An account of a soldier in the wrong color.

[Steve Acker]

From the Richmond Dispatch, 8/1/1862, p. 1, c. 5
In the Wrong Clothes. – Detective J. W. Goodrick arrested yesterday, on Main street, a man clothed in a complete Yankee uniform, the knapsack denoting the fact that the owner belonged to the "10th Mass. Vols." On being accosted, the man pulled out a passport, by which it appeared he was a member of a Georgia regiment, in search of the Transportation office. He said he had captured the clothes in battle, and being better than his own, he had put them on. The officer let him go, but advised him to procure another suit as soon as possible.
SOURCE:http://www.mdgorman.com/Written_Acco..._8_1_18625.htm

Steve Acker

http://civilwartangents.blogspot.com/

[FranklinGuardsNYSM]

Re: An account of a soldier in the wrong color.

I'm interested in how often this sort of thing happened, in one way or another. Mr. Wickersty refers to an account of a Confederate who hailed from South Jersey being able to make it home at some point during the war, and walking around in his uniform without a problem.

[GreencoatCross]

Re: An account of a soldier in the wrong color.

Here's a few accounts from "The Civil War Diary of Wyman S. White" who served with Company F, 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters.

"UNION SPY...While we were stopping in the camp near Upperville, I was on picket near a Michigan regiment and a mounted man in Rebel uniform came up to the picket near me and showed a pass from General Meade, to pass our lines at any time and all times, and he inquired for the Michigan regiment then laying near us. We soon learned that he was a Union spy. He had a brother in the regiment he inquired for and was escorted to the regiment by a sergeant of the pickets who left him with his brother and a score of acquaintances. This young man had ridden along with the rebel column even after they crossed the Potomac and had been fed and kept by the citizens, they, of course, thinking he was a rebel officer." This occurred on July 22nd, 1863. Not really surprising that a spy would dress in the enemy's uniform.

"IN POSSESSION OF REBELS' WINTER QUARTERS...When we first came into the deserted camp, John Page, an enlisted man and member of Company A, the Minnesota Company, thought he would get up a sensation so he dressed himself in a Rebel uniform he found in one of the deserted shanties and began to show himself about the camp. He was soon arrested by order of the officer of the day, for it is a grave crime for a soldier to be caught dressed in the uniform of the enemy. Page was tried and punished but his punishment was light and he did it only to be funny, he being a good soldier and not knowing he was breaking army regulations. Page was the only Union soldier that got a rebel uniform on but a great many of the boys got rebel lice for their camp was swarming with the pests. Their works do live after them." This story dates to early November, 1863, after the Sharpshooters marched to Brandy Station after capturing Kelly's Ford.

"CLEAN RIFLE. Early in the morning our regiment was called out and sent to the front and ordered to find the enemy. Soon after we started, as I was picking my way from tree to tree, I noticed the body of a rebel officer....How I came to notice the affair was that my rifle was in bad shape and needed cleaning. I saw a rubber coat and thought that I might get a dry piece of cloth from under the rubber coat. The body was clothed in no less than three coats of cloth besides the rubber one, also three or more pairs of pants, and I concluded this officer wore all those clothes to give him a better appearance by looking more stocky. In getting cloth for cleaning my rifle I cut through three pairs of pants before I got a dry piece fit to use on my rifle. This piece was taken from a pair of U.S. Soldier's sky blue pants, and the rubber coat the colonel wore had the name and regiment of an officer of a New Jersey regiment stamped on the inside with stencil. I got my dry cloth out of his pants and left him alone in his glory..." Not really a Confederate wearing a full Federal uniform, but a nice account supporting what a lot of people already know. This dates to early May, 1864.

There is also the dynamic portrait of Louisiana casualties at Antietam; the man at center is wearing a Federal blouse. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cwpb.01104/?co=cwp

[Jimmayo]

Re: An account of a soldier in the wrong color.

I'm interested in how often this sort of thing happened, in one way or another. Mr. Wickersty refers to an account of a Confederate who hailed from South Jersey being able to make it home at some point during the war, and walking around in his uniform without a problem.

Suggest you visit this site

http://www.jessiescouts.com/Jessie%20Scouts%20Home.html

Not many people know about this aspect of the war. A good read is Alex Hunters "The Debatable Land" which is on line.

[Horace]

Re: An account of a soldier in the wrong color.

I know I'm helping the thread to stray here, but I've seen enough accounts of Federals dressing up in Confederate uniforms for a joke, as well as putting on looted dresses and bonnets, to wonder what the social motivation was. Why was that such a gas?

[jake.koch]

Re: An account of a soldier in the wrong color.

I may be wrong so I apologize in advance but hasn't there been a discussion over whether one of the Lincoln conspirators - I believe Powell/Paine - was Photographed in a confederate shell jacket in Washington at the second inaugeral. I believe that someone in that thread stated it was fairly common to see paroled Confederates in DC at that time. Perhaps that explains what Mr. Hermann mentioned above.