Several of these images appear in vibrant color as well. Though most of these regulations focused on officers, paragraphs also exist covering the uniform requirements of petty officers and lower ranking crewmembers, including “gray cloth jackets and trousers” to match those of their commanders (p 60).īesides printing the specific text of these uniform regulations, Harwell’s work also includes imagery plates showcasing what these uniforms would look like, with special plates devoted to badges of rank worn on shoulders, caps, and cuffs. Special notations and distinctions were made for officers’ coats, hats, vests, and pants, as well as specifics for buttons and less frequently worn garments. Famously, Confederate naval officers were prescribed to wear “a frock coat of steel gray cloth,” something many officers resented because it went away from the traditional navy blue coats most sea officers worldwide wore at the time (p 59). These Confederate naval uniform regulations are almost wholly devoted to the appearance of uniforms for commissioned and warrant officers. This small book contains the uniform regulations of both services, and even within this, there are only two pages of text devoted to the Confederate Navy. In 1960, Richard Harwell edited and reprinted the Uniform and Dress of the Army and Navy of the Confederate States of America (click here to download). Though finding original copies of these regulations is nearly impossible, more recent reprints are available online. Regarding uniform regulations and requirements, the Confederate Navy issued a circular at the start of the war outlining the look, presentation, and appearance of its uniforms. The Confederate Navy however, existed for only a few years and, as a result, publications of Confederate naval regulations are more limited. is fairly widespread, as the organization published, and continues to publish extensively. The Confederacy, though creating a naval service along with a country, reflected those decades of knowledge within their own uniform regulations, which often mimicked their Union counterparts.ĭocumentation of naval regulation for the U.S. Navy had the benefit of decades of activity to tailor their uniforms appropriately. Uniforms sailors wore daily typically helped them in the performance of their duties, whether it was a kerchief that could be used as an impromptu tourniquet, or open-legged pantaloons that allowed for free movement across a crowded and swaying deck. In the naval service, uniforms are both a formalized sign of rank and position, as well as utilitarian.

Civil war navy enlisted uniform