Sharpshooters' winter camouflage?

Billy1977

Sergeant
Joined
Mar 18, 2016
Location
Flippin, Arkansas (near Yellville)
Hello everybody, this might be a dumb question but if you'll bear with me I'll try to explain. Many if not most everyone here is surely familiar with the 1st and 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters (Berdan's and Post's sharpshooters), and with how they had dark green uniforms (like European rifle troops from which they took the idea, the better for them as skirmishers to blend in with the scenery in a forest I imagine) and eventually gutta-percha (sp.?) black hard rubber buttons instead of brass or other metal so as to avoid reflecting sunlight if possible.

Well I was wondering the other day and off and on since, if there was a snowstorm and the ground was covered in snow but instead of staying in winter quarters some of Berdan's or Post's sharpshooters (or the Western SharpShooters in the Western Theatre I think they were called, about whom I know next to nothing) for whatever reason had to go out in it and try to ambush a Confederate supply wagon train that the rebels were depending on in the dead of winter or something like that, I don't know, anyway what I was thinking was since they at least cared about camouflage coloration in a rudimentary way then would they have said "Hey listen, the reverse side of our gum blanket is off-white, nearly white, and might help us blend in against a snowy background"? And then wear their gum blankets inside-out for snow camouflage? Or maybe did they take a white bedsheet and cut a hole in it like some of the U.S. infantry did in the Battle of the Bulge decades later? Or even for skirmishers, even for highly trained skirmisher marksmen, as long a time ago as the 1860s this would have been giving them credit for too much "modern" thinking for the era and they simply wouldn't have worried about it or (no offense to them intended) it wouldn't have occurred to them?

Many thanks to a Civil War sharpshooter personal camouflage expert who can answer this.
 
Thanks Major Bill, neither had I. I was just kind of wondering if it occurred to anybody, and I was thinking of anyone a sharpshooter might be the most likely, to either wear their gum blanket inside-out or grab a bedsheet as a makeshift tabard or snow poncho. Figured it was a long shot but worth a try. Thanks again Major.
 
The idea of camouflage was foreign to a regiment trained to stand in a row only 150 paces from their enemy.

As I've stated before, the uniforms of the European and America's armies gradually lost all their color and began to resort to more drab grays and greens. Even as late as WW1, there was no example of camouflage---unless you consider the multi-colored steel helmets. The first real example of a piece of uniform issued on a large scale to an army was the Italian rain poncho / tent cover ---probably issued in late 1920's.
 
The idea of camouflage was foreign to a regiment trained to stand in a row only 150 paces from their enemy.

As I've stated before, the uniforms of the European and America's armies gradually lost all their color and began to resort to more drab grays and greens. Even as late as WW1, there was no example of camouflage---unless you consider the multi-colored steel helmets. The first real example of a piece of uniform issued on a large scale to an army was the Italian rain poncho / tent cover ---probably issued in late 1920's.
But you do get khaki by the Spanish-American War.
 
Not sure that there were no example of camouflage uniforms during WWI. I might be worn but believe French Alpine troops wore some white items. And British, French and Italian Armies used uniforms the blended into the battlefield during
WWI.
 
Someone will know: I think I've seen images or paintings of blockade runners camo-painted or painted so that their lines are broken.
 
Both blue and gray uniforms work fairly well as camouflaged uniforms especially before smokeless gunpowder.
 
I really didn't understand this until I got a farm in Virginia. The war just about stopped during the winter. (I know Fredericksburg is the exception.) Just trying to move in the sticky Virginia clay of one small farm is hard enough. Trying to move masses of troops with their supply trains and horses cutting up the roads and then marching a few thousand men down the same road is almost impossible. During the "mud march" the Confederates, for the most part, just stood across the river and made fun of the troops stuck in the mud on the north side. From my reading of local history, the individual troops called a truce during the winter. Command tried to stop it, but there was trading and conversation between pickets across the Rapidan and the Rappahannock. All of this leads me to think there wasn't much "sharpshooting" in the snow.
 
Hello everybody, this might be a dumb question but if you'll bear with me I'll try to explain. Many if not most everyone here is surely familiar with the 1st and 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters (Berdan's and Post's sharpshooters), and with how they had dark green uniforms (like European rifle troops from which they took the idea, the better for them as skirmishers to blend in with the scenery in a forest I imagine) and eventually gutta-percha (sp.?) black hard rubber buttons instead of brass or other metal so as to avoid reflecting sunlight if possible.

Well I was wondering the other day and off and on since, if there was a snowstorm and the ground was covered in snow but instead of staying in winter quarters some of Berdan's or Post's sharpshooters (or the Western SharpShooters in the Western Theatre I think they were called, about whom I know next to nothing) for whatever reason had to go out in it and try to ambush a Confederate supply wagon train that the rebels were depending on in the dead of winter or something like that, I don't know, anyway what I was thinking was since they at least cared about camouflage coloration in a rudimentary way then would they have said "Hey listen, the reverse side of our gum blanket is off-white, nearly white, and might help us blend in against a snowy background"? And then wear their gum blankets inside-out for snow camouflage? Or maybe did they take a white bedsheet and cut a hole in it like some of the U.S. infantry did in the Battle of the Bulge decades later? Or even for skirmishers, even for highly trained skirmisher marksmen, as long a time ago as the 1860s this would have been giving them credit for too much "modern" thinking for the era and they simply wouldn't have worried about it or (no offense to them intended) it wouldn't have occurred to them?

Many thanks to a Civil War sharpshooter personal camouflage expert who can answer this.
I may be wrong, but it seems both armies were in winter quarters and major campaigns didn't begin until spring.
 
Sharpshooter units during the ACW were more so designated skirmishers than modern day snipers. In that role, camouflage and hiding from the enemy wouldn't really be necessary. There may be a few exceptions, like individuals scouting ahead or while on picket duty in certain instances, but when fighting as a unit in a skirmish line they would essentially still be in formation and not all that far away from the enemy - not trying to remain unseen. The idea of the 19th century sharpshooter was generally more so to be quick, maneuverable light infantry rather than a stationary sniper in the modern sense.
 
I may be wrong, but I believe that in addition to a type of camouflage, the 1st & 2nd USSS wore their uniforms more as an esprit de corps. The Confederate butternut (cadet gray fading as dye was inferior or walnut hull dye) was unintentionally superior as camouflage than blue or green. I just read an account about this very thing, where the diarist was complaining that the Confederate uniforms would allow them to get too close in wooded/brushy terrain.

I find this to be true in various tacticals I have participated in over the years, Confederate uniforms do blend in rather well in most landscapes, while Union Blue is effective in deep wooded shadow, but little else. The few Berdan SS that run around at reenactments do not give a large enough sample size for me to comment about effectiveness, their uniforms are usually too bright, almost a Kelly green and defeats the purpose.
 
Not sure that there were no example of camouflage uniforms during WWI. I might be worn but believe French Alpine troops wore some white items. And British, French and Italian Armies used uniforms the blended into the battlefield during
WWI.

Yes, I should also consider the winter camo. I forget about that. Also, when I look for examples of Italian Alpini, I don't see any winter camo in the old photos even though there are references that said they were issued white uniforms.
 
Back
Top