@beuwenthedragon7122 man i guess ill have to test that bc i dont kno anything to stay dry when its 78°+ with 60+ humidity in Missouri you are hot and soaked
During the 1800's grey was considered a more effective camo color then green. Field trials during early 1800's showed. Mind you, it was just a test with the human eye. Not with science. The Germans also wore grey during WW1 en 2.
The Germans didn’t use just a flat grey for their uniforms. They used “Feldgrau” or field grey, which has a more green color to it. So I’m not sure if it’s necessarily applicable.
A medium / medium dark shade of gray is a superb camouflage color when kept back in the shadows. This is because shadows fall in a natural pattern on the neutral color. I am slightly color blind, and I can almost always pick out modern camo patterns in the shadows, because the pattern is not natural to the background. (We color blind folks often notice patterns in place of color). However a gray is impossible to pick out in the darker shade underneath trees, shrubs or underbrush, due to natural shadow patterns.
Well, you also have confederate units in like butternut, brown, green, every color. But standardized for the confederates? Not really. Kentucky, for example had a lot of soldiers in civilian dress, anything but standardized. But, you are right that having units wearing similar color uniforms can be a bit of a problem. Remember the 33rd VA’s charge at 1st Bull Run?
When US soldiers traded with CS soldiers the US soldiers would often times tell the confederates to trade their tobacco for money so they could “buy a real uniform”.
That’s like the scene in The Good The Bad and The Ugly when they think they’ve come upon a confederate cavalry troop and start hailing Dixie and General Lee to get some help, only to have the unamused Union cavalry men proceed to bat the dust off their blue uniforms as they’re taken prisoner. 😅
@@flyingsquirrell6953 I wasn't even arguing with you lmfao. But if the south was trading tobacco for money from the north, they'd be getting greenbacks from the north. So I guess now I am arguing with you if you wanna sit there and say that's wrong. Because the north had greenbacks and the south had gray backs. Thanks for being a dick tho
Might be wrong but i seem to remember a company from Arkansas having to turn their blue jackets, which were lined in white, inside out in order to not be fired upon.
@@ihave_noideawhat’s the name of that company? I know there were confederate units with a butternut style camo but I didn’t know about the blue uniforms of the confederate army.
You are a fool if you think CSA soldiers fought for their right to own slaves. They fought for the right to say no to an industrial north who knew nothing of the problems in the southern farmlands.
@@CoolSmoovieMost sourthern states claim that they seceded due to slavery. Yes, Confederate soldiers fought for a number of reasons, I mean soldiers in WW1 literally joined just to travel to another country, and some soldiers in Vietnam volunteered for the GI bill. But the war was started and fought over slavery. You also left out that the South needed Slaves to run their agricultural society. Also adding to the point that the war was over slavery.
@@notjimmy6822 I didn’t leave out anything. The South didn’t like that the North was telling them what to do. The North said stop using slaves, the South knew their economy relied on them. So they didn’t want to listen. Believing the war was just over slavers is a foolish modern take. There was a long list of wrongs that drove the south to succeed
@@CoolSmoovie Read the multiple declaration of secession. Most Southern states literally say that the threat to the institution of slavery is why they are seceeding. All of the original states to seceed say this, states that waited to seceed are less likely to state this as the cause. The civil war was over slavery. The foolish modern interpretation is that the civil war was over states rights, unfair taxes and what other BS southern states want to make up to seem more sympathetic to a modern perspective. All the "wrong doings" that caused the South to secede, and go to war are connected to the issue of slavery. Ill end this argument with a direct quote from the first state to secede which kickstarted the civil war, South Carolina, since you have proven you are unable to read historical documents for yourself "But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution" -South Carolina Declaration of Secession, 1860
They would dye jean wool in logwood. The resulting fabric would be gray but would quickly react with sunlight and turn varying shades of brown. That’s where the butternut uniforms come from.
Also, the butternut, or white walnut, was used as a dye in the upper South and lower Midwest. Some anthropologists refer to the belt between I-70 and I-40 as "butternut country."
The more I learn about government corruption, conspiracy/treason, and the rewriting of history by the victors the more suspect it appears that the Federal North used slavery , that both sides engaged in, as a powerful propaganda tool to promote them as the righteous and demonize the Southern States Confederates as the “evil” side. This especially after the Norths Civil War victory and the likelihood to change objective historical facts into North-Good side, South-Bad side etc. What if the Union Federation was controlled by Elites, Financiers, from UK & European powers, and they wanted to squash any rebellion of any States from suceeding or leaving the Federal Government, DC, etc?? I dont know, but there is much more to this Civil War than the “history books” tell the public I bet. 🧐
Yeah the Germans figured that out fast the French did not while the Germans were wearing Gray during World War 1 the French were wearing bright blue without any helmets and then there's the red part it was bright red on the uniform yeah they made for an easy target
Particular shade of grey at start of US Civil War was known as Maryland Blue. It was common to both sides at start of the war, especially with State Guard units as well as Drill Teams which were popular before the outbreak of war.
True, but that's because museums are inclined to showcase the purchase and show grey as confederate uniforms, and blue as union. There is a modern bias that affects it. I've seen plenty of storage in the vaults, where the same exact colour is used for both sides, but the southern artifacts tend to be more varied in colours.
The color is more common due to how the wool was dyed. Confederate grey is achieved by boiling poison sumack (akin to poison ivy) in a iron pot to make a sort of tea, then you put your wool in. Butternut is still poison sumack but in a copper pot instead
Camouflage didn't matter when soldiers moved around in linear formations or large groups. As weapons range and accuracy increased, soldiers were taught to aim at human silhouettes, not colours, as these became subdued at the longer distances.
Skirmishers, snipers and bushwhackers were fielded by both sides, especially the confederacy, where camouflage certainly would be useful and large formations were avoided.
@@virileagitur7403Indeed. But they were small in numbers compared to the main forces, and didn't sway the outcome of battles. Useful for harassment and raiding.
@@gratefulguy4130 The napoleonic wars was a different era than the ACW. By the mid 19th century the distinctions between the light and regular infantry (and cavalry) was beginning to fade away. As every infantryman became a skirmisher, and all cavalry 'dragoons'. There's a huge difference between a infantryman in 1815 vs 1860s.
Scotland huh? Bless you brother.. until we meet again in Paradise,fam.. and youre right. The only problems with that is the north would deliberately send infected cloth (pox etc) or something that would cause problems. They would also send one size lol But this is another reason why if you find something that was from the confederate side,it’s worth 10 times the amount. Do you know your birthright? Do you know where our bloodlines come from or who you actually are? I ask because here in the states we actually have ppl saying they are “black Hebrew Israelites” when we KNOW there was never no such thing. People don’t even mention the racial purity stuff in Genesis lol.. The tribes that had to escape persecution settled a land that’s now known as Europe and then went to settle what’s known today as United States and Canada,even South Africa. We are Gods chosen. Not just the few. 😉
@@DucdeOrlean more confederates wore grey and for longer than federal troops. Most northern soldiers who wore grey were members of state militia, or USMA Cadets (kind of soldiers).
States' rights was NEVER an issue during the Civil War. The first time that this was even mentioned was in the 1880s when Southern revisionist historians finally decided that maybe slavery wasn't such a good thing after all so for the sake of history, we'd better come up with something to whitewash the whole affair so we don't look as bad as we really were. The cause of the Civil War was the right to own slaves, pure and simple. It was written in the Confederacy's constitution and printed on their money. The Confederate vice president even wrote this in correspondence. To say that the gray of the Confederate uniforms was a nod to states' rights is not only false and inaccurate, but downright ridiculous on its face. They wore gray when they had gray, they wore British gray when they had British gray, and they wore butternut when they had butternut. It was as simple as that.
