Outfitting armies
\/Vhen nations go to war, they must make sure companies and factories produce clothing and equipment for their soldiers for as long as the fighting lasts. During America's Civil War, factories in the North did just that, producing blue wool uniforms, rifles, pistols, swords, ammunition, and camp equipment, as well as tools to repair all these things. To make the items quickly, they used standardized parts and many workers to mass-produce them. In the Confederate states, there were fewer factories and workers, so the South's fighting men often went into battle wearing homemade uniforms and carrying weapons imported from Europe or brought from arsenals in their hometowns. In the first years of the war, Southerners discovered their handmade clothing and imported rifles were just as good as those made in Northern factories. When these things wore out or broke, though, there was little or nothing with which to replace them. Many of the Confederate troops ended the war wearing rags and carrying weapons taken from Union army prisoners.
Barrel lug
CARRYING FOOD AND DRINK
Infantrymen carried their water in canteens and personal items and some food rations in haversacks, bags slung across the shoulder on a strap. This canvas-covered canteen has a soldier's unit designation stenciled on it. Its cover could be soaked in water to keep the contents cool.
FOR CUT AND THRUST
This fighting blade, called a Model 1850, was carried by both Union and Confederate infantry officers. Southerners found great numbers of them stockpiled in local arsenals during the secession crisis. Many of these swords were carried throughout the conflict and were then taken home as souvenirs.
CONFEDERATE UNIFORMS APLENTY
At the start of the Civil War, many Southern troops wore attractive, sometimes fanciful uniforms. These pages from an 1861 copy of the illustrated newspaper Harper's Weekly show the variety of uniforms worn by some Confederate regiments. Most of these outfits were made by hometown tailors or the wives or mothers of the soldiers.
Barrel lug
Canvas canteen cover
Canvas canteen cover
Brass hand guard Hammer
Iron barrel
Sling loop Ramrod
Sling loop
Walnut shoulder stock
APPEARANCES ARE DECEIVING
Sword bayonets, copies of weapons made popular by foreign troops, were carried by some Northern and Southern regiments. While they looked frightening when attached to the end of a rifle, they were expensive to make and awkward to carry. Bayonets shaped like spikes replaced them.
Brass hand guard Hammer
Iron barrel
Sling loop Ramrod
DEPENDABLE IN BATTLE
First called the Mississippi Rifle and later the Harpers Ferry Rifle, the single-shot muzzle-loading .54 caliber U.S. Model 1841 rifle was the standard weapon of the U.S. Army at the start of the Civil War. With a 33-inch barrel, it proved itself a potent weapon, firing a conical lead round called a minié bullet and finding its target at 1,000 yards. Once the fighting got rolling, however, it was replaced by the Model 1861 Springfield rifle-musket, which had a 40-inch barrel and threw a heavier caliber minié.
Sling loop
Walnut shoulder stock
Haversack strap
Kepi. This was the standard infantry cap, which was modeled and named after the French military hat.
Spike bayonet
Wool short jacket _
Sleeve chevron
Outdated musket
Blanket roll Knavsack
Brass buttons
_ Modern rifle
Leather legging
Haversack strap
Blanket roll Knavsack
Wool uniform t
Brass buttons
Sleeve chevron
A SOUTHERN VOLUNTEER
Confederate army regulations called for all soldiers and officers to wear uniforms made of gray wool. But as the war went on, very few Southern fighting men could assemble a complete gray wool suit Many of them wore a Confederate uniform made of homespun cloth originally colored a light brown with a dye made from crushed butternuts, a kind of walnut. This type of uniform was so common that Butternut became a standard nickname for a Southern soldier. The Confederate volunteer shown here is wearing a gray militia uniform from the prewar years.
READY FOR HIS FIRST CAMPAIGN
This Union private is fitted out in a machine-made uniform, a complete set of accessories, and a new rifle manufactured in a U.S. government arsenal facility.
Sword bayonet
Kepi. This was the standard infantry cap, which was modeled and named after the French military hat.
Spike bayonet
Wool short jacket _
_ Modern rifle
Leather legging
Outdated musket
A limber, a field artillery ammunition chest
Blanket roll
Sivord bayonet
Legging
Garibaldi Guard New York volunteer member in an of the Fire Zouave Italian army hat Regiment
Gray uniform
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