zouaves!--5/18/2026

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Today's selection -- from A Nation Unraveled by Sarah Jones Weicksel. Outlandish uniforms of the Civil War:

“Military uniforms were made for and worn by the young sons of both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis–uniforms that conformed to the standards of brass manhood. The Confederate artillery uniform of Jefferson Davis Jr. (1859-1864) included a gray shell jacket with red piping, cuffs, and collar, as well as gilt brass buttons and gold braid on the sleeves. Tad Lincoln (1853-1871), on the other hand, was photographed in a dark blue Union uniform complete with shoulder straps, a gold sash, gilt brass buttons, and a Union kepi with US insignia. It was given to him as part of a courtesy commission granted by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Entirely symbolic and a novelty for the boys themselves, as neither child actually served in an army, these uniforms nevertheless referenced what was at stake in the war–the future of a nation and the youth who would inherit it.

“One need not have been the child of a political leader to find themself clothed in their family's patriotic sentiments. A young South Carolina girl wore a dress made from a First National Confederate, or Stars and Bars, flag. Cut into pieces, the short-waisted dress has a white bodice with red vertical stripes, red stripes at the shoulders, and a full skirt made of three tiers of alternating red and white fabric, with a vertical dark blue stripe that includes the stars. While this dress referenced a Confederate nation, the dress worn by the girl's brother was South Carolina through and through. Made of a deep cobalt blue, the dress is readily identifiable as the South Carolina state flag, with a gold palmetto tree on the skirt and a Zouave-style jacket trimmed in gold with a gold quarter moon on the breast. This use of bright colors and printed fabrics was a marked departure from typical clothing intended for small children, which was often white cotton or linen that could be easily bleached clean. Clothing children in patriotism was, in fact, quite inconvenient.

“Women and children overtly adopted military-inspired styles into their wardrobes. While Zouave-style jackets were inspired by French Zouave uniforms in the Crimean War, the style took on new meaning with the raising of US and Confederate units who adopted these Zouave-style uniforms, with their baggy pants and open, cropped jackets. Variations on this style were quickly adopted in women's and children's fashions. 'For children of both sexes,' wrote Godey's Lady's Book, 'these Zouaves are all the rage; they are made of all kinds of materials, thick and thin, but the white pique suit with broad, gay ribbon sash and the little turban hat with plume, makes a very pretty and stylish costume.' With bold embroidery, colorful trim, and an open jacket, civilians' Zouave fashions created direct connections to the uniforms worn by highly celebrated military units, like the New York Fire Zouaves.

The Brierwood Pipe, an 1864 oil painting by Winslow Homer of two 5th New York Zouaves

“Such uniform-inspired fashion and brass buttons were particularly important to how Northern and Southern women of the middling and upper classes constructed their own gendered identities during wartime, even going so far as to use military buttons on their own clothing. As one woman wrote, 'We wore our homespun dresses, made en train, trimmed in [South Carolina] palmetto buttons on the shoulders and on the sleeves, a la militaire.' Wearing brass buttons was a material way in which women expressed patriotism and physically marked their connection to soldiers, thereby tying their sense of womanhood to that of brass manhood. As one Union woman wrote, 'A lot of us girls went down...as the soldiers were passing through and they cut buttons from their coats and gave them to us as souvenirs....We wear...earrings made of the buttons the soldiers gave us.' The earrings this woman wore likely resembled a pair made from Confederate Navy buttons in which an ear wire was attached to the button back. With no additional embellishment, the earrings preserved the appearance of the buttons as buttons, rather than incorporating them into a larger piece of jewelry. Simple designs such as these made quite clear the connection between a woman's jewelry and a soldier's uniform.”

author:	Sarah Jones Weicksel
title:	A Nation Unraveled: Clothing, Culture, and Violence in the American Civil War Era (Civil War America)
publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
pages:	99-101