Non-American here. One thing has been bugging me: where the

>>2106084
many of their uniforms were surplus from the military, and at the start of hostilities were a hodgepodge of colors and types since people wore whatever they had.

the grey came about later as a cost cutting measure i believe, since blue dyes are rather expensive

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>>2106084
You have to understand: for much of the 19th century (the first half especially) the US military was 1/4ths Professional, standing army, 3/4ths volunteer militia. The early US thought a full standing army is something the tyrannies of Monarchical Europe did and so envisioned an army of citizen-soldiers. To aid that, the Second Amendment was jotted down in the US constitution (A well regulated militia, blablabla u have a right to own guns, period) and every US state shall muster a volunteer army. At war, these volunteers will be attached to the US professional armies and form the whole US military.

Now these volunteer armies? Highly non-uniform. They were mostly made up of State citizens who joined a state muster, but private, self-funded armies of private individuals (usually organized around neighborhoods, townships, workmates, rich gentlemen who wanna play army, etc) who brought their own weapons and uniforms, with their own fucking officers (usually elected) were also welcome. Add to the fact that the states had their own uniforms too.

As such, the grand majority of the US armed forces in the first half of the 19th century literally had no uniform outside the standing professionals of the US army, navy, and marine corps. In fact the early years of the civil war was so bizarre because of the great variation of uniforms in both sides. In addition to all the Euroboo private armies with their own uniforms. As the war dragged on, uniformity was achieved, more by the union, not much than the confederates.

THAT is where the confederates got their uniforms & army from. State militias with their own uniforms.

>>2106084
The south was relatively wealthy in that they produced most of the cotton in the region at the time because of slave labor. That's pretty much why they were dependent on slaves for their livelihoods and fought so hard to keep slavery. Cotton was not just a valuable American commodity but a valuable world commodity, especially in Europe. As far as why they chose grey I have no idea.

>>2106084
Combination of cheap dye, and after years of fighting, countless washings, patches, and other shit, clothes ended up grey and brown

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>>2106084
The idea that all the Union troops wore blue and all the Confederate troops wore grey is a movie meme. It wasn't until late in the war when both sides had adopted standard coloration.

Earlier in the war, there were tons of state militia and even privately owned regiments with bizarre uniforms like pic related.

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>>2106084

>>2106157
>Cotton was not just a valuable American commodity but a valuable world commodity
England saw the way the wind was blowing and started producing their own cotton in Egypt and India, and would have done say anyway, as their mercantalist philosophy decrees that import is always bad and export aklways good.

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>>2106084
the color is called "cadet grey"...it's the same color as US military cadets wear at West Point, the VMI and Citadel. A huge % of Rebel Officers were graduates of those institutions.

Most of the enlisted wore butternut uniforms like pic related.

>>2106328
absolutely güzel

>>2106328
There were cossacks fighting in the civil war?

>>2106328
There were Turks in the civil war?

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>>2106888
The US (like most countries in the Americas in that time) basically just copied the French uniforms
And the French had, among others, an uniform they had copied in Turks (which was called Zouave)
The regular Union uniform during the civil war was an exact replica of the French one during the Crimean War (with the same typical cap) minus the colors

>>2106157
Black powder gunsmoke is grey, and acts as a smokescreen if you are wearing grey. Best shade is Prussian grey. First camouflage uniform.

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In several of the first battles of the war both sides were actually wearing the same uniforms.

There was actually an enormous variety during the early stages as this was before the draft and most regiments were privately raised militias.

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>>2106395
>Most of the enlisted wore butternut uniforms like pic related.
Source on this? I'm pretty sure that most confederates by the time of Gettysburg were either wearing regular clothes of grey/tan/brown shades, or union uniforms scavenged from the battlefield that had been boiled to remove the blue dye and become grey.

>>2107079
>or union uniforms scavenged from the battlefield that had been boiled to remove the blue dye and become grey
>johnny reb
>having firewood

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>>2106084
That looks like fanart of Anna Strongindependentwomyn and Abigail Niggerrich from Turn: Washington's Pies. That series is so intense by the way. Recommend it highly to everybody here in this thread.

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>>2106084
OP gib sauce

Also these
>>2106115
>>2106127
Are the best answers

>>2106084
not sure about uniforms, though the essence of succession and rival ways of living between the north and south were going on since the beginning of the country. Mainly involving the economy, washington catered (most commonly) for the northern manufacturing rather then southern farming.

>Tariff of Abominations