HM Journal Issue 011 ACW Zouaves

The 23rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment was organized as a three year regiment on 31 August 1861 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It began its service life in the Army of the Potomac, re-enlisted on 30 December 1863 and mustered out in the Army of the Shenandoah in September 1864. Here is a summary of its assignments.

Chronological Summary of Service for the 23rd Pennsylvania Regiment "Birney's Zouaves"

Just after organization on 31 August 1861, the regiment immediately moved to the Washington D.C. defenses and served there until March 1862 when it was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. It took part in the advance on Manassas March 10-15 and moved to the Virginia Peninsula on 26 March 1862. Held the lines as part of the Siege of Yorktown from 5 April to 4 May followed the next day by the Battle of Williamsburg which cleared the Confederate defenses on the eastern Peninsula. The Army of the Potomac prepared for its move on Richmond and operations began on 20 May 1862 with a reconnaissance towards Richmond on 23 May. This had the effect of bringing forward Johnston's Confederate Army to contest the Army of the Potomac's now-serious threat to Richmond.

The actions that resulted the end of May to the middle of August are collective known as the Peninsular Campaign in which the regiment participated in the battles of Fair Oaks, Seven Pines, White Oak Swamp, Charles City Crossroads, and Malvern Hill. Birney's Zouaves then re-deployed with major units of the Army of the Potomac to counter Lee's moves in September that became known as the Maryland Campaign. The regiment was part of the army that guarded the Potomac during the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. Just prior to Antietam, Company "B" was captured at Nolin's Ford. When Lee retreated, the regiment remained on Potomac picket duty when it was recalled to Falmouth in early November. Shortly, the regiment with the Army of the Potomac now under Burnside attempted to force Lee's strong defensive position at Fredericksburg. It participated the famous "Mud March" 20-24 January 1863 which was Burnside's attempt to get around Lee's Fredericksburg position. General "Mud" was the easy victor here.

The regiment returned to Falmouth and went into bivouac. Burnside was sacked and Hooker became the new commander of the Army of the Potomac. A great campaign was planned and in late April, Hooker's army launched into the Chancellorsville campaign while the 23rd Pennsylvania and the rest of the 6th Army Corps guarded the army's flank at Fredericksburg. While the Army of the Potomac was befuddled by Lee and Jackson in the midst of the Wilderness, the 6th Army Corps made a push against Maryes Heights to put pressure on the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia who now had the upper hand against Hooker still befuddled in the woods. Actions at Salem Heights and Banks' Ford allowed Hooker to extricate his badly damaged army.

The Zouaves arrived on the field at Gettysburg in the afternoon of July 2nd in the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Division which also consisted of the 65th New York, 67th New York, 122nd New York, 23rd Pennsylvania "Birney's Zouaves", and the 82nd Pennsylvania, commanded by Brigadier General Alexander Shafer. The division was commanded by Brigadier General Frank Wheaton. Although present on the battlefield on the 2nd and 3rd of July, the VI Army Corps under Major General John Sedgwick was held back as a tactical reserve. Its divisional elements often moved from one endangered section of the famous Union "fish hook" line to another but never became heavily engaged. Much has been written about the potential use of the VI Army Corps on the 4th of July as a spearhead to penetrate and eventually destroy Lee's Army of Northern Virginia but Meade, the Union commander, lacked the support. In my estimation, such an attack would have required at least two additional "fresh" army corps to support the attacking force's flanks and then exploit the breakthrough. Meade had no such other "fresh" army corps available.

