HM Journal Issue 012 ACW Zouaves

The 146th New York Infantry Regiment was organized at Rome, New York, as a three year regiment and mustered into Federal service on 10 October 1862. It's nicknames were the "5th Oneida" and "Halleck Infantry". The one that stuck was "Garrard's Tigers". The next day, 11 October 1862, the regiment left the state for the Defenses of Washington being assigned to Casey's Division to November 1862 when it was re-assigned and began its service life with the 5th Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac.

Chronological Summary of Service for the 146th New York Infantry Regiment "Garrard's Tigers"

From / To	Brigade	Division	Corps	Army
Oct 1862 - Nov 1862	unknown	Casey	n/a	Defenses of Washington
Nov 1862 - Mar 1864	3rd Brigade	2nd Division	5th Army Corps	Army of the Potomac
Mar 1864 - Apr 1864	4th Brigade	1st Division	5th Army Corps	Army of the Potomac
Apr 1864 - Jun 1864	1st Brigade	1st Division	5th Army Corps	Army of the Potomac
Jun 1864 - Jul 1865	1st Brigade	2nd Division	5th Army Corps	Army of the Potomac
Jul 1865	Mustered out at Washington, D.C.

The 146th New York Infantry Regiment joined the Army of the Potomac on 2 November 1862 at Snicker's Gap, Virginia. The regiment was clad in standard Union army issue dark blue frock coat and sky blue trousers. It would not be re-uniformed in Tirailleur light blue until June, 1863. So, it looked and acted like any untested regiment. It participated in the Rappahannock Campaign from November 1862 to June 1863 gaining experience in these engagements: Fredericksburg 12-15 December 1862, the "Mud March" 20-24 January 1863, and Chancellorsville 27 April to 6 May 1863.. In June 1863, the 146th was selected to be outfitted in Zouave-style uniforms choosing the colors of the French Armée d'Afrique Tirailleurs Algeriens regiments of light blue with yellow trim.

On the second day of the battle of Gettysburg, Garrard's Tigers arrived on the field on the left flank of the Army of the Potomac in the vicinity of the Round Tops. As each brigade was committed to this or that part of the battle, it came the turn of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division. In addition to the 146th New York "Garrard's Tigers", the brigade consisted of the 140th New York, 91st Pennsylvania, and 155th Pennsylvania. The 140th New York and 155th Pennsylvania would eventually be honored for their service and receive the right to wear Zouave uniforms, the 140th in early 1864 and the 155th in late 1863. The 91st Pennsylvania was transferred out of the brigade in March of 1864. Thus, the brigade became known as "the Zouave brigade". For the remainder of 1863, the Army of the Potomac would exchange tactical movements with General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and no significant actions occurred for the remainder of the year.

In early 1864, General U. S. Grant became the overall field commander of the Union army and the beginning of his offensive strategy for all theaters of war would be launched in the Spring. General Meade still commanded the Army of the Potomac but Grant chose to accompany it. For Garrard's Tigers, the campaign in the East began on 3 May 1864 in the Wilderness and would end on 15 June 1864 in front of the lines of Richmond and Petersburg. At those places began a significantly large siege operation that would conclude with the break-through at Five Forks in April 1865 and end the war in the East at Appomattox Court House on 9 April 1865.

The regiment lost during service 7 officers and 126 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 2 officers and 179 enlisted men by disease for a total wartime loss of 314 men.

The uniform is not unlike most other Union Army Zouave units except that it adopted the uniform colors of the Tirailleurs Algeriens. The "Zouave" jacket and baggy pants were light blue trimmed in yellow. This included wide yellow tape all around the outside of the jacket with fine yellow piping on the edges. The front of the jacket was adorned with a looped trefoil decoration. Cuff chevrons were yellow and pointed up. NCO chevrons were yellow and pointed down. The original uniform included a sleeve-less sky blue vest piped in yellow that covered the front of the soldier's body since the jacket could only be joined by hidden hooks at the top. However, in warm weather, the vest was not worn and in its place could be seen the soldier's shirt which could be government issue, home-spun, or purchased from a suttler accompanying the army.