Regardless of your moral objections to the subject, it is still a question of the states rights to self determination and how much of that they should be expected to surrender to the federal government. The end result of the civil war was an expansion of Federal Authority and considering that the other major change was the integration of a few million perpetual dissidents I’d be willing to say that the CSA had a point. I don’t think anyone likes how the Fed operates, right or left. The reasons might be different, but both sides don’t really like the Federal Government for their own unique reasons.
Also a fun fact: Since the confederacy still considered themselves to hold the original ideals of the founding fathers, they still used the American flag for the army. This proved confusing on the battlefield so they began the long road to picking a national and battle flag.
This information is incorrect. Among pre-Civil War state militia units, gray uniforms were as common in the Northern & Western states as blue was in the Southern states. The shades of gray ran the gamut from dust gray to a very dark steel gray just as the shades of blue ran from the sky blue of Union trowsers, Mexican War, Kentucky State Guard uniforms to the dark blue of most mid to late war Union uniforms. However, by late 1862, the Union Blockade had stopped most foreign dye stuffs & gray cloth from getting to the South so the common color of Southern uniforms was "butternut" the dye made from certain tree nut husks & copperas. The Union soldiers even referred to Confederate soldiers as butternuts. This information can be confirmed by reading Arms & Equipment of the Confederacy or many of the ACW books from Osprey Publishing.
I’m with the other comment u clearly didn’t listen cause he literally never once says the grey was only a southern thing. He said that local militias in the US work grey so it was associated with local forces across the country which the south used to play onto the states rights thing
Lol. Tell me you didn't watch the video fully without telling me you didn't watch the video fully. Tried to be a smartass but now you just look like an idiot.
Its simply not correct that the blockade became effective in 1862. The csa imported huge quantities of blue cloth, cartridges, firearms and other military equipment from the UK until late 1864. When Longstreets corp was send west in late 1863, they where all wearing uniforms made from British made blue cloth,.
I know this is a controversial thing to say, especially on this forum, but after hearing about how the confederates dyed whatever they could find which made that unique butternut color, I am willing to state, butternut is my favorite kind of doughnut.
At 1st Bullrun aka 1st Manassas it was difficult to tell what side was what due to the mix of uniforms of militia and regulars. Many rebel units had confiscated federal stores to supply themselves with.
There was a small incident as part of the battle where a rebel cavalry unit was able to make a frontal charge on Union infantry. The infantry didn’t realize they were being attacked until it was too late.
States' rights was not a core belief of the Confederacy. The Confederate Constitution was much more restrictive over the question of slavery in its states than the US Constitution was. The Confederate Constitution prevented states from banning slavery on their own while the US Constitution left that question up to the states and itself did not prescribe a particular way of administering slavery in the territories. Likewise, two of the main grievances of seceeding states was that 1) the election of Lincoln signaled a hardline stance against expansion of slavery into the territories (not a state's right to administer slavery within its own borders) and 2) Free state authorities refused to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act (i.e. Slave states wanted to force Free states to use state resources to enforce Federal law, something our country took a dim view to then and all the way up to Printz v. U.S. today).
If Lincoln wanted to end Slavery, he would have accepted the Confederacy’s Compromise, which would have ended Slavery in the South in exchange for The Union pulling their Forces out of the Confederate States. A peaceful Solution to avoid bloodshed. Lincoln responded by Reinforcing Fort Sumpter and Blockading the Harbor, against the advice of his Military and political advisors… Lincoln chose War over the South Seceding, which they had every lawful right to do. Everyone Outside of the United States Learned of this, because we kept tabs on the political goings on during that time. ‘The war to end slavery” is a Post War American Myth, to Justify an unjust war.
I get what you're saying, but just because the CSA didn't adhere to it doesn't mean that 'states rights' wasn't a core belief of the south in general. Total war generally requires, or justifies, at least in the minds of politicians, a degree of totalitarianism. Look at what happened to the Japanese Americans during FDR's administration.
"States' Rights" is really just a softer way to say they wanted to own slaves, it's just to make them look better, and it worked for a very very long time.. The Lost Cause is unfortunately still alive..
Wrong. The war was mostly about the north destroying the southern economy with taxes and tariffs. Slavery was just a propaganda tool that helped recruit 250k black soldiers for the north which in turn just made things worse in the end
@@dogguy8603 army UCP is the opposite of camouflage, I don’t know why the army thought gray and grayish green was good in Afghanistan. It silhouettes you so bad.
I always thought it was interesting how by the start of the war, there was a semblance of uniform code, at least in certain pictures and depictions vs. the last few years of the war they became more ragtag from logistical issues
At the beginning both sides wore blue and gray mostly in local militia units This created much confusion on the battlefield in 1861 and early 1862 finally both sides adopted their formal colors of blue and gray
Regulated grey fell out of service rather quickly. While it continued to be produced and supplied throughout the war, it was replaced gradually with more browns. South Carolina did have a few units which kept standard issue Grey Frock coats (some even still had the blue trim and cuff) as long as 1863 thanks to being able to import from Charleston which wasn’t seized until very late in the war. That was also the reason EAC (English Army Cloth) and private contract sky blues were so common in the East.
Most Southerners wore what was available of course but they carried it off with a certain panache that was lacking in the boring, boilerplate blue of the yankee soldiers.
Germans discovered that pink was great color for aircraft camouflage but rarely used it . American AF rejected the idea with one general saying he would be damned if he was going to have his planes colored pink
Gray was a very American color and used by West Point and other military academies prior to the Civil War. You will find countless paintings depicting American military cadets and officers in gray going back to the 1700's. So just as good a question is why did the Union pick blue? In reality, both colors are traditional for American uniforms. And as many others have commented, the home spun uniforms of various local regiments on both sides were a variety of colors, sometimes leading to tragic confusion.
@@matthew8153 Strange leap of intuition there, and could hardly be further from the ancient reality. Just an elderly lefty trolling the sneaky rewrite fibbers of history🤗
@@matthew8153"Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and moral condition"-confederate vice president alexander h. stephens.
At Bull Run, many of the Southern militias wore the same blue as the Northern regiments. Standardized uniform practices were somewhat thrown out the window in the Civil War.
The first unit I joined was 8th VA "Butternut" He had hospital living history tent set up for amputation. Even though it was store bought meat with a big bone being sawed through it was quite intense! Thanks for sharing and bringing back memories form 34+y ago when I was filling in.(fife player until I turned 16) then I had .577cal Enfield musket Thank you for video, accurate.
Gray is simply the best, I would also use gray. Gray also combines lots of colours (not that fitting in that regard to the CSA). I think it symbolises unity more, than any other colour. It also happens to be my favourite colour. Gray will standout in most environments, which are not urban, however it will not standout exceptionally in any of them. Like a pure white in woodland or woodland-like camo in the snow. Gray is the average. But it is the best at being average.
You mentioned in passing that state militias wore gray. Initially the Confederate Army consisted mostly of State militia troops who wore gray and the Union forces were primarily Regular Army units in blue. However, at the First Battle of Bull Run, this hadn't been formalized on either side. Some New York militia troops fought with the Union, but wore gray and were fired on by other Union troops during this very confusing battle. Similarly, a few Confederate troops wore blue, also causing confusion. After the battle, the colors were sorted out with each side picking the majority colors of Gray for the South and Blue for the North. Eventually, some Southern units wore Butternut, which was just the color of undyed homemade wool or cotton.
