HM Journal Issue 09 ACW 114th PA Collis' Zouaves

The Regiment was organized at Philadelphia in August 1862 and left the state for Washington, D.C., 31 August 1862 where it was assigned to the capitol's outer defenses until September 1862 when it was re-assigned for active field duty to the Army of the Potomac. Its assignments during its term of service were:

The 114th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment has one nickname: "Collis' Zouaves". Combat for the regiment was initiated at the Battle of Fredericksburg, 12-15 December 1862, and Burnside's famous "Mud March", 20-24 January 1863. The regiment was engaged during the Chancellorsville and Gettysburg battles taking heavy casualties in the Peach Orchard at Gettysburg. The pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia ended at the line held by Union forces on the Rappahannock River until October 1863 when the Bristoe and Mine Run campaigns promised more combat action but turned out to be more maneuvering than anything else. The unit remained on duty at Brandy Station all the way through May 1864 when it was re-assigned to the Headquarters guard of the Army of the Potomac. The regiment is credited with participating in all of the Summer 1864 campaigns from Wilderness to the beginning of the Siege of Richmond. It was detached from active duty and re-assigned to the Provost Guard at Grant's base at City Point and served there in that capacity until late March 1865. It then participated in the final assault against the Petersburg lines on 2 April 1865 and remained in that city on provost guard duty.

The 114th Pennsylvania was mustered out of Federal service 29 May 1865 and during its term of service the regiment lost 7 officers and 66 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 officer and 37 enlisted men died of disease for a grand total of 111 war deaths.

There are four sources for uniforms of the 114th Pennsylvania "Collis' Zouaves": 1) Zouaves by Michael J. McAfee, pages 77 and 99; 2) American Civil War Zouaves by Robin Smith, page 45 (see photo above) with good full-color figure by Bill Younghusband as figure 1, plate L; 3) Arms & Equipment of the Union by Time-Life Books, page 140 (this reference is most interesting because it shows actual uniform articles); and, 4) Don Troiani's Civil War, Don Troiani, text by Brian Pohanka, page 117 which shows several Zouaves in action from different points of view.

The jacket is the now-standard Americanized short Zouave jacket in dark blue cloth piped in two red parallel lines, one thin on the outside and one thicker on the inside all around the outside edges of the jacket. The piping is continued onto the front of the jacket in a loop at the bottom front on both sides terminating to the top of the jacket in trefoils. The pointed cuffs are sky blue piped in red with an added loop going up the sleeve and terminating in a thin trefoil, not as wide as the jacket trefoil. Red piping appears at the seams where the arms meet the jacket body. Under the jacket is worn a dark blue shirt usually of the pullover type with three or four buttons or of normal style with buttons up and down the front hidden by a flap of the shirt piped in red lace. However, enlisted men more often than not wore a homespun garment of plain color or stripes or checks.

The red fez was piped at the bottom with thin yellow lace and surmounted by a white turban usually worn on guard duty but probably not during combat. The tassel was yellow.

Pants appear to have been "baggy" when worn by smaller men, but trimmed when worn by larger men; this suggests a one-size-fits-all issue of pants. The waist band was a solid sky blue without lace at the edges. A military waist belt with brass oval plate was worn over it and supported the bayonet frog on the left side, the ammunition pouch worn on the right hip, and the cap box worn on the belt just to the right of the brass oval plate.

Trousers were trimmed on the sides with a twist of yellow piping from about the waist to mid-thigh. This decoration appears to have had two small loops at the top, then down the thigh in two parallel lines ending in a single cross-over loop. The bottoms of the pants were tucked into white leggings which were wrapped at the top of the calf by a yellow-tan leather "jambon" which often reflects a dark or black shade in period photographs. It was trimmed in black or dark brown leather. White legging buttons were bone or metal wrapped in white cloth and shoes were black.

The unit carried the Springfield rifled-musket with polished steel furniture. Other equipment included black waterproof haversack with black straps, a canteen with cloth cover of varied shades, and a tin cup. Markings on the knapsack varied but the intent was to identify the unit and the individual soldier. Often, packs and other non-essential equipment was "dropped" before going into battle. A handful of men were detached to guard the goods. So it was important to have those hundreds of items properly marked so they could be retrieved. Possible I.D. configurations for the regiment might be "114 PA" or "114 PAV" or "114 PAZ" and so on. In smaller script, the soldier's identifying mark would probably be below the unit I.D. A well-worn gray/brown blanket was usually rolled and secured to the top of the knapsack.

