At least that was true with regard to the intrinsic quality of clothing. But the uniforms were uncomfortable and, in fact, they remained throughout the war. The source of the problem was the material used: wool, which had the advantage of being produced in large quantities by agriculture northerner. For convenience, the military uniforms produced during the war were generally made of this fabric - fully, that is to say, underwear included, although they dussent to be in a jersey or flannel. The soldiers who could be made often make shirts and pants by their mothers, sisters or wives, to avoid having to bear the unpleasant and irritating friction of the wool on their skin. Despite this, the fighter the Civil War had the most support a uniform suffocating in summer, and perpetually wet in winter, as long as the weather is lent.

The other major problem was that the uniforms for the soldiers were being manufactured en masse without anyone cares whether they are properly adjusted to those who should wear them. Depending on its size and girth, each soldier could be found floating in its place, or rather to be encased in a uniform too tight. For this reason, you end up experimenting for the first time a system of standardized sizes, similar to that in use today in ready-to-wear. More generally, the Civil War would greatly contribute to the development of the textile industry in the North, an expansion that would affect the entire U.S. economy after the conflict.

To be continued