Part of the reason Antietam was such a bloody and costly battle, was due to both sides using grey and blue uniforms. So mistakes were made in recognizing friend from foe, and both sides took heavy casualties in part due to the similarities in uniforms worn.
the Gray uniforms were made from Logwood Dye or Sumac Jean Wool, with Logwood dye being the most common Logwood after a month of sun exposure turned into a Tan/Brown color which is how people got the term”Butternut” July 1863 you start seeing the amount of English Army Cloth sky rocket in the Eastern Theater but you don’t see it in mass till the Fall of 63 Western Theater stuck to Logwood/Sumac Dyed Jean wool for the entire war The “Homespun” uniforms disappeared after the summer of 1862 when the Depot system took over and had everyone pretty much uniformed
Many people claims that grey is good for camo but this was the time when soldiers(beside for skrimishers) fought in lines. The Prussians themselves used "Prussian blue" for their uniform and only later when line formation got outdated they adopted "Field grey".
@@matthew8153that's a myth. There were many reasons they wore red, and that wasn't one of them. You can clearly see blood in a red uniform, the blood is an entirely different shade of red and is impossible to miss. However, red actually makes a surprisingly good camouflage in woodland foliage. Though this was probably not a reason the color was initially adopted, it definitely came in handy.
Fun fact, the grey color was primarily achieved by boiling poison sumack in an iron pot. The butternut color was also poison sumack but boiled in a copper pot
what was on hand ... sounds like the German SA or "Brown Shirts". Apparently, their brown uniforms were surplus of their African troops available after WW1 ... which they picked up at a good price!
It was mostly officer who wore gray. Because most of the south's officers were West Point grads or cadets at the time the war started. They just carried them over. Enlisted men wore most anything they could get, mostly butternut in color.
650,000 people died during the Civil War,a civil war is the worst kind of war to wage,brothers and neighbors killing each other.Soldiers and neighbors harbering ill will and hatred for each other long after the war ended.A whole generation gone in less than a decade,a large chunk of the work force gone also,thus this also effects birth-rates too.
Fun Fact: It was Russia who saved The Union during the American Civil War as they sent their Navy to San Francisco and New York when England and France were just about to enter the war on the side of the Confederates since London created the Confederates. France was already in Mexico making a spear head movement to resupply the Confederates and to open up a Pacific Theatre and create a port in California. England already amassed 11,000 troops stationed at their Northern Confederacies border now called Canada ready to open a Northern Theatre then to attack The Unions naval blockade. The Union would have been completely destroyed and annexed by those two great powers leaving the Confederates to exist as a puppet state of London. Tsar Alexander wrote a letter to Queen Victoria saying “If you enter in this war it will be a casus belli for all out war with the Russian Empire”. The stage was set for the 1st World War and Russia stopped it.
Lol British navy would have crushed the Russians with ease and did so I guess you ignorant of Crimean war which Russia lost in 1853 to 1856. British Navy the greatest and much larger than any other power. British were anti slavery and in the process of forcing countries to ban slavery and intercepting slave ships. The south hoped that the British would support them only because the British cotton mills needed Southern Cotton but the British found and made other Sources. Irony British would have ended slavery in US by mid 1880’s like they did in rest of Americas. US could not stop a British Blockade.
That’s…an interesting thesis. Utterly exaggerated, of course but there’s a kernel of truth-Russia was pro-Union all along while France was pretty obviously rooting for the rebs. Britain was divided between getting involved to help stunt a potential rival or not fighting for slavery; eventually they took a hands-off approach, turning a blind eye to Confederate ships being built in their ports but otherwise refusing to even acknowledge the rebels.
I mean most of the csa’s army consisted of poor farm boys. They didn’t have any money to purchase a uniform so all they had to do was get a light colored jacket and put a little bit of ink in a pot of boiling water and dye it to a grey or brown. And since they were a rebellion uniforms didn’t really matter as long as they weren’t blue. Which they quickly discovered at the first battle of Bull Run.
Yeah, the fieldcraft of the Southern army was FAR better than the US at the start of the war, due to the necessities of life in the South. The CSA was beaten by the same thing that undid Germany in WW2. The superior production lines of the US. The respective armies' premier precision rifle is a microcosm of this, and stands as a stark comparison of each side's supply capabilities. The US had an entire unit of snipers, with their own colors and livery, Berdan's Sharpshooters, using the advanced, breech loading Sharps Rifle. The CSA, on the other hand had no specialized gun maker that could approach the level of precision offered by the Sharps, and instead purchased the octagonal bore Whitworth Rifles from England. It is estimated that of the 250 precision rifles purchased by the CSA, less than half made it into the hands of Southern Marksmen.
@@LarsonPetty South fully understood that they would loose a war of attrition. The problem was that they based every single aspect of the war on “what ifs”. Well what IF the British or French joined our cause? What IF we could break the naval blockade and trade with foreign nations, What IF we won a decisive battle and threatened DC to negotiate a peace treaty, What IF Lincoln lost the election to Mclellin. They had all of these senerios that the US government was easily able to out maneuver. Foreign governments are looking to trade/join the confederacy? Well let’s make the war about ending slavery, Oh the confederates are building up a navy to destroy the blockade? Build ironclads, Oh the Confederates are at Gettysburg? Dig in and hold your ground until they do something catastrophic(spoiler alert it didn’t take too long) Perhaps this bought them time and allowed the war to go on as long as it did but no matter what happened they would never and could never win.
@@Aviator-Chicken Yeah, it's commendable that the CSA was able to hold out as long as they did, especially given the weak production/supply chain issues. My own personal "what if" deals with the fictional scenario that might have seen the CSA topple the USA, had the superior production capability belonged to the South, with it's generally superior woodsmen and trackers. However, that itself throws the equation askew, as the lack of education/employment/resources/readily available necessary goods are what molded the Southern male into such accomplished outdoorsmen. Without the deprivation, there would've been no need to develop such skills. I look back on those years as some of the most shameful in our nation's history. That we could be so cruel to our own countrymen as to perpetrate such awful crimes against those that would've been called brother, just a few short years before. I've always been so grateful that our country was able to pull itself back from the brink of destruction and I was so sure that this could never again occur. Sadly, it feels like we are once again circling the drain, only this time it feels as though very few are fighting the current of the maelstrom, and in fact many are paddling headlong toward the abyss, with many calling for Civil War 2.0. The fact that saddens me the most is that it only took twenty years to dismantle the unity that our countrymen had with each other following 9/11.
“Political opponents”: Pro-confederate politicians were locked up as they were seditious elements. Also, the Union still had an election which Lincoln nearly lost had it not been for Grant and Sherman scoring victories. “The Press”: Pro-Confederate newspapers were shut down as, again, they were seditious elements much like the politicians. In short, he locked up seditious pro-confederate elements in the Union to prevent any internal sabotage. Was it tyrannical? Yes. Was it necessary? Absolutely. When you’re a wartime leader, the last thing you need is internal seditious elements hindering your country’s war effort.
I really like the CSA officer uniforms, the golden sleeve braids ( Austrian knot I believe ) and the rank pips/bars/star on the colar, it is more rich than the Union counterpars. However the shoulderstraps with insignia are also cool, especially the Eagle colonels rank. Even today US armed forces the full-colonels rank is with the Eagle. Generals have stars but I like the Eagle more :)
Whatever side you look at, both looked snazzy. I like Confederate uniforms a lot too because it really showed a bit of that soldier's personality being no two soldiers looked 100% identical in every regiment.
Actually many companies didn't just wear grey. The variation was quite considerable, some wearing blues, some green or red, and some like the zuaves wearing what can only be described as baggy striped pyjamas with a Turkish themed hat and top coat.
To continue the institution of slavery and right to secede from the Union (the latter of which is still not fully settled from a constitutional perspective).
States rights was a core belief of the confederacy AFTER the Civil War. All but three of the states specifically mentioned slavery as the cause of secession in their Articles of Secession.
