Uniforms of the Confederate States military forces

The Uniforms of the Confederate States military forces were the uniforms used by the Confederate Army and Navy during the American Civil War, from 1861 to 1865. The uniform initially varied greatly due to a variety of reasons, such as location, 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 Federal blue uniforms, which were acquired after Confederate forces captured a Federal 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 Union soldiers, or from Union 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.

The original Confederate uniforms from all branches of the military closely followed the lines of the Union’s uniforms. 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 Union units that were originally militia units went to war wearing gray.

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