The normal headdress was a red fez worn by itself or wrapped in a turban of white cloth. A yellow tassel hung from the top of the fez. White gaiters covered the lower legs and these were covered at their tops, just below the knees, with a short leather wrap-around called a jambon. A distinctive waist sash was worn in a red color piped yellow on its edges. The 146th appears not to have worn the sash with dangling ends probably because they could encumber the soldier or his equipment. Shoes were government issue "brogans" mostly brown in color.

Weapons and equipment were as for all other Union infantry regiments and consisted of a Springfield pattern .58 caliber rifle-musket, bayonet in scabbard, a waterproof haversack, waterproof knapsack, ammunition box, cap box, blanket rolled and strapped to the top of the knapsack, canteen, and tin cup. An oval brass buckle was attached to the outside flap of the cartridge box and another to clasp the ends of the waist belt. If you are modeling a "Garrard Tiger" with knapsack, it is not known how the knapsack was identified but some script was common practice so before going into combat "dropped" equipment could be recovered. Variations on a possible identification script might be in white, a simple "146" or "146 NY" or "146 NYGT" or almost anything.

Figure 1

One figure will be constructed using one of the standard poses from Shenandoah's 146th New York Zouave kits, specifically SHZ006. I added a tin cup and a Zouave head with turban. Everything else is directly from the kit.

The kit parts have already been cleaned of seam lines and polished using a Dremel tool with a #428 wire brush. Note that there is no waist sash "tail" on this figure. Before priming, I glued the head to the body and the tin cup to the canteen. All other parts are left off to be painted separately and then glued later. The parts are primed with Tamiya's gray metal primer and, when dry, the figure will be mounted on its wood base ready for painting.

Figure 2

Figure 2 shows the primed figure on its wood base with the face painted. When the face is finished, I always apply a liner of brown/black were the face ends at the top (in this case the turban) and at the bottom (top of the jacket). Note the placement of the tin cup.

Figure 3 shows the figure with elements of the uniform painted "from the inside out"; that is, I painted the undershirt light gray with white buttons and painted in the shadow lines (brown/black) down the inside of the jacket and across the top of the waist sash. Next, I painted the yellow trim followed by red for the body of the waist sash. The turban was painted a dark off white which I will highlight in a whiter-white in the next step.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 4 shows application of the first coat of the light blue uniform (jacket and pants). Note also the completed turban and the red fez.

Figure 5 shows the completed figure. The jambons were painted in Vallejo VC0913 Yellow Ochre stained in Andrea ANAC41 Wood (old) and trimmed in semi-gloss black. The tassel (see photo below) was painted in Andrea ANAC07 Basic Yellow (old), stained with a mix of Andrea ANAC41 Wood (old) and Andrea ANAC08 Golden Yellow (old), and highlighted with a mix of Andrea ANAC08 Golden Yellow (old) and white. The "old" in parenthesis refers to Andrea's older paint line which was replaced with similar colors but a different prefix, i.e., ANAC = old and ANXC = new.

Figure 5

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Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Volume III, Thomas Yoseloff publisher, New York, 1959 (see page 1460).

Editors of Time-Life Books. Echoes of Glory: Arms and Equipment of The Union, Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1991 (excellent photos of original uniform components page 137).

McAfee, Michael J. Zouaves: The First and the Bravest, Thomas Publications, Gettysburg, PA 1991 (see notes on page 42and photo on p.81).

Smith, Robin. American Civil War Zouaves, Osprey Elite #62 illustrated by Bill Younghusband. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 1996. (color plate K-3).

Troiani, Don. Don Troiani's Regiments & Uniforms of the Civil War, Art by Don Troiani, text by Earl J. Coates, Michael J. McAfee, and Don Troiani. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2002 (see page 93 art work and text).