And yet Florida didn’t even allow slavery. The real cause for the war was the north forcing legislation through congress to ban exports of cotton and sugar. By only being allowed to sell domestically this was planned to ruin the South’s economy.
Stonewall Jackson wore his blue uniform from the Mexican American war, but because his men were worried they pitched together to him a grey uniform and he then got accidentally shot by his own men in battle.
Well to be fair what color he was wearing during he was shot doesn't matter. It was late and pitch black dark. Hard to identify he was wearing blue or grey.
I know it's not relate to here but american civil war was the first war using trenches extensively, and people tend to ask "why european countries didn't learn from American civil war trench system ? " because 5 years later 2 super power clashed Franco-prussian war and we all know prussia wiped the floor with the frenches and everyone thought the same as a manuver war not a trench however they studied the trench warfare such as russo-japanese war
Trenches had been used for centuries in europe. The 80 years war in the late 1500's and early 1600's consisted almost entirely of sieges with extensive trench networks. The napoleonic wars also saw extensive trench networks during sieges, the lines of torres vedras also had trenches. Even the franco-prussian war had trenches during the siege of Metz and later the siege of Paris. There's a reason the first thing the both sides in WW1 did when forced on the defensive was to start digging.
A fellow norwichite. Uniform goes between White, Pale Blue, and Black for dress. More styled towards 1812 uniforms though, due to Alden Partridge studied in that time frame.
Little known fact: the stars and bars was the very first Official Participation Trophy in US history. Thanks for playing, and thank you for your cervix!
For those saying states rights to what: States rights to have a 10th amendment. It was a separation of powers issue to federally end slavery. Anyone who thinks otherwise will have to explain why Lee freed his slaves before the war but fought for the Confederacy. His stated reason was the federal abolition of slavery was an expansion of the federal government that wasn't acceptable.
@@patrickrowan6001 that's what he himself would have told you. Because you have an expansion of federal government power which is unlawful if it's done by the federal government and not the states. Then when you oppose that dumb people like you go "oh he wants to stop people from abolishing slavery he must like slavery" that's the propaganda trick Lincoln pulled. The southerners didn't agree with the way it was being abolished. And Lee again freed his slaves and advocated that the states abolish it themselves.
@@patrickrowan6001there were a lot of tax reasons and federal overreach. Back then the south paid the vast majority of taxes while having no representation so the south wanted to be their own country and the north wanted to keep the tax money. Slavery was a minor issue that was focused on afterwards to make killing 2% of the American population justified
Always good to find a guy who thinks “tax overreaches” (by a government wealthy white southern landowners absolutely were represented in, come on now) is a crime against nature but slavery is at worst a necessary evil and not a big deal
@@patrickrowan6001 No he just thought that people would free their own slaves as he did and then states would make it illegal themselves because public opinion was shifting against it so ending it federally was an unconstitutional power grab that would permanently destroy states rights in America. And he was right; read the 10th amendment and tell me if that's how the USA works.
Another interesting fact I learned while touring the museums of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was that later in the war, the shoes (they weren't really boots) of the Southern soldiers were made to fit on either foot. If you looked at the sole of the shoe, it resembled the outline of a spoon. Since everything was hard to come by late in the war, especially for the South, they had to do what they could to keep the army moving
Still can't imagine running around in wool uniforms in the southern high 80s with humidity
Wool wicks away sweat easily, and would keep troops cooler than wearing Cotton, which would simply soak up the sweat.
@beuwenthedragon7122 man i guess ill have to test that bc i dont kno anything to stay dry when its 78°+ with 60+ humidity in Missouri you are hot and soaked
I dont care what you're wearing nothing can keep you dry when its 90+ and 80% humidity in the south
@@Beuwen_The_Dragon I respectfully disagree, I’m from Houston and wore a tweed suit to work.
@@svtinkerit helps if your mode of transportation and workplace have a/c. Some lighter weights of wool does work Wei in the humid heat.
During the 1800's grey was considered a more effective camo color then green. Field trials during early 1800's showed. Mind you, it was just a test with the human eye. Not with science.
The Germans also wore grey during WW1 en 2.
Actually, some air forces uses grey pattern camo for parachuter troops. It works amazingly. Search for SICTA camo.
The Germans didn’t use just a flat grey for their uniforms. They used “Feldgrau” or field grey, which has a more green color to it. So I’m not sure if it’s necessarily applicable.
A medium / medium dark shade of gray is a superb camouflage color when kept back in the shadows. This is because shadows fall in a natural pattern on the neutral color. I am slightly color blind, and I can almost always pick out modern camo patterns in the shadows, because the pattern is not natural to the background. (We color blind folks often notice patterns in place of color). However a gray is impossible to pick out in the darker shade underneath trees, shrubs or underbrush, due to natural shadow patterns.
@@rapidrhinos2254sometimes we do that 😅
Cause it was. Line warfare and alot of smoke from muscets
For a significant portion of the early war, units on both sides would be in blue or gray. This caused absolute chaos, so standardization was priotized
Well, you also have confederate units in like butternut, brown, green, every color. But standardized for the confederates? Not really. Kentucky, for example had a lot of soldiers in civilian dress, anything but standardized. But, you are right that having units wearing similar color uniforms can be a bit of a problem. Remember the 33rd VA’s charge at 1st Bull Run?
@xdenricoudx1116 100% agree. I always found the zouves the most interesting uniform variation of the conflict.
A common joke at the time was that one army went to war wearing blue, while the other went to wearing what blue looks like when its dirty.
When US soldiers traded with CS soldiers the US soldiers would often times tell the confederates to trade their tobacco for money so they could “buy a real uniform”.
@@flyingsquirrell6953ah yes, greenbacks
@@jackryan4313 I mean the confederate dollar was like the Weimar Deutschmark by 1863 so I don’t see what your point is.
That’s like the scene in The Good The Bad and The Ugly when they think they’ve come upon a confederate cavalry troop and start hailing Dixie and General Lee to get some help, only to have the unamused Union cavalry men proceed to bat the dust off their blue uniforms as they’re taken prisoner. 😅
@@flyingsquirrell6953 I wasn't even arguing with you lmfao. But if the south was trading tobacco for money from the north, they'd be getting greenbacks from the north. So I guess now I am arguing with you if you wanna sit there and say that's wrong. Because the north had greenbacks and the south had gray backs.
Thanks for being a dick tho
Fun fact: at the beginning of the civil war there were regiments of the north in grey,
And there were regiments of the south in blue.
Might be wrong but i seem to remember a company from Arkansas having to turn their blue jackets, which were lined in white, inside out in order to not be fired upon.
@@ihave_noideawhat’s the name of that company? I know there were confederate units with a butternut style camo but I didn’t know about the blue uniforms of the confederate army.
Michigan being a famous example of a state with grey uniforms at the beginning of the war. This did also cause confusion at early battles too.
Iowa regiments wore Grey as well which lead to a friendly fire instance when they were taking a trenchline and an Indiana unit open fired on them
@sdkfz1825 that is very interesting. I lived in southwest Iowa for 10 years and never knew that. I'll definitely have to read more about it
States' rights to own slaves*
You are a fool if you think CSA soldiers fought for their right to own slaves. They fought for the right to say no to an industrial north who knew nothing of the problems in the southern farmlands.
@@CoolSmoovieMost sourthern states claim that they seceded due to slavery. Yes, Confederate soldiers fought for a number of reasons, I mean soldiers in WW1 literally joined just to travel to another country, and some soldiers in Vietnam volunteered for the GI bill. But the war was started and fought over slavery.
You also left out that the South needed Slaves to run their agricultural society. Also adding to the point that the war was over slavery.
West Virginia fought for its right to become a state
@@notjimmy6822 I didn’t leave out anything. The South didn’t like that the North was telling them what to do.
