HISTORICAL MINIATURES JOURNAL ISSUE NUMBER 2

PUBLISHED BY GEORGE GRASSE

95th PENNSYLVANIA INFANTRY REGIMENT

"GOSLINE'S ZOUAVES"

RESEARCH NOTES FOR MODELING 54mm SCALE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR ZOUAVES: PART 2

 95th PENNSYLVANIA INFANTRY REGIMENT HISTORY

The regiment was organized in Philadelphia between August and October 1861 and left the state for Washington D.C. on 12 October 1861.  The regiment reenlisted in 26 December 1863 and served throughout the war in the Eastern Theater primarily with the Army of the Potomac as follows:

The service record of the 95th is an outline history of the campaigns and battles of the Eastern Theater including these campaigns: Peninsula, 2nd Bull Run (covering Pope's retreat), Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, on the Rappahannock line, Bristoe, Mine Run, Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, Siege of Petersburg, moved to Washington D.C. July 1864, repulse and pursuit of Early, assigned to Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah and Valley campaign to December 1864, moved back to Petersburg siege lines, breakthrough at Petersburg and pursuit of Lee's army, Appomattox April 1865.  The regiment lost 11 officers and 171 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 officer and 72 enlisted men by disease for a total of 255.

Making a 95th Pennsylvania Zouave

The figure chosen from which the 95th Pennsylvania Zouave is made is Shenandoah's 146th New York series, SHZ006 through SH0009.  Figures SHZ007 and SHZ008 do not have back pack straps cast onto the body but SHZ008 and SHZ009 do.  I chose one of the strapless figures.  Figure 1 below shows the unaltered kit on the left and the modified kit on the right.  The 95th wore a typical Zouave uniform with the so-called "chasseur-style trousers which were a streamlined version of the traditional French Zouave baggy trousers.  Note that the altered kit figure on the right has had the trefoils removed, the cuff chevrons removed, and a replacement head with kepi.  I added the tin cup (not supplied in the kit) and replaced the rifle-musket mounting a bayonet with one that does not so I could get a casual pose.  All parts have had their casting seam lines carefully removed with an X-Acto tool and then buffed with a Dremel #428 wire brush.

                                            Figure 1

After the kit parts have been buffed, they are primed with a metal figure primer.  Next, they are mounted on a working wood base.  Usually, just the heads are glued in place with Zap-a-Gap.  All of the remaining parts are painted as separate pieces and glued after the figure has been painted.  I will always paint the face first, apply a thin liner around the kepi and the jacket collar, paint the shirt (white in the figures below), and paint the kepi.  Figure 2 shows a sampling of three 95th Pennsylvania Zouaves at this stage.  Note the various poses.

                                        Figure 2

The shirt is finished next.  In the above examples I will paint a variety of civilian styles usually sent by relatives at home, purchased at a sutler's wagon, or "borrowed" from a local countryside farm.  Of course, the uniform red vest was worn if it hadn't already worn out.  Also, government issue light gray undershirts were commonly worn as well.  The uniform jacket is a "standard" Zouave pattern style with double red piping around the jacket edges; the outside edge is twice as thick as the inner.  This piping format is applied to the cuff edges and where they come together are placed three small brass buttons.  The government-issue sky blue/gray trousers are tucked into off-white gaiters without the yellow-buff jambieres worn at the top of the gaiters.  Off-white is the "ideal" color but brown, black, or just plain soiled gaiters would be just as appropriate.  Shoes are painted a rust brown and then washed with semi-gloss black so that most of the shoe's edges show through as though well-worn.  Photos of 95th enlisted men never show them wearing the waist sash; it is conjectural on my part that they did and I have chosen a lighter shade of dark blue on the set of figures above but the finished figure show below is not wearing a waist sash.  To remove the waist sash, use an X-Acto knife and the Dremel #428 brush.  You may need a little putty to blend into the folds of the trousers.  Cut a piece of sheet lead for the waist belt and glue a Union army oval buckle to the center of the belt.  See Figure 3 below for a completed enlisted man.

                                        Figure 3

This finished 95th Pennsylvania private does not wear the waist sash but has the original issue red shirt worn underneath the Zouave jacket.  Note the red piping to the kepi and the double piping to the jacket edges.  The tin cup can also be looped through the canteen strap so that it dangles from either the left or right canteen strap metal retainer.  For variation; 1) different colored shirt; 2) varying shades of sky blue/gray trousers; 3) patches on the elbow and knee; various positions for the tin cup; 4) use SHZ008 or SHZ009 and a knapsack with or without rolled blanket; 5) different heads, even one with a broad brimmed hat; 6) and different arms positions.  This is one of the easier Zouave units to create.

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REFERENCES

Zouaves: The First and the Bravest, Michael J. McAfee, Thomas Publications, Gettysburg, PA 1991.

American Civil War Zouaves, Osprey Elite #62, by Robin Smith, illustrated by Bill Younghusband, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK, 1996. 

Echoes of Glory: Arms and Equipment of The Union, by the Editors of Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1991.

Echoes of Glory: Arms and Equipment of The Confederacy, by the Editors of Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1991.

Don Troiani's Regiments & Uniforms of the Civil War, Art by Don Troiani, Text by Earl J. Coates, Michael J. McAfee, and Don Troiani, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2002.

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© Copyright by George Grasse