HM Journal Issue 14 ACW Zouaves - 53rd NY d'Epineuil's Zouaves

The 53rd New York Infantry Regiment was organized at Hudson, New York, and mustered into Federal service between 5 September and 16 October 1861. It moved to Washington, D.C., on 29 October 1861 where it was attached to the Provisional Brigade, Casey's Division, Army of the Potomac.

Chronological Summary of Service for the 53rd New York Infantry Regiment "d'Epineuil's Zouaves"

From / To	Brigade	Division	Corps	Army
Nov 1861 - Jan 1862	Annapolis, Maryland Security Forces
Jan 1862 - Feb 1862	Parke's	n/a	Burnside	North Carolina Expedition
Feb 1862 - Mar 1862	Various duties at Fort Monroe, Suffolk (VA), Annapolis (MD), Washington, D.C.
21 March 1862	Mustered out in Washington, D.C.

The 53rd New York Infantry Regiment officially known as "D'Epineuil's Zouaves" was recruited and organized in New York City between 27 August and 15 November, 1861. They were armed with the British .577 caliber Enfield rifle-musket, some say slightly better than the U. S. .58 caliber Springfield. It entrained to Washington, D.C. on 18 November but moved on to Annapolis, Maryland, where it was remained on duty until 3 January 1862 when it was attached to Parke's 3rd Brigade in General Burnside's North Carolina Expeditionary Corps. This force commenced operations against Hatteras Inlet and Roanoke Island lasting from 7 January to 8 February, 1862. During this operation, the vessel carrying the regiment was wrecked at Roanoke Island but a detachment managed to engage with the rest of the force in the battle of Roanoke Island which resulted in Union victory. The regiment was shuffled off to Fort Monroe; then to Suffolk, Virginia; then to Annapolis, Maryland; and finally to Washington, D.C., all this occurring between 8 February and 21 March, 1862, the latter date being its mustering out date. Company "A" was officially transferred to the 17th New York Infantry Regiment as its company "G".

The 53rd New York Infantry Regiment lost during service 1 officer and 3 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 7 enlisted men by disease for a total of 11 wartime deaths, a good indicator of their limited usefulness. The foregoing is from Dyer's A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion Volume 3, page 1424 and does not reveal this regiments full history.

Two other sources are McAfee's Zouaves: The First and the Bravest and Don Troiani's Regiments & Uniforms of the Civil War the text of which was written by Coates, McAfee, and Troiani. These combined sources include some interesting and savory details (see bibliography below). The following is a summary from these authors.

In August 1861 in New York City, a French national, Lionel Jobert d'Epineuil, represented himself to be a veteran of the French Army and could raise a regiment of colorful Zouaves manned by other French nationals living in or immediately around the city. He was given the provisional rank of colonel on the agreement that it would become permanent if, in fact, he raised a full regiment. He quickly ran into trouble as recruitment proved to be difficult and instead of a 1,000 man regiment, he came up short with only 130, all of the others having been gobbled up by other regiments. He turned to men of other nationalities and this was apparently the basis for the regiment's troubles ahead.

As recounted above, the 53rd ultimately became associated with Burnside's successful North Carolina Expedition. It is not known how many men remained with the regiment at this time but reported absences without leave and pure desertions were high apparently caused by lax discipline by the officers; well, except for d'Epineuil who battled up and down his chain of command to get the officers to their duties. While in transit with the Expedition's "fleet", their water transport ran aground and morale must have taken a nose dive. They missed participation in the main campaign except for a small detachment which suffered the casualties shown in the Service Record Summary, above. To make matters worse, the regiment re-embarked on another ship to continue the short journey to Hatteras. Thirty-four days latter, the regiment landed at which time over 400 men were no longer present and able for duty. To top all of this was the condition of the troops which was exceptionally poor considering the inattentive attitude of the officers and sad state to which uniforms and equipment had deteriorated during their ship-bound ordeal. After the limited participation in the Battle of Roanoke Island and their shuffling from one station to another, the 53rd's tour of duty came to an end with ignominious disbandment on 21 March 1862.

