Uniforms Canadian or U.S. uniform?

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One thing that comes up off and on is determining if an image from the mid 1800s shows a U.S. uniform or a Confederate uniform. In to this mix one needs to add foriegn uniforms. To decide if an image is Union or Confederate, an understanding of foriegn uniforms is a must. Many Civil War buffs do not have a great grasp on mid 19th Century foriegn uniforms.

Because of imagrants coming to the United States from Europe and from Canada, a handed down image found in the U.S. may in fact be from a foriegn land. To help us in this area, I thought we might start with Canadian uniforms and Canadian militia uniforms of the mid 19th Century.

How many Civil War buffs have the proper resources in their private library to help them ID Canadian uniforms? Probably not too many. So what on line resources can help? Also what are standard books one might want to have to help ID Candadian images masquerading as Union or Confederate images.

 

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The uniforms worn by British regulars in Canada are fairly well-known. The British infantry wore four styles of red British Army tunics during the general Civil War period and in photos these are fairly easy to identify. The problem begins with Canadian volunteer companies. For uniforms, Canadian volunteer companies had the liberty of selecting such pattern and colors as their imagination might dictate. This caused a great verity of patterns and color of dress. Gray uniforms were not uncommon.

Most Civil War buffs have little knowledge of the various uniforms worn by Canadian volunteer companies during the Civil War era. There are not many good books available on Canadian volunteer companies of the mid 19th Century.

This book is a start but not all that inclusive because it covers too long of time period.

Rene Chartrand, one of the authors, has published many article in the Journal of the Company of Military Historians over the last several decades. One of the issues of using these fine articles is that few people have a complete collection of the Journal of the Company of Military Historians.