Alan J. Pitts
Uniforms ....(?) ....
Tue May 8 18:03:27 2001


Company "A" was the "Clanton Rifles". Company names became less frequent towards the end of the war. For obvious reasons enthusiasm about going to war was lower than it had been when the war began. Of course most of the good names had already been used, and companies recruited in this time had less local identity than ones raised earlier. For all these reasons (and perhaps others), I don't believe there ever was another name for this company.

As far as uniforms, the clothing worn by veterans in the field appears to have been anything but uniform. There were regular uniform issues to certain bodies of troops from time to time which have been discussed on this board. For the most part, Fremantle's comments about Confederate soldiers preferring to wear clothing from home were probably accurate. Our reenactor friends are more qualified to speak on this point, so I'll defer to them.

Before passing the topic to someone else, I'll offer a description of Confederate soldiers on the march which appeals to me:

"Old men and young boys, rich planters on blooded horses and Negro laborers on foot; farmers and clerks; grizzled hunters and tough keelboat men; prosperous merchants and plain backwoodsmen.... Some wore black, full citizen's clothes, with beaver hats and frock coats; some in drab; some in gray, blue and streaked, some in red shirts, pants and high top boots; some in the old-fashioned militia uniforms of their forefathers." On they came, glutting narrow roads, overflowing into the forest; undulating, talking in smooth drawls or emitting shrill, terrifying cries -- "as strangley assorted and colorful an army as ever human eye rested upon."

How's that for diversity? This is a description of troops who marched with the "Army of the West" under Van Dorn and Sterling Price just prior to battles of Iuka and Corinth, September 1862. It appears in William M. Lammers, "The Edge of Glory; A Biography of General William S. Rosecrans, U.S.A., p. 100.