The uniform of this model soldier is based on drawings, art work, and historical commentary especially that from the New York City press which reported that the regiment's uniform "is an exact copy of the 6th Regiment Imperial Zouaves of France" (6^e Régiment de Zouaves). The jacket and inner shirt are dark blue with yellow trim including the jacket edges, the chevrons, the shoulders (where sleeve joins the jacket proper), and the trefoils. The Zouave fez is red with thin yellow piping at the base and a yellow tassel. Pantaloons are true Zouave-style and baggy of dark sky blue color with thin double piping and Hussar-style loops down the outside seams. The waistband is also dark sky blue. The Jambons between the knee and ankle are yellow-ochre leather color. The leggings protruding below the Jambons are white. Shoes are black. Standard U. S. Army equipment was issued including black rainproof haversack, waist belt, bayonet scabbard, knapsack, ammunition pouch, and cap box, all semi-gloss black. NCO chevrons would be yellow. The canteen cover is any shade of medium gray to blue-gray probably with the regiment's number '53 NY" or initials "NYd'EZ" or some other combination of letters and numbers not really known which could also appear on the back of the knapsack. Consult Don Troiani's Regiments & Uniforms of the Civil War, page 82, for details.

Figure 1

This is the stock Shenandoah kit SHZ010 from which the d'Epineuil Zouave will be built and painted. One small feature to be added is the small tin cup shown left. Another will be added in a future panel below. Parts are cleaned of flash using an X-Acto hoppy knife by scraping along the casting seam until most of the material is removed. The area is buffed with 300 then 600 grade sandpaper to smooth everything out. It is recommended that you use either white or gray-colored primer of the finest grade. You don't want primer particles clinging to the casting during the painting process.

Figure 2

Figure 2 shows completion of the face and the red fez (Vallejo VC0909 Vermillion) with its yellow piping (Vallejo VC0953 Yellow with a touch of VC0912 Tan Yellow). The jacket and inner shirt are painted with my mix of "French" or "Union" dark blue with yellow piping around the edges of the jacket and down the center of the shirt. This is a rough first coat on the jacket. A second coat will be added in a slightly thinned medium and then touched-up. Note that when working with acrylics, use distilled water to thin and clean your brush between colors. This keeps fine particles found in untreated tap water from getting onto the casting.

Figure 3

Figure 3 at left shows the basic finish of the jacket with its yellow piping. As an aside, piping is added strips of cloth usually in a contrasting color and is sometimes referred to as "lace" or "tape". I painted the waist sash with Vallejo VC0963 Medium Blue. The pants were painted with a mix of Vallejo VC0963 Medium Blue and Andrea ANAC54 Union Blue. I will mix this shade on the palette later and add off white to do the highlights.

Figure 4 at right was taken at the same time as Figure 3. The thin pant stripes are shown in the center of which is a short looped design. The tassel is hanging loose for now. It is painted in Vallejo VC0953 Yellow and washed in Andrea ANAC16 Medium Brown. It too will be highlighted later with the Yellow mixed with a little white.

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 5 - This is the completed figure sans arms. Jambons are Vallejo VC0912 Tan Yellow washed with VC0981 Orange Brown. Leggings are painted white then washed with my mix of off white.

Figure 6 - This is the completed figure with arms attached. The standard firing position is altered and a replacement left arm was taken from a "ramming cartridge" kit and slightly bent to fit over the left hand on the musket. The right arm had to be modified to get over the blanket. The rolled blanket is painted in four squares: Vallejo VC0921 English Khaki, VC0856 Ochre Brown, Andrea ANAC59 Confederate Gray, and ANAC34 Napoleonic Blue with stripes in Vallejo VC0829 Amaranth and VC0941 Burnt Umber.

Figure 6

SPECIAL ARTICLE

THE INFLUENCE OF THE FRENCH ARMY ON AMERICAN CIVIL WAR ZOUAVE UNIFORMS by George Grasse

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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 1424).

McAfee, Michael J. Zouaves: The First and the Bravest, Thomas Publications, Gettysburg, PA 1991 (see notes on page 41 and photo of a woodcut showing the uniform on p.69).

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 82-83 for art work and text).