The North said stop using slaves, the South knew their economy relied on them. So they didn’t want to listen.
Believing the war was just over slavers is a foolish modern take. There was a long list of wrongs that drove the south to succeed
@@CoolSmoovie Read the multiple declaration of secession. Most Southern states literally say that the threat to the institution of slavery is why they are seceeding. All of the original states to seceed say this, states that waited to seceed are less likely to state this as the cause.
The civil war was over slavery. The foolish modern interpretation is that the civil war was over states rights, unfair taxes and what other BS southern states want to make up to seem more sympathetic to a modern perspective. All the "wrong doings" that caused the South to secede, and go to war are connected to the issue of slavery. Ill end this argument with a direct quote from the first state to secede which kickstarted the civil war, South Carolina, since you have proven you are unable to read historical documents for yourself
"But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution"
-South Carolina Declaration of Secession, 1860
They would dye jean wool in logwood. The resulting fabric would be gray but would quickly react with sunlight and turn varying shades of brown.
That’s where the butternut uniforms come from.
Walnut was also used.
Also, the butternut, or white walnut, was used as a dye in the upper South and lower Midwest. Some anthropologists refer to the belt between I-70 and I-40 as "butternut country."
The more I learn about government corruption, conspiracy/treason, and the rewriting of history by the victors the more suspect it appears that the Federal North used slavery , that both sides engaged in, as a powerful propaganda tool to promote them as the righteous and demonize the Southern States Confederates as the “evil” side.
This especially after the Norths Civil War victory and the likelihood to change objective historical facts into North-Good side, South-Bad side etc.
What if the Union Federation was controlled by Elites, Financiers, from UK & European powers, and they wanted to squash any rebellion of any States from suceeding or leaving the Federal Government, DC, etc??
I dont know, but there is much more to this Civil War than the “history books” tell the public I bet. 🧐
Along with logwood, sumac was also used and had the same effect in sunlight.
@@muletown27 Ooh sounds itchymaf from what I heard... for it if you meant poison sumac.
I think grey is a good camo
So does James Dean
actual camo is also a good camo
@@pepsiman435🗿
Yeah the Germans figured that out fast the French did not while the Germans were wearing Gray during World War 1 the French were wearing bright blue without any helmets and then there's the red part it was bright red on the uniform yeah they made for an easy target
@@tbnrwolff3354German helmets at the start of the war didn’t offer much more protection than the caps other forces were
Particular shade of grey at start of US Civil War was known as Maryland Blue. It was common to both sides at start of the war, especially with State Guard units as well as Drill Teams which were popular before the outbreak of war.
The butternut brownish grey is by far the most common I've seen on artifact uniforms in museums and collections
True, but that's because museums are inclined to showcase the purchase and show grey as confederate uniforms, and blue as union. There is a modern bias that affects it. I've seen plenty of storage in the vaults, where the same exact colour is used for both sides, but the southern artifacts tend to be more varied in colours.
The color is more common due to how the wool was dyed. Confederate grey is achieved by boiling poison sumack (akin to poison ivy) in a iron pot to make a sort of tea, then you put your wool in. Butternut is still poison sumack but in a copper pot instead
"I want a new uniform!
"We have uniforms at home."
Uniform at home:
😂 your comment deserves more love
The first manassas battle saw both sides wearing blue.
Camouflage didn't matter when soldiers moved around in linear formations or large groups. As weapons range and accuracy increased, soldiers were taught to aim at human silhouettes, not colours, as these became subdued at the longer distances.
Skirmishers, snipers and bushwhackers were fielded by both sides, especially the confederacy, where camouflage certainly would be useful and large formations were avoided.
@@virileagitur7403Indeed. But they were small in numbers compared to the main forces, and didn't sway the outcome of battles. Useful for harassment and raiding.
@@raftai665 they definitely effected battles & troop movements a great deal.
Read Napoleon's thoughts on skirmishers.
@@gratefulguy4130 The napoleonic wars was a different era than the ACW. By the mid 19th century the distinctions between the light and regular infantry (and cavalry) was beginning to fade away. As every infantryman became a skirmisher, and all cavalry 'dragoons'.
There's a huge difference between a infantryman in 1815 vs 1860s.
@@gratefulguy4130Yeah and the same Napoleon had light infantry running around in pretty dazzling uniforms.
I live in Aberdeen, Scotland. A woollen mill in the 19 century produced cloth for both the Confederate and Union armies.
Scotland huh? Bless you brother.. until we meet again in Paradise,fam.. and youre right. The only problems with that is the north would deliberately send infected cloth (pox etc) or something that would cause problems. They would also send one size lol But this is another reason why if you find something that was from the confederate side,it’s worth 10 times the amount.
Do you know your birthright? Do you know where our bloodlines come from or who you actually are? I ask because here in the states we actually have ppl saying they are “black Hebrew Israelites” when we KNOW there was never no such thing. People don’t even mention the racial purity stuff in Genesis lol.. The tribes that had to escape persecution settled a land that’s now known as Europe and then went to settle what’s known today as United States and Canada,even South Africa. We are Gods chosen. Not just the few. 😉
That butternut brown looks sharp.
Actually, rebs didn't just use grey,they use any color due to lacks of supply
And some wore grey lol
Yeah…he touched on that in the last half of the short. Did you not watch it all? Lol
@@elisigmon5505some federal troops wore grey too.
@@DucdeOrlean more confederates wore grey and for longer than federal troops. Most northern soldiers who wore grey were members of state militia, or USMA Cadets (kind of soldiers).
Wow . Just like it literally says in the video.
even British/Canadian militia uniforms were Grey red being used for regular troops
States' rights was NEVER an issue during the Civil War. The first time that this was even mentioned was in the 1880s when Southern revisionist historians finally decided that maybe slavery wasn't such a good thing after all so for the sake of history, we'd better come up with something to whitewash the whole affair so we don't look as bad as we really were. The cause of the Civil War was the right to own slaves, pure and simple. It was written in the Confederacy's constitution and printed on their money. The Confederate vice president even wrote this in correspondence. To say that the gray of the Confederate uniforms was a nod to states' rights is not only false and inaccurate, but downright ridiculous on its face. They wore gray when they had gray, they wore British gray when they had British gray, and they wore butternut when they had butternut. It was as simple as that.
Thanks for the info. Makes alot of sense.
State's rights... To own slaves.
You uh, forgot that last part. That's a pretty important part.
Yes, all the states in the North allowed owning slaves. New York City even went into revolt because the people didn’t want to fight.
YT people are gonna YT.
@@thecollector6746
I blame public school.
@@matthew8153 "I blame the Right Wing assault on Public Education"
Regardless of your moral objections to the subject, it is still a question of the states rights to self determination and how much of that they should be expected to surrender to the federal government. The end result of the civil war was an expansion of Federal Authority and considering that the other major change was the integration of a few million perpetual dissidents I’d be willing to say that the CSA had a point. I don’t think anyone likes how the Fed operates, right or left. The reasons might be different, but both sides don’t really like the Federal Government for their own unique reasons.
Also a fun fact:
Since the confederacy still considered themselves to hold the original ideals of the founding fathers, they still used the American flag for the army.
This proved confusing on the battlefield so they began the long road to picking a national and battle flag.
This information is incorrect. Among pre-Civil War state militia units, gray uniforms were as common in the Northern & Western states as blue was in the Southern states. The shades of gray ran the gamut from dust gray to a very dark steel gray just as the shades of blue ran from the sky blue of Union trowsers, Mexican War, Kentucky State Guard uniforms to the dark blue of most mid to late war Union uniforms. However, by late 1862, the Union Blockade had stopped most foreign dye stuffs & gray cloth from getting to the South so the common color of Southern uniforms was "butternut" the dye made from certain tree nut husks & copperas. The Union soldiers even referred to Confederate soldiers as butternuts. This information can be confirmed by reading Arms & Equipment of the Confederacy or many of the ACW books from Osprey Publishing.
