Texans in white uniforms.

Sorry for going off topic, but those Texan white uniforms always remind me of the German WWII winter uniforms, which were white for a different reason than the Texans'...
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I'm late to all this, and I read the other thread quickly and came back here. I just want to ask those folks here who know about the Missouri Brigade in Vicksburg Campaign: did they not receive new uniforms in Jackson before Grant ever stepped foot on Mississippi soil in the spring of 1863?

Anyone else recall this, or did I dream it?

No, you didn't dream it. :smoke:
The "white" Missouri uniforms at Vicksburg have been mentioned a few times over the years.

I appreciate @AUG351 for providing details about the 1st Missouri's undyed wool uniform issues during 1862 or '63.

Years ago, the small museum at Grand Gulf Military Park featured a 1960s era diorama that included some of the Missouri Confederates wearing "white" during the Grand Gulf phase of the Vicksburg Campaign.
 
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The 2nd Texas Infantry wore white uniforms during the battle of Shiloh.

Col. John C. Moore could only find blue uniforms taken from Texas military posts. He wrote, "When ordered from Texas across the country by way of Alexandria [La.], not thinking army blue a healthy color for my men to wear in battle, I sent an agent with a requisition on the quartermaster at New Orleans for Confederate uniforms. When we received and opened the packages at Corinth, we found they were made of wool as white as that on the back of of a Kentucky bluegrass sheep. it was a case of Hobson's choice, and some Yankee prisoners inquired: 'Who were them hell-cats that went into battle dressed in their grave-clothes'" Confederate Veteran Magazine 1902, p. 316-317.

In another article he penned: 'When the packages were opened, we found the so-called uniforms as white as washed wool could make them. I shall never forget the men's consternation and many were exclamations not quoted from the Bible, such as 'Well I'll be d---!' 'Don't them things beat h---!' 'Do the generals expect us to be killed, and want us to wear our shrouds?' etc. Being a case of Hobson's choice, the men cheerfully made the best of the situation, quickly stripped off the ragged blue and donned the virgin white. The clothing having no marks as to sizes, articles were issued just as they came, hit or miss as to fit. Soon the company grounds were full of men strutting up and down, some with trousers dragging under their heels, while those of others scarcely reached the top of their socks; some with jackets so tight the resembled stuffed toads, while others had ample room to carry three days rations in their bosom. The exhibition closed with a swapping scene that reminded one of a horse-trading day in a Georgia county town." Confederate Veteran Magazine 1904, p. 116.
 
you have to give it to the Texans only they would think white was a appropriate, uniform for the military talk about style.
 
We have a new forum member from Texas and it made me think of this older thread on white uniforms worn by Texas regiments. I still can not believe that white cavalry uniforms would stay white very long. Tending horses is not real clean work and their white uniforms would soon get stained.
 
A friend of mine had a uniform made of white wool. The pants he dyed some color or another using vegetable dyes. He kept the jacket white. After much use it was still a dingy white. Easy to spot on a battlefield. He also wore it when we were filming Gettysburg. He is not hard to spot in the Pickett's Charge scenes.
 
A friend of mine had a uniform made of white wool. The pants he dyed some color or another using vegetable dyes. He kept the jacket white. After much use it was still a dingy white. Easy to spot on a battlefield. He also wore it when we were filming Gettysburg. He is not hard to spot in the Pickett's Charge scenes.
I like that simple but historically accurate very nice.
 
I can totally see the one side of wearing a white uniform in hot climates (such as the deserts of west Texas) in that it'd keep you cooler than a dark grey or dark blue uniform. On the other hand it also seems it'd mark you out as a target pretty darn easily. Personally I'd rather go for a light tan color in that kind of environment, seems a decent compromise between not wearing dark colors in the heat and not sticking out like a sore thumb.
 
you have to give it to the Texans only they would think white was a appropriate, uniform for the military talk about style.
It wasn't that anyone chose white uniforms, but that the means to properly dye them was lacking. Usually they weren't taken too kindly by the troops but they got what they got.

And it wasn't only Texans who wore undyed uniforms, Confederate troops in all theaters were issued them, East, West and Trans-Mississippi. There's even a surviving jacket out there that is believed to have been manufactured at the Staunton or Wytheville Depot in Virginia.
 
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