page_title: Uniforms of the Confederate States Armed Forces
section_title: Shoulder straps
hierarchical_section_title: Uniforms of the Confederate States Armed Forces / Confederate States Navy uniforms / Shoulder straps
caption_attribution_description: Standing figure of Admiral Raphael Semmes. He wears confederate attire, including a long coat which extends to his knees, and a cap on his head. His proper left arm is bent so that his fist rests on his hip, with sword hanging immediately behind. His proper right arm is at his side with binoculars in his hand. The base features three bronze plaques, including one which depicts the C.S. steamer Alabama at sea.
context_page_description: Each branch of the Confederate States armed forces had their own service dress and fatigue uniforms and regulations regarding them during the American Civil War, which lasted from April 12, 1861 until May 1865.
  The uniform initially varied greatly due to a variety of reasons, such as location, limitations on the supply of cloth and other materials, State regulations that were different from the standard regulations, and the cost of materials during the war. Texas units, for example, had access to massive stocks of U.S. blue uniforms, which were acquired after Confederate forces captured a U.S. supply depot in San Antonio in 1861. These were worn as late as 1863. Early on, servicemen sometimes wore combinations of uniform pieces, making do with what they could get from captured United States Army soldiers, or from U.S. and Confederate dead, or just wear civilian clothing. There are some controversies about some of the exact details of a few of the uniforms, since some of the records were lost or destroyed after the Civil War ended.
context_section_description: According to the dress code of the Confederate Navy, shoulder straps were to be worn differently by each rank.
  Admirals wore a shoulder strap of sky-blue cloth, edged with black, that was four inches long and one inch and three-eighths wide embroidered with gold one-quarter of an inch in width. They had five stars spaced equally, the two on the ends six-tenths of an inch in diameter, and the three intermediate stars six-eighths of an inch in diameter.
  Flag officers wore a shoulder strap of sky-blue cloth, edged with black, that was four inches long and one inch and three-eighths wide embroidered with gold one-quarter of an inch in width. They had four stars spaced equally, the two on the ends six-tenths of an inch in diameter, and the two intermediate stars six-eighths of an inch in diameter.
  Captains wore the same shoulder straps as the flag officers, but with three equally spaced stars, each six-tenths of an inch in diameter.
  Commanders also had the same shoulder straps, but with only two stars.
  Lieutenants had the same shoulder straps, with a single, central, star.
  The shoulder straps worn by masters had the same design, but without any stars.
  Passed midshipmen wore a strip of gold lace four inches in length and a half an inch wide.
  For a midshipman, no shoulder straps were to be worn.
caption: Example of a Confederate Naval Officer's Uniform (Statue of Captain Raphael Semmes, Mobile, Alabama).
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