You didn't watch or listen to this at all...
I’m with the other comment u clearly didn’t listen cause he literally never once says the grey was only a southern thing. He said that local militias in the US work grey so it was associated with local forces across the country which the south used to play onto the states rights thing
watch the video before you comment you pompous douchebag.
Lol. Tell me you didn't watch the video fully without telling me you didn't watch the video fully. Tried to be a smartass but now you just look like an idiot.
Its simply not correct that the blockade became effective in 1862.
The csa imported huge quantities of blue cloth, cartridges, firearms and other military equipment from the UK until late 1864.
When Longstreets corp was send west in late 1863, they where all wearing uniforms made from British made blue cloth,.
It's worth noting, British gray is often chosen for three piece suits being handmade in London to this very day
I know this is a controversial thing to say, especially on this forum, but after hearing about how the confederates dyed whatever they could find which made that unique butternut color, I am willing to state, butternut is my favorite kind of doughnut.
fun fact, towards the later parts of the war, they ran out of grey and used a cheaper grey dye which overtime turned pink
Surely you jest , sir 🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🦗
They were just Pride Confederates
The hell you say. 🌈
they were then fabulous
Source????
My perfered Butternut Gray myself.
At 1st Bullrun aka 1st Manassas it was difficult to tell what side was what due to the mix of uniforms of militia and regulars. Many rebel units had confiscated federal stores to supply themselves with.
Aye.
There was a small incident as part of the battle where a rebel cavalry unit was able to make a frontal charge on Union infantry. The infantry didn’t realize they were being attacked until it was too late.
States' rights was not a core belief of the Confederacy. The Confederate Constitution was much more restrictive over the question of slavery in its states than the US Constitution was. The Confederate Constitution prevented states from banning slavery on their own while the US Constitution left that question up to the states and itself did not prescribe a particular way of administering slavery in the territories.
Likewise, two of the main grievances of seceeding states was that 1) the election of Lincoln signaled a hardline stance against expansion of slavery into the territories (not a state's right to administer slavery within its own borders) and 2) Free state authorities refused to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act (i.e. Slave states wanted to force Free states to use state resources to enforce Federal law, something our country took a dim view to then and all the way up to Printz v. U.S. today).
If Lincoln wanted to end Slavery, he would have accepted the Confederacy’s Compromise, which would have ended Slavery in the South in exchange for The Union pulling their Forces out of the Confederate States. A peaceful Solution to avoid bloodshed.
Lincoln responded by Reinforcing Fort Sumpter and Blockading the Harbor, against the advice of his Military and political advisors…
Lincoln chose War over the South Seceding, which they had every lawful right to do.
Everyone Outside of the United States Learned of this, because we kept tabs on the political goings on during that time.
‘The war to end slavery” is a Post War American Myth, to Justify an unjust war.
I get what you're saying, but just because the CSA didn't adhere to it doesn't mean that 'states rights' wasn't a core belief of the south in general. Total war generally requires, or justifies, at least in the minds of politicians, a degree of totalitarianism. Look at what happened to the Japanese Americans during FDR's administration.
"States' Rights" is really just a softer way to say they wanted to own slaves, it's just to make them look better, and it worked for a very very long time.. The Lost Cause is unfortunately still alive..
Wrong. The war was mostly about the north destroying the southern economy with taxes and tariffs. Slavery was just a propaganda tool that helped recruit 250k black soldiers for the north which in turn just made things worse in the end
It was a confederation with weak federal authority. State governments withdrew their own military units in the confederacy in some cases.
I thought they wore Grey to express their cold depraved hearts to fight for such a reprehensible cause
It was also good camouflage, but they weren’t thinking about that usually
No it was not. How are you using camo in line formation combat and shooting muskets?
@@communism_is_wrong7167not only that but gray dosent break up the human shape
@@dogguy8603 army UCP is the opposite of camouflage, I don’t know why the army thought gray and grayish green was good in Afghanistan. It silhouettes you so bad.
I always thought it was interesting how by the start of the war, there was a semblance of uniform code, at least in certain pictures and depictions vs. the last few years of the war they became more ragtag from logistical issues
At the beginning both sides wore blue and gray mostly in local militia units This created much confusion on the battlefield in 1861 and early 1862 finally both sides adopted their formal colors of blue and gray
Regulated grey fell out of service rather quickly. While it continued to be produced and supplied throughout the war, it was replaced gradually with more browns. South Carolina did have a few units which kept standard issue Grey Frock coats (some even still had the blue trim and cuff) as long as 1863 thanks to being able to import from Charleston which wasn’t seized until very late in the war. That was also the reason EAC (English Army Cloth) and private contract sky blues were so common in the East.
Rather have colors in the fields than in the uniform
It was to hide the dust on the uniforms, and it fool me. ~ Tuco
Interesting video indeed. Honestly I always found the Confederate uniforms, ar least the officers, more elegant than those of the Unions!
the grey uniforms we see in the movies are, the true color was more a less elegant butternut in most cases.
@@ulrichkalber9039 thanks for the info 👍
Most Southerners wore what was available of course but they carried it off with a certain panache that was lacking in the boring, boilerplate blue of the yankee soldiers.
@panthercreek60 thanks for replying as you have stated far better than I would 👍👍
Glad they looked elegant when their traitor asses painted a wall
There was also other colors such as richmond blue, there were many variations of CS uniform in the civil war
Germans discovered that pink was great color for aircraft camouflage but rarely used it . American AF rejected the idea with one general saying he would be damned if he was going to have his planes colored pink
Gray was a very American color and used by West Point and other military academies prior to the Civil War. You will find countless paintings depicting American military cadets and officers in gray going back to the 1700's. So just as good a question is why did the Union pick blue? In reality, both colors are traditional for American uniforms. And as many others have commented, the home spun uniforms of various local regiments on both sides were a variety of colors, sometimes leading to tragic confusion.
Cause Big Daddy Warbucks got money and ol’ Jeff Davis don’t
For "States Rights" read "Slavery".
Public school?
@@matthew8153 Strange leap of intuition there, and could hardly be further from the ancient reality.
Just an elderly lefty trolling the sneaky rewrite fibbers of history🤗
@@matthew8153 we can't all be brainwashed by mommy and daddy now
@@matthew8153"Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and moral condition"-confederate vice president alexander h. stephens.
@@jackieking1522if you're an elderly lefty, at least we won't have to put up with you much longer.
I heard one of the first civil war skirmishes everyone was in the same color uniform and most casualties were friendly fire.
At Bull Run, many of the Southern militias wore the same blue as the Northern regiments. Standardized uniform practices were somewhat thrown out the window in the Civil War.
Many of the Confederate soldiers wore whatever was available. Captured union blues were commonly used. Most of these men were poor folks.
R.I.P Robert E Lee and thank you for your service.
Yes, thank you for your cervix General lee!
Man did so much to help the Union win by losing at Gettysburg and getting pummeled by Ulysses S Grant!
@@warlordofbritannia I love that you have soooo much knowledge on warfare and history
@@PartizaniEditz192
Lee was no Braxton Bragg, of course.
@@warlordofbritannia both were great generals
The first unit I joined was 8th VA "Butternut" He had hospital living history tent set up for amputation. Even though it was store bought meat with a big bone being sawed through it was quite intense! Thanks for sharing and bringing back memories form 34+y ago when I was filling in.(fife player until I turned 16) then I had .577cal Enfield musket Thank you for video, accurate.
