First Bull Run on regimental level with utter uniform madness, it needs to be done
The first major battle of the American Civil War is remarkable in many respects. It was the first battle for the troops and the first battle for almost all of the officers too. Nor had most of the officers led units of the size they would be commanding on the battlefield. It turned out to be a very messy battle and perhaps the biggest problem was not that no one gave orders, but rather that everyone gave orders. At one point the Rhode Island governor Sprague took it on himself to order troops about. He had joined to see how the boys would perform. Governor Sprague was not alone in seeing the battle as something like an event. Civilians came out from Washington to watch. The battle of Bull Run shattered the innocence and the Confederate victory was the first in a war that would last four more years and end in Union victory.
To make the battle even more confusing both sides had troops wearing the gray militia uniform and both as well as in regulation blue. The division between Gray and Blue had not even begun. To add a dash of colour to the blue and gray mix, both sides fielded regiments in the colourful zouave uniforms. In August of 61 the Confederate issued new battleflags to all regiments since the one used at Manassas was all but impossible to distinguish from the Union flag in the heat of battle.
Alex sammanfattning:
Första slaget vid Bull Run var det första stora slaget i Amerikanska inbördeskriget. Men inte bara för soldaterna utan även för officerarna som inte hade erfarenhet av att beodra så stora truppgrupperingar. För att göra saken värre så var det så tidigt i kriget att uppdelningen mellan grå och blå uniformer inte hade blivit formaliserad än vilket gjorde att soldaterna gjorde sitt bästa för att sticka ut genom olika färgade kreationer.
