French manuals dealing with Zouave turbans?

[FranklinGuardsNYSM]

Greetings -

I wish to take advantage of the relaxed restrictions on other eras, and hope this passes, as it relates directly to our period.

Does anyone have any insight on French military manuals containing any special instructions for preparing the turbans in zouave regiments (particularly those post-war manuals that might have those nifty instructional photos?)

The American zouave regiments seemed to be somewhat less traditional in their methods of wearing turbans (a point corroborated by European observers) and a few folds and wraps were it. However, the 114th PA as a bit more strict, and wore their (striped) turbans in a very particular manner, involving TIGHTLY rolling them. We've tried a whole body of experiments, using turbans of different dimensions (based on known French examples), trying to replicate the end result of a striped "sausage coil," but nothing is working definitively. It almost seems like one of those "trade secrets" that is passed on through tradition (there were quite a few European recruits in the 114th who may have said "hey, guys, THIS is how we do it over there") but I'm curious if any French military experts know of a source in which it's explained. Accounts talk about this being a several-person job, and this one postcard ALMOST provides the answer...

Please Note: There has not been a change with what time periods are to be discussed here. There was a poll to gauge interest in the possibility only. There is some more latitude in the Sinks but not elsewhere. Since this is searching for sources to improve on a Civil War era impression lets see what is out there with keeping the discussion moving in that direction.

Thanks, Jeremy. Of course, I only post this question because of the international visitors to our forum who might have this information, which is key to an accurate CW impression for this particular unit, in sources not readily available to me. For further clarity, I include some samples of the 114th PA from their 1864 photo session to illustrate their turban rolls:

[Phil McBride]

Re: French manuals dealing with Zouave turbans?

I expect this photo will not help, but it is pure French. It is a mannequin in an 1860's Zouave uniform in the French National Military Museum in Paris. I took the photo in 2010. You can see the turban is not a sausage roll, but does cross in the front and back.

I took particular interest in the mannequin and the turban since our outfit portrays the 165th NY during their two campaigns in Louisiana in '63 and '64. In fact this very weekend we will put on the pantaloons and fezzes at the 150th anniversary reenactment on the actual ground at Mansfield, Louisiana.

[erik]

Re: French manuals dealing with Zouave turbans?

Perhaps you might pose this question on the website of the 18me de Ligne,18edelignesecond... which is a Second Empire reenactment group in France.
They have bundles of information on French Army practices anti bellum and wartime as well.
Look for Paco faite le Zouave he is a mod.
The site is very like the AC and many members are also on the AC.

Erik Simundson

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Sorry, forgot to add that they have an English translation feature which is helpful if your French is poor.
They generally respond in English.

Erik Simundson