Coincidentally in the seventies
I played football for a team with blue grey colors
Gray is simply the best, I would also use gray. Gray also combines lots of colours (not that fitting in that regard to the CSA). I think it symbolises unity more, than any other colour. It also happens to be my favourite colour. Gray will standout in most environments, which are not urban, however it will not standout exceptionally in any of them. Like a pure white in woodland or woodland-like camo in the snow. Gray is the average. But it is the best at being average.
The CSA Defacto colour ended up being “butternut”, because that was the colour of the clothes they could get and the patches they sewed.
Because it looked awesome.
You mentioned in passing that state militias wore gray. Initially the Confederate Army consisted mostly of State militia troops who wore gray and the Union forces were primarily Regular Army units in blue.
However, at the First Battle of Bull Run, this hadn't been formalized on either side. Some New York militia troops fought with the Union, but wore gray and were fired on by other Union troops during this very confusing battle. Similarly, a few Confederate troops wore blue, also causing confusion.
After the battle, the colors were sorted out with each side picking the majority colors of Gray for the South and Blue for the North. Eventually, some Southern units wore Butternut, which was just the color of undyed homemade wool or cotton.
i heard they were mostly butternut. mostly homemade.
Love the South 💪
Part of the reason Antietam was such a bloody and costly battle, was due to both sides using grey and blue uniforms. So mistakes were made in recognizing friend from foe, and both sides took heavy casualties in part due to the similarities in uniforms worn.
Maybe black and white photos made things look grey?
Very cool.
the Gray uniforms were made from Logwood Dye or Sumac Jean Wool, with Logwood dye being the most common
Logwood after a month of sun exposure turned into a Tan/Brown color which is how people got the term”Butternut”
July 1863 you start seeing the amount of English Army Cloth sky rocket in the Eastern Theater but you don’t see it in mass till the Fall of 63
Western Theater stuck to Logwood/Sumac Dyed Jean wool for the entire war
The “Homespun” uniforms disappeared after the summer of 1862 when the Depot system took over and had everyone pretty much uniformed
Many people claims that grey is good for camo but this was the time when soldiers(beside for skrimishers) fought in lines. The Prussians themselves used "Prussian blue" for their uniform and only later when line formation got outdated they adopted "Field grey".
Some of the northern states also wore grey at the start of the war which caused much confusion with at one battle were fired on by their own side.
When it comes to armies of the past and why they dressed a certain way it’s always because it was the most available material or cheapest to produce!😊
With the notable except of the English, they chose red to prevent anyone on the battlefield knowing an officer was bleeding.
Edit: spelling
@@matthew8153funny joke but when the NMA was founded, scarlet was actually the cheapest cloth available to them and thus the tradition was born
@@matthew8153that's a myth. There were many reasons they wore red, and that wasn't one of them. You can clearly see blood in a red uniform, the blood is an entirely different shade of red and is impossible to miss. However, red actually makes a surprisingly good camouflage in woodland foliage. Though this was probably not a reason the color was initially adopted, it definitely came in handy.
states rights to own slaves* fixed it
Fun fact, the grey color was primarily achieved by boiling poison sumack in an iron pot. The butternut color was also poison sumack but boiled in a copper pot
what was on hand ... sounds like the German SA or "Brown Shirts". Apparently, their brown uniforms were surplus of their African troops available after WW1 ... which they picked up at a good price!
RICH MEN'S WAR, POOR MEN'S FIGHT . RICH MEN wanted slavery, the POOR MEN fought for their land,rights, and their fellow soldiers.
It was mostly officer who wore gray. Because most of the south's officers were West Point grads or cadets at the time the war started. They just carried them over. Enlisted men wore most anything they could get, mostly butternut in color.
650,000 people died during the Civil War,a civil war is the worst kind of war to wage,brothers and neighbors killing each other.Soldiers and neighbors harbering ill will and hatred for each other long after the war ended.A whole generation gone in less than a decade,a large chunk of the work force gone also,thus this also effects birth-rates too.
Ryan with the voice over work! Great video!
Based good ol boys 😁
Excellent brief explanation!
Fun Fact: It was Russia who saved The Union during the American Civil War as they sent their Navy to San Francisco and New York when England and France were just about to enter the war on the side of the Confederates since London created the Confederates. France was already in Mexico making a spear head movement to resupply the Confederates and to open up a Pacific Theatre and create a port in California. England already amassed 11,000 troops stationed at their Northern Confederacies border now called Canada ready to open a Northern Theatre then to attack The Unions naval blockade. The Union would have been completely destroyed and annexed by those two great powers leaving the Confederates to exist as a puppet state of London.
Tsar Alexander wrote a letter to Queen Victoria saying “If you enter in this war it will be a casus belli for all out war with the Russian Empire”. The stage was set for the 1st World War and Russia stopped it.
Lol British navy would have crushed the Russians with ease and did so I guess you ignorant of Crimean war which Russia lost in 1853 to 1856.
British Navy the greatest and much larger than any other power.
British were anti slavery and in the process of forcing countries to ban slavery and intercepting slave ships.
The south hoped that the British would support them only because the British cotton mills needed Southern Cotton but the British found and made other Sources.
Irony British would have ended slavery in US by mid 1880’s like they did in rest of Americas. US could not stop a British Blockade.
That’s…an interesting thesis. Utterly exaggerated, of course but there’s a kernel of truth-Russia was pro-Union all along while France was pretty obviously rooting for the rebs. Britain was divided between getting involved to help stunt a potential rival or not fighting for slavery; eventually they took a hands-off approach, turning a blind eye to Confederate ships being built in their ports but otherwise refusing to even acknowledge the rebels.
Hey fun fact. The main cause of the civil war was slavery! And the south lost.
Good when it’s smoky or foggy
Federals had grey on too at the start of the war too.
I mean most of the csa’s army consisted of poor farm boys. They didn’t have any money to purchase a uniform so all they had to do was get a light colored jacket and put a little bit of ink in a pot of boiling water and dye it to a grey or brown.
And since they were a rebellion uniforms didn’t really matter as long as they weren’t blue. Which they quickly discovered at the first battle of Bull Run.
Yeah, the fieldcraft of the Southern army was FAR better than the US at the start of the war, due to the necessities of life in the South. The CSA was beaten by the same thing that undid Germany in WW2. The superior production lines of the US. The respective armies' premier precision rifle is a microcosm of this, and stands as a stark comparison of each side's supply capabilities. The US had an entire unit of snipers, with their own colors and livery, Berdan's Sharpshooters, using the advanced, breech loading Sharps Rifle. The CSA, on the other hand had no specialized gun maker that could approach the level of precision offered by the Sharps, and instead purchased the octagonal bore Whitworth Rifles from England. It is estimated that of the 250 precision rifles purchased by the CSA, less than half made it into the hands of Southern Marksmen.
@@LarsonPetty South fully understood that they would loose a war of attrition. The problem was that they based every single aspect of the war on “what ifs”.
Well what IF the British or French joined our cause? What IF we could break the naval blockade and trade with foreign nations, What IF we won a decisive battle and threatened DC to negotiate a peace treaty, What IF Lincoln lost the election to Mclellin.
They had all of these senerios that the US government was easily able to out maneuver.
Foreign governments are looking to trade/join the confederacy? Well let’s make the war about ending slavery, Oh the confederates are building up a navy to destroy the blockade? Build ironclads, Oh the Confederates are at Gettysburg? Dig in and hold your ground until they do something catastrophic(spoiler alert it didn’t take too long)
Perhaps this bought them time and allowed the war to go on as long as it did but no matter what happened they would never and could never win.