After the Gettysburg campaign, both armies settled on opposite sides of the Rappahannock River to rest and reinforce. In late November, the Army of the Potomac launched the Mine Run campaign which did not amount to much. By late December, the 23rd Pennsylvania's enlistment was up but, not surprisingly, most of the veterans re-enlisted and received a furlough until 11 February 1864. At that time, the regiment was transferred to the Department of the Ohio and encamped on Johnson's Island on Lake Erie to guard Confederate prisoners of war. In early May, the regiment was again re-assigned this time to guard prisoners at Belle Plains. It was re-assigned for active duty back to the 6th Army Corps and played an active roll in General Grant's drive on Richmond which culminated in the siege of Petersburg. For the 23rd Pennsylvania, this part of the campaign lasted from May to July 1864 and included action at the Rapidan River, North Anna River, Pamunkey River, Topopotomoy, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Ream's Station, the Weldon Railroad, and the beginning of the Petersburg Siege.

The 6th Army Corps including the 23rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment was withdraw from battle and moved to Washington, D.C. to counter Jubal Early's "invasion" from the Shenandoah Valley. The unit participated in some of the Valley actions but was withdraw in September and mustered out on the 8th. Veterans and new recruits of the "old" 23rd re-enlisted in the 82nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment for the duration of the war.

The regiment lost during service 5 officers and 110 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 3 officers and 70 enlisted men by disease for a total wartime loss of 188 men.

The uniform is not unlike most of the Union Army Zouave units. It consists of a simple open short dark blue jacket double piped in red with trefoils at the lower front corners. The cuff trim was also in red was a simple "chevron" style with a single loop. There was a unique single piece of thin red piping at the shoulder where the sleeve joined the jacket. The jacket covered a sleeve-less vest in dark blue piped red which hid the much more practical "undershirt" usually in white but often replaced with homespun collar-less shirts. The 23rd wore a standard government issue dark blue kepi and most of the men had a small brass "23" pin stuck to the front or the top forward edge. The uniform was originally issued with the red waist sash and it is not known how long they were retained in the field. Trousers were simple dark blue "chasseur" style tucked into white gaiters. Non-commissioned officers had rank stripes in red with red stripes down the outside seam of the trouser. Shoes were were normally blackened but on campaign they wore quickly some being replaced by 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 and knapsack, ammunition box, cap box, blanket rolled and strapped to the top of the knapsack, canteen, and many smaller individual items. An oval brass buckle was attached to the outside flap of the cartridge box and another to clasp the ends of the belt together. It is not known how the knapsack was identified. I painted a simple white "23" on it but it could just as well have had other abbreviations such as "23 Pa" or "23 PA Vols" or "23 PVBZ".

Figure 1

One figure will be constructed using one of the standard poses from Shenandoah's 5th New York Zouave kits, in this case from the "advancing" range SHZ001 to SHZ005. I modified the kit components by adding a pair of arms for a figure firing the musket. It will be altered slightly so the figure is actually carrying the musket to the shoulder at a low angle as if to bring the weapon up to fire at a moments notice. I added a tin cup. I removed the raised "US" detail on the belt buckle and cartridge box and replaced them with Shenandoah PE "CS" details.

The kit parts have already been cleaned of seam lines and polished using a Dremel tool with a #428 wire brush. Note that waist sash "tail" that is normally hanging just in front of the haversack has been cut off and the area polished. It appears that the waistband was worn but wrapped completely around the waist. For priming, either Tamiya or Model Master spray primers will do the job well enough.

After priming, the head will be glued into position looking to the left. The figure will then be mounted on its wood base ready for painting.

Figure 2

Figure 2 shows the primed figure on a flat base supplied with the kit. This will be mounted on an Andrea ANP017 wood base.

Figure 3 shows the figure mounted on its base and the face painted according to the steps outlined in HM Journal Issue 8 (76th Pennsylvania "Keystone Zouaves") and Issue 9 (114th Pennsylvania "Collis' Zouaves). All painting is done using Andrea and/or Vallejo acrylic paints. As a reminder, the entire face and hair and first painted with a basic flesh tone color which, in this case, is Andrea ANAC10 Dark Flesh to which I added Andrea ANAC53 Dark Orange at the ratio of about 30:1 (Flesh to Orange) - just enough to brighten the face. This mix was made in the bottle so I have a basic flesh color to my liking always available. This is important for touch ups after you've done the shading and high-lighting.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 4 shows the unattached components in their painted state. The piping on the cuff is a simple single-loop knot. The number "23" on the semi-gloss black knapsack is speculative. All combat infantry units marked their knapsacks for identification when the unit dropped its superfluous gear just before going into combat. One or more men were left behind to guard the equipment while the unit marched off to its assigned battlefield position. The "guard" detail prevented looting by soldiers and civilians.