One figure will be constructed using one of the standard poses from Shenandoah's 146th New York Zouave kits, in this case SHZ009, a standing figure with knapsack.

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows the basic Shenandoah kit (SHZ009) used for this 114th Pennsylvania Zouave except that I substituted the fez head for the turban head and a right arm holding musket with musket at the trail. Somehow, I lost the bayonet and substituted a Historex plastic bayonet in scabbard already painted and excess from a previous project. I added the tin cup.

The kit parts have already been cleaned of seam lines and polished using a Dremel tool with a #428 wire brush. The figure will have the head glued using super glue but that's it for now. Those parts will be taken to the "spray room" for priming. Either Tamiya or Model Master spray primers will do the job well enough.

After priming, I will mount the figure on a base. There are two types of bases I use. If the figure is to be presented by itself on a display base, I will mount it at this stage on the display base. Of course you have to be careful during the painting process not to damage the base with paint or super glue. The other type of base is a plain every day reusable base if the figure is going to be part of a vignette or diorama. When finished, it will be removed from the "work" base and placed in the vignette or diorama.

Figure 2 shows the primed figure on its working base with the face painted according to these steps: 1) off-white for eyes; 2) outline the eyes in a dark brown color; 3) add the eyes taking care that both are in the same position; 4) add the main or middle flesh color of your palette and include all of the hair and facial hair (if present); 5) wash the lower part of the face from the ears down with a thinned, watered-down mix of middle flesh and a little dark brown; 6) wash the temples and inside of the ears with a thinned, watered-down mix of middle flesh and a tiny drop of scarlet; 7) wash the beard area with a mix of medium flesh and a little medium gray; 8) touch up the high or projecting areas of the face (bridge of the nose, nostrils, outside edges of the ears) with a mix 50-50 of medium and light flesh; 9) paint the lower lip with a mix of medium flesh and touch each of scarlet and dark brown, a little darker than the temple shade; 10) paint a thin dark brown line between the lips; 11) wash the hair in whatever thinned down version of color you want: medium brown, dark brown, red brown; keep this mixture as a wash and note how the flesh-colored hair automatically reveals the highlight color.

Figure 2

Figure 3 Figure 4

Painting from the inside out, I started with the vest and its red stripe then painted the sky blue waist sash. The edge of the jacket is painted dark blue for contrast. The jacket's red trim was painted next with a mix of Andrea Basic Red and Napoleonic Red. This trim will be done in two coats. Next, I painted the edges of the trim erasing any red paint that strayed.

I painted the belts in a semi-gloss black and went over the edges with dark blue to eliminate stray bits of paint. The second stripe was now added. Leg gear, shoes, and trousers were done next. At this stage, the basic figure is done. All of the other pieces including the arms, musket, bayonet, and knapsack have been completed

Figure 5

Figures 5 and 6 show the completed figure. The arms went on quite easily followed by the bayonet scabbard and knapsack. The number "114 Pa" in white on the knapsack is my interpretation. I also added a scribble under the regiment number beginning with white "A" followed by tiny non-sense white markings to represent the name of the private soldier. The color mix I use for the fez, trim, and pants is one half Andrea Basic Red and one half Andrea Napoleonic Red.

And that's my interpretation of the 114th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, Collis' Zouaves, circa 1863.

Figure 6

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A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Frederick H. Dyer, Volume III, Thomas Yoseloff publisher, New York, 1959 (see page 1612).

Don Troiani's Civil War, Don Troiani, text by Brian Pohanka, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 1995 (see page 117).

Zouaves: The First and the Bravest, Michael J. McAfee, Thomas Publications, Gettysburg, PA 1991 (see notes on page 91and photos on pp.106-107).

American Civil War Zouaves, Osprey Elite #62, by Robin Smith, illustrated by Bill Younghusband, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK, 1996. (see pages 26-27 and plate L1, reproduced above).

Echoes of Glory: Arms and Equipment of The Union, by the Editors of Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1991 (see page 14o).

From / To	Brigade	Division	Corps	Army
Aug 1862 - Sep 1862	n/a	n/a	n/a	Defenses of Washington D.C.
Sep 1862 - Mar 1864	1st	1st	III	Army of the Potomac
Mar 1864 - Mar 1865	Provost Guard	n/a	n/a	Army of the Potomac
Mar 1865 - Apr 1865	Collins'	n/a	IX	Army of the Potomac
Apr 1865 - May 1865	1st	2nd	V	Army of the Potomac