@@Aviator-Chicken Yeah, it's commendable that the CSA was able to hold out as long as they did, especially given the weak production/supply chain issues. My own personal "what if" deals with the fictional scenario that might have seen the CSA topple the USA, had the superior production capability belonged to the South, with it's generally superior woodsmen and trackers. However, that itself throws the equation askew, as the lack of education/employment/resources/readily available necessary goods are what molded the Southern male into such accomplished outdoorsmen. Without the deprivation, there would've been no need to develop such skills.
I look back on those years as some of the most shameful in our nation's history. That we could be so cruel to our own countrymen as to perpetrate such awful crimes against those that would've been called brother, just a few short years before. I've always been so grateful that our country was able to pull itself back from the brink of destruction and I was so sure that this could never again occur. Sadly, it feels like we are once again circling the drain, only this time it feels as though very few are fighting the current of the maelstrom, and in fact many are paddling headlong toward the abyss, with many calling for Civil War 2.0. The fact that saddens me the most is that it only took twenty years to dismantle the unity that our countrymen had with each other following 9/11.
States rights to do what?
Some of their uniforms look so good
That all makes sense. Thanks for clarifying.
The reason they wore grey because if you boil federal blue uniforms they turn grey
Now answer why Lincoln locked up political opponents and the press?
“Political opponents”: Pro-confederate politicians were locked up as they were seditious elements. Also, the Union still had an election which Lincoln nearly lost had it not been for Grant and Sherman scoring victories.
“The Press”: Pro-Confederate newspapers were shut down as, again, they were seditious elements much like the politicians.
In short, he locked up seditious pro-confederate elements in the Union to prevent any internal sabotage. Was it tyrannical? Yes. Was it necessary? Absolutely.
When you’re a wartime leader, the last thing you need is internal seditious elements hindering your country’s war effort.
I really like the CSA officer uniforms, the golden sleeve braids ( Austrian knot I believe ) and the rank pips/bars/star on the colar, it is more rich than the Union counterpars. However the shoulderstraps with insignia are also cool, especially the Eagle colonels rank. Even today US armed forces the full-colonels rank is with the Eagle. Generals have stars but I like the Eagle more :)
Seems like the answer in history is usually "it's what they had"
Whatever side you look at, both looked snazzy. I like Confederate uniforms a lot too because it really showed a bit of that soldier's personality being no two soldiers looked 100% identical in every regiment.
A State's Right to do what, exactly?
Yeah, slavery. Don't get confused. It was a State's Right to be a Free State or a Slaveholding State.
Actually many companies didn't just wear grey. The variation was quite considerable, some wearing blues, some green or red, and some like the zuaves wearing what can only be described as baggy striped pyjamas with a Turkish themed hat and top coat.
States rights, except in the case of the fugitive slave act, where the federal government forced northern states to hand over slaves to the south.
States' right to what exactly?
To continue the institution of slavery and right to secede from the Union (the latter of which is still not fully settled from a constitutional perspective).
To fiddle their sisters like they do today
@@calcaleb7041to be honest, I feel your answer is more correct than the actual answer in the first reply
Holding the floodgates closed from civilization
I doubt that states' rights were actually one of their main beliefs
The logical follow up question would be: "States rights to what?" lol
It was. Just depends of what states rights we’re talking about
States rights to own slaves not to mention the cultural differences of loyalty to the nation vs loyalty to the state
@@OldUncleDan that last bit is often understated I think in current talk on the subject.,
In truth both couldn't care less about the rights but much more about economics...
They should have worn white to make it easier for them to surrender
A little known fact is that units on both sides wore the same uniforms in the first battle of Bull Run
They looked magnificent!
So did Nazis. Scumbags the lot of them.
*like shit.
States rights was a core belief of the confederacy AFTER the Civil War. All but three of the states specifically mentioned slavery as the cause of secession in their Articles of Secession.
And yet Florida didn’t even allow slavery. The real cause for the war was the north forcing legislation through congress to ban exports of cotton and sugar. By only being allowed to sell domestically this was planned to ruin the South’s economy.
@@matthew8153Half of Flordias population were slaves in 1845 until 1865.
@@notjimmy6822
Don’t know where you got that false information.
@@matthew8153 Census data. IDK where you got the idea that Flordia abolished slavery lol.
They wore blue at Antietam. They hadn't even had a chance to make their own uniforms yet.
Stonewall Jackson wore his blue uniform from the Mexican American war, but because his men were worried they pitched together to him a grey uniform and he then got accidentally shot by his own men in battle.
Well to be fair what color he was wearing during he was shot doesn't matter. It was late and pitch black dark. Hard to identify he was wearing blue or grey.
❤ CSA
local forces defending "state rights"
States rights to what exactly
Slavery 🤷♂️
Don't know don't care it's about the uniforms not politics
States rights to grow cotton without being taxed to death at the ports and textile mills controlled by the northern elites and federal government.
Ahh yes another public school indoctrinated fool running their ignorant mouth in the comment section 😂
I know it's not relate to here but american civil war was the first war using trenches extensively, and people tend to ask "why european countries didn't learn from American civil war trench system ? " because 5 years later 2 super power clashed Franco-prussian war and we all know prussia wiped the floor with the frenches and everyone thought the same as a manuver war not a trench however they studied the trench warfare such as russo-japanese war
Trenches had been used for centuries in europe. The 80 years war in the late 1500's and early 1600's consisted almost entirely of sieges with extensive trench networks.
The napoleonic wars also saw extensive trench networks during sieges, the lines of torres vedras also had trenches.
Even the franco-prussian war had trenches during the siege of Metz and later the siege of Paris.
There's a reason the first thing the both sides in WW1 did when forced on the defensive was to start digging.
They still have them in use at Norwich University. My uncle was the CO of it.
A fellow norwichite. Uniform goes between White, Pale Blue, and Black for dress. More styled towards 1812 uniforms though, due to Alden Partridge studied in that time frame.
Little known fact: the stars and bars was the very first Official Participation Trophy in US history.
Thanks for playing, and thank you for your cervix!
Cervix?
@@major_kukri2430 heh
@@LongJohnLiver I don't get the joke lol
For those saying states rights to what: States rights to have a 10th amendment. It was a separation of powers issue to federally end slavery. Anyone who thinks otherwise will have to explain why Lee freed his slaves before the war but fought for the Confederacy. His stated reason was the federal abolition of slavery was an expansion of the federal government that wasn't acceptable.
So you agree he fought to stop the government from abolishing slavery? Gee, what a great guy
@@patrickrowan6001 that's what he himself would have told you. Because you have an expansion of federal government power which is unlawful if it's done by the federal government and not the states. Then when you oppose that dumb people like you go "oh he wants to stop people from abolishing slavery he must like slavery" that's the propaganda trick Lincoln pulled. The southerners didn't agree with the way it was being abolished. And Lee again freed his slaves and advocated that the states abolish it themselves.
@@patrickrowan6001there were a lot of tax reasons and federal overreach. Back then the south paid the vast majority of taxes while having no representation so the south wanted to be their own country and the north wanted to keep the tax money. Slavery was a minor issue that was focused on afterwards to make killing 2% of the American population justified
Always good to find a guy who thinks “tax overreaches” (by a government wealthy white southern landowners absolutely were represented in, come on now) is a crime against nature but slavery is at worst a necessary evil and not a big deal
@@patrickrowan6001 No he just thought that people would free their own slaves as he did and then states would make it illegal themselves because public opinion was shifting against it so ending it federally was an unconstitutional power grab that would permanently destroy states rights in America. And he was right; read the 10th amendment and tell me if that's how the USA works.
Another interesting fact I learned while touring the museums of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was that later in the war, the shoes (they weren't really boots) of the Southern soldiers were made to fit on either foot. If you looked at the sole of the shoe, it resembled the outline of a spoon.
Since everything was hard to come by late in the war, especially for the South, they had to do what they could to keep the army moving
What color uniform were the confederate sailors wearing?