older uniform plate

[major bill]

This is a 45 year old plate of a Confederate soldier of the 12th Regiment of Virginia Volunteers, Weisiger's Brigade. Although old and much new uniform information has been published I still think the image is still good. Many of these older plates contain mistakes, but Martin Windrow did a decent job on this one. do you see any glaring mistakes?

 

[Package4]

Uniform looks good, I question the saddle bags, they would have been unnecessary with a haversack and blanket roll. They would have been unwieldy to carry and just don't work, I'd love to ask the artist the reasoning.

 

[major bill]

I wondered if he had liberated a Union saddle bag and was rifling through it.

 

[Private Watkins]

I wondered if he had liberated a Union saddle bag and was rifling through it.

That's the way I interpreted it...

 

[Private Watkins]

This is a 45 year old plate of a Confederate soldier of the 12th Regiment of Virginia Volunteers, Weisiger's Brigade. Although old and much new uniform information has been published I still think the image is still good. Many of these older plates contain mistakes, but Martin Windrow did a decent job on this one. do you see any glaring mistakes?

View attachment 97966

I'm certainly not an expert but the CSA belt plate seems to be more for artistic effect than for realistic portrayal of what the average common soldier would have worn...

 

[major bill]

Note no bayonet,

 

[Package4]

Note no bayonet,

There was a study done on confederate bayonet returns and if I recall correctly, fewer than an average of 50% had bayonets. Some units more than others, but averaged to just under 50%.

I didn't even think about captured saddle bags!

 

[Garyjd]

The plate is by Historical Illustrator Gerry Embleton. He's been around a long time and is well known for illustrating a number of books for Osprey Publishing. There were a variety of CSA rectangular belt plates produced during the war. So one worn by a soldier is in the realm of possibility. All in all it's not too bad of a plate for as dated (around mid/late 1970s) as I believe this one to be.

 

[Frederick14Va]

Belt Plate... The "CSA" rectangle waist belt plate is known in two different patterns. One labeled and contributed to the Atlanta Depot, the other Richmond. The Richmond ones came around in rather limited numbers late war., and are quite rare.

Canteen... This one is one based on a pre-war English pattern. Copies of which are generally known in very limited numbers and usually contributed to western theater early issues. Not the pattern type known to have been issued out of Richmond (Gardner pattern) which would have been their supply and equipment base for the 12th Va. In the 1970's this was one that you could purchase in a kit to put together...

Haversack... going along with the general impression and idea of what the common Confederate looked like and used at the time... the generic homemade pillow/bed ticking striped cloth... Which today we have much more research fodder at hand than we had in the 1970's... and better know what the Richmond depot was actually issuing and what the soldiers used...

Uniform... Jacket.... obviously the artist was quite unsure of this item and appeared to leave it quite ambiguous and generic. It does not appear to attempt to replicate any known pattern or issue type. Nothing resembling what we do know the 12th Va received. The Federal issue "captured" sky-blue trousers... Since we have references of soldiers making use of captured goods there was an accepted impression that every single confederate out there had the same opportunities to do that too....

An interesting artist rendering, of what they thought the average confederate in the field may have looked like, based on what was the general idea and conceptions were in the 1970's... far outdated now of course.

 

[major bill]

Over time new research has changed the way we see Civil War uniforms and equipment. Being a member of the Company of Military Historians, I have discussed this issue with some of our members. For example one member has been doing research for 25 years and keeps finding new information and so delays publishing an article until he has all the correct information. the problem being we will likely never see his article as additional research will reveal additional material. The truth being few articles can ever be 100% accurate, at best most articles will cause additional research to be done and the additional research will soon change information contained in the articles. This is not on its own a bad thing.

 

[Garyjd]

Bill, I'd rather someone publish the article with the info at hand rather than putting it off indefinitely waiting for that one more piece of info. I guess it's just like when an artist creates a painting. At some point you have to call it finished.

 

[major bill]

Bill, I'd rather someone publish the article with the info at hand rather than putting it off indefinitely waiting for that one more piece of info. I guess it's just like when an artist creates a painting. At some point you have to call it finished.

I do have to agree. I recently had an article published about Michigan Militia uniforms of the pre Civil War and Civil War era. I am hopeful that it encourages others to send me information that I was not able to discover. I hope a few photographs on Michigan militia uniforms show up so I can better understand the written description of them