Hi guys I'm new to civil war reenacting, I'm still putting some kit together and was wondering if anyone can tell me what was more common, butternut or grey jackets? I see a mix at events but just wondering what is more correct.
We're portraying the 43rd North Carolina infantry in around 1863 so I'm looking for what's most accurate for that time period. Thanks!
The "mix" is correct evidently.
Col. Fremantle observed among the Confederate rank and file in 1863 there was no standard "color" but various shades of gray or brown.... from Bragg's Army of Tennessee:
Fremantle observed the same in Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Particularly noting of Pender's Division:
A Union soldier who was captured by Ewell's Corps (including Rodes' Division, including the 43rd NC of Daniel's brigade), observed in June, 1863 the same... only the road dust gave them a uniform color...
Confederate veteran Allen C. Redwood depicted his compatriots of the 55th Virginia at Gettysburg like so...
The citizens at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania described Lee's troops just before Gettysburg...
Lewis Miller depicted the soldiers of Early's division of Ewell's corps at York, PA like this in the aggregate:
Mr. Gall stated of the appearance of the condition of Early's troops at York...
After Pickett's charge, Edwin Forbes described the prisoners as variously dressed like the above, but in the aggregate, a "dingy gray color prevailing" (brownish gray), which he illustrated like this...
Peter Rothermel's Gettysburg paintings, commissioned for the State of Pennsylvania in the late 1860s, and produced with the aid of General Meade and others, generally portrayed the rebs similarly, in dingy gray or brown clothes...
Philippoteaux's 1880s Pickett's charge cyclorama also generally shows the mixed gray, etc. of the reb rank and file...
Even where there was a standard pattern/production of military jackets, like the large production and distribution from the Richmond Clothing Bureau, there was evidently no standardization in fabric or color/shade... they cut and sewed out of whatever cloth was available...
Milstead, Richmond Jackets Article: Liberty Rifles...
Another Allen C. Redwood illustration...
No color, pattern, or cloth, etc. was a bar to the CS Government's production/distribution of clothing, after late 1862; which was able to generally produce jackets of some shade of "gray" ranging from brown to blue...
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