page_title: Uniforms of the Confederate States Armed Forces
section_title: Service dress uniforms overview
hierarchical_section_title: Uniforms of the Confederate States Armed Forces / Service dress uniforms overview
caption_attribution_description: English: Deck scene, CSS Alabama 1863 from Two Years on the Alabama, by Arthur Sinclair (1896)
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: The original Confederate uniforms from all branches of the military closely followed the lines of the U.S. Armed Forces. This was until June 6, 1861, when the Confederate Council issued General Order 9, the new regulations for the Confederate Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery.
  The new uniforms were designed by Nicola Marschall, a German-American artist who also designed the original Confederate flag. He was heavily influenced by the mid-1800s uniforms of the Austrian and French Armies.
  Although the regular Confederate military had a paper strength of 6,000 personnel, the first 100,000 volunteers from all over the South participated in a variety of dress. Many were from state militia outfits, which had their own state-issued uniforms. In the early battles, some Confederate units that wore dark blue uniforms were often mistaken on the field of battle for the enemy. Conversely, many U.S. units that were originally militia units went to war wearing gray.
  It was not until the depot system was established in early 1862 by the Confederate Quartermaster in Richmond, Virginia, that uniforms were mass-produced and supplied to troops. Until that time, the "commutation system" was in place; this allowed soldiers to have their own uniforms made to the new CSA regulations and to be reimbursed by the CS government. The allowance for uniforms was $21 per six months. In a letter from 2nd Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Slemons') Company D's Lt. Walter Greenfield to his wife on April 11, 1862 from his encampment near Shiloh, Greenfield writes:
  All our company officers are fully equipped.  Uniforms are only $90 dollars and saddles 85.
  Officers had to buy their own uniforms until March 6, 1864, when General Order 28 was released; this allowed Confederate officers to purchase uniforms from the same sources as the troops, and at cost price.
  Following the Richmond Depot, other depots started up throughout the South to supply their respective regional forces. Major depots were in Columbus, Athens and Atlanta, Georgia for the Army of Tennessee and Houston, Texas and Shreveport, Louisiana for the Trans-Mississippi forces. The use of the depot system meant that army-wide uniformity was impossible, as different depots had unique uniforms (Columbus Depot Jackets for instance, had breast pockets, whilst Richmond Depot Jackets did not). This resulted in a varied set of uniforms worn by different Confederate units.
  As the war progressed, the image began to shift from the "ragged rebel" look to a well-uniformed Army in the Eastern and Western theaters. In the last 12 months of fighting, these Confederate forces were well-uniformed, the best they had ever appeared in terms of consistency, wearing clothing made of imported blue-gray cloth, either manufactured locally or bought ready-made under contract from British manufacturers, such as Peter Tait of Limerick, Ireland who became a major supplier of uniforms for the Confederacy.
  In the department of the Trans-Mississippi, problems with the distribution of the plentiful uniforms made in Houston and Shreveport meant that the South Western forces went without proper uniforms for some part of the war.
  Confederate headgear was to be the chasseur cap, or "kepi", a French military cap. Often broad felt or straw hats or even slouch hats were worn instead. The Federal Army style forage cap was also popular. General Stonewall Jackson was famous for wearing the forage cap. Confederate Cavalry troops often wore Hardee hats, much like the U.S. Army Cavalry, which was a representative of the additional "flair" associated with the Cavalry troops. Two examples of CSA Cavalry officer's famous for wearing these hats are Colonel John S. Mosby and General J.E.B. Stuart.
caption: Confederate Navy Uniform, lieutenants Armstrong and Sinclair
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