The Springfield rifle-musket is painted as follows: 1) the entire musket is painted in Andrea ANAC17 Dark Brown; 2) the barrel, lock, trigger, and butt plate are painted Vallejo VC0864 Natural Steel; 3) these items are then outlined using a dark brown/black which I kept as a special mix; 4) the steel and wood parts are touched up; 5) dark brown/black is painted over each barrel band; 6) the steel color is applied to the barrel bands; 7) the sling is painted in a mix of Andrea ANAC16 Medium Brown and ANAC42 Brown Leather; 8) when dry, the sling is stained in a watery mix of Andrea ANAC48 Red Leather; 9) the sling swivels, folds, and sling bands are painted and/or outlined in dark brown/black; 10) the sling swivels (just under the second barrel band and at the trigger guard) are painted steel; 11) the overall piece is painted in a thinned down gloss medium.

Figure 5

Figure 5 shows completion of the upper half of the figure including the double red piping. The inner piping forms a trefoil at the front bottom corners of the jacket. The semi-gloss black cross belts at the top of the jacket will support the knapsack.

Figure 6 is the completed main casting less arms and equipment. Of course, this is an idealistic representation of the uniform "fresh off the rack" without regard to extensive campaigning. On campaign, the uniform would be quite soiled and perhaps patched. The white leggings may not have been worn or were a muddy light brown. The sash was probably not worn. The regiment adopted a dark blue/red piped vest but an undershirt or home-spun shirt was more likely.

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 7 shows the completed figure from the front. Note the thin red piping at the shoulder. The gaiters are plain white with off-white bone buttons. Many zouave units wore the hard leather "jambon" that covered the upper portion of the gaiters and this unit may have been issued them originally. The photos I saw were all taken in a portrait studio and showed plain gaiters without "jambon".

Figure 8 shows the figure from the rear. In many cases, canteens were marked with the regiment and the individuals name but I left this one blank. In the British army, men's canteens were usually marked with the regiment number and, below it, the company designation followed by the soldier's "number" in that company. That practice may have applied to a few Union regiments but not many.

Figure 8

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Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Volume III, Thomas Yoseloff publisher, New York, 1959 (see pages 1584-85).

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 144-145).

McAfee, Michael J. Zouaves: The First and the Bravest, Thomas Publications, Gettysburg, PA 1991 (see notes on page 41and photos on pp.70-71).

Smith, Robin. American Civil War Zouaves, Osprey Elite #62 illustrated by Bill Younghusband. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 1996. (color plate I-3, photo page 46, and page 28).

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 66 photo of a first sergeant's jacket).

From / To	Brigade	Division	Corps	Army
Sep 1861 - Mar 1862	unknown	Buell (Couch)	n/a	Army of the Potomac
Mar 1862 - Jul 1862	2nd Brigade	1st Division	4th Army Corps	Army of the Potomac
Jul 1862 - Sep 1862	3rd Brigade	1st Division	4th Army Corps	Army of the Potomac
Sep 1862 - Oct 1862	3rd Brigade	3rd Division	6th Army Corps	Army of the Potomac
Oct 1862 - Jan 1864	1st Brigade	3rd Division	6th Army Corps	Army of the Potomac
Jan 1864 - May 1864	Johnson's Island, Lake Erie (Guarding Confederate Prisoners of War			Department of the Ohio
May 1864 - Sep 1864	3rd Brigade	1st Division	6th Army Corps	Army of the Shenandoah
Sep 1864	Mustered out (many veterans and recruits then transferred to the 82nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment)