Picture taken at Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitors Center by Julie Youde

          The Union’s uniforms were much like the Confederate’s.  The Union’s uniforms were adapted and worn in honor of the Cameron Highlanders.  The Union’s uniforms were blue.  The Confederate’s were gray.  That is where the northern and the southern states got their nicknames of “Blue and Gray”.

          Now the hats of the Union’s uniforms were blue to match the coat and pants.  The top of the hat was black leather and the visor and a stripe on the bottom of the hat was also black leather.  There was usually a brass design on the front that varied depending on the rank.  The main design was either an eagle or an “A” in a circle with spikes coming out and crossed overhead.  The tops either had a feather or red or white wool.

          The coats were blue and had gold buttons all up and down the front in lines.  They had black streaks stretching from button to button.  They had on white collars and tails on the coats.  The pants were usually blue and had some white streaks down the side.  If they had white pants they wouldn’t have any designs.  Some soldiers had to wear their everyday pants, because the army didn’t have enough whole uniforms to go around. 

          The shoes varied more than any other part of the uniform. The officers would usually wear tall black boots.  The militia would wear brown shoes, clogs.  Anything they could find to keep their feet warm.  Sometimes the soldiers had to go bare foot.

          The officers dressed about the same as the rest of the army.  The uniforms were cleaner because the officers got to clean them every once in a while, since they had more privileges.  They had different colored sashes to show their rank.  Some colors were gold, red, and green.  The officers were, as you can see, a little fancier with these things and also with simple designs on the sleeves.