GHQ Models Forums

New to ACW gaming and have jumped in with both feet using GHQ 10mm Micro-Force. I recently purchased a CSA Battle Command set and have a question.

There seems to be a 50/50 mix of slouch hat and forage cap infantry (haven't acutally counted). Do they base togethor or seperately?

From all the pictures I have seen it seems like they are based seperately. EIther one or the other. Do I neet to keep them in seperate regiments?

Thanks,

Steve

Hi Cav Scout

For the Confederates, especially, and also to some extent for the Union, you could mix these together with no problems. It also depends on some other factors such as region and period.
It is my observation that for the Confederates, forage hats or kepis were more common during the early war period and in some cases whole regiments were outfitted in a particular uniform with forage hats. Later, as things wore out and probably for practical purposes as well, slouch hats became far more common although there were individuals still sporting forage hats and maybe even the occasional "Blucher Hat" from the Mexican War era. When I do my Confederates, I will base them with a mix of forage caps and slouch hats unless I am doing a particular regiment that was outfitted in a particular way such as Zouaves etc.
For the Union the most common type in the Eastern Theater was the standard uniform of dark blue coats, usually the frock type as opposed to shell jackets, and forage caps. The major exceptions were the Iron Brigade and of course various Zouave units. There were some soldiers with slouch hats I'm sure but not sure how common this was in the East.
In the Western Theater, slouch hats were much more common but I don't really know what percentage of troops were wearing these as opposed to the standard forage hats. It may have increased as the war went on as per the Confederates and there may have been whole units in slouch hats late in the war. I'm not sure how many Zouave units the Union used in the west. From what I can gather, most Zouave units were in the East and many of these changed over to standard uniforms as the old flashy, less practical ones wore out since the Zouave uniforms were not standard Federal issue but issued by the state or in many cases the locality where the troops came from.

Basically, how you decide to base your ACW troops is your call. If doing a generic Union or Confederate unit then what I have described should be OK. If doing a specific unit for a specific theater and time frame, then some more research may be required. There are many sources out there which are available to do this but even then there may be a bit of guesswork involved as in anything else.
I'm sure there are others such as ACW Bill that know more than I do who can add their knowledge here.

Pete - Binpicker, Out!

To answer the most important question first, it is certainly OK to mix both slouch hats and Kepis (CS) or Slouch Hats and Forage Caps (US). The question is by theatre and year. Here is a rule I follow which is not scientifically proven but seems right based on thousands of photos I have studied.

PCT US East........US West............. CS East.........CS West
................FC/SL ........ FC/SL............. Kep/SL ............. Kep/SL
1861......80/ 20....... 60/40............. 50/50............. 20/ 80
1862___70/ 30...... 50/50 .............40/ 60............. 20/80
1863___60/40 ...... 40/60 ............. 30/70 ............. 10/90
1864-65__60/40...... 30/ 70 .............30/70 ............. 10/90

FC = US Forage Caps
SL= Slouch Hats of all sorts
Kepi = CS Style Kepi also heavily used by US Arty

In the east in 1864 the US began turning their Heavy Artillery units into infantry so you will see an influx of Kepis (worn by US arty units) and Hardee hats which had all but disappeared from union infantry units by then. In the western theatre, the only CS figures I have in Kepis by 1864 are officers and musicians. A good general rule is the later in the war, the more slouch hats for both sides. Also, the further west, the more slouch hats for both sides. For Cavalry, almost all my CS figs are wearing slouch hats from the start of the war. US Cav makes the same sort of transition as the infantry. As far as the Union Sack coat, it is by 1862 the most common Union garb in both theatres. The long frock coat became rarer in Union service as the years went by. There should always be a smattering of frocks in CS service, never many. There were alot at Manassas but as they wore out they were slowly replaced by the depot produced shell jackets on the CS side. US Cav and arty wore shell jackets save for heavy arty units which wore frocks. CS frock coats should be butternut by 1862 due the propensity of these coats which were homespun of jeancloth. I sincerely hope this helps.

B

Pete and B thanks for the responses!

B you really put some effort into your projects! Thanks this info will help.

Now I just need to decide which year I want to model

Scouts out!