Confederate Cav SGT Chevrons

[captnenglish]

What color would these have been? I know the yellow was regulation arm of service color, but we all know about the real versus the ideal. I wouldn't normally care and would probably go with black, but the figure I'm working on is carrying JEB Stuart's battleflag in a dio including General Stuart.

 

[Steve]

That is a tough one, Matt. Realistically I am not so sure that all Confederate NCO's even wore stripes, though I'm pretty sure a general's staff member would. Regulation called for yellow chevrons. The First Virginia with whom Stuart started the war had black stripes, and depending upon the luck of the fella who carried the colors it could be either way. I appreciate your concern with making a connection between history and figure painting. That is not always the case any more.--

 

[captnenglish]

Thanks for the reply Steve, I'm not really going for an historical individual here, I'm just interested in kind of a consensus. I also wouldn't necesarily add the chevrons just because the figure is carrying the flag but they are sculpted on the figure (albeit a bit softly). WRT making the connection between history and figures, two reasons here, 1) MA in history) 2) General Stuart is in the dio, so me thinks the rules are a little stricter.

 

[ralpht]

chevron's

Let me chime in as a devoted ACW student, albeit a poor figure painter.
Many of the confederate units followed the traditional army colors of pale blue infantry, red artillery and yellow cavalry. The sergeant depending on what year you are portraying could even be wearing captured union uniform pieces. (Their is an incident after the capture of the Union depot that Stonewall Jackson's men were mistaken for union reinforcements because of the captured uniforms they were wearing. Jackson himself wore his old blue uniform coat for much of his military career.) I have seen a number of preserved confederate uniforms with the appropriate chevrons, although the uniform color would be aslikly a color other than grey more often than a variation on the trim.) Vain as he was, Stuart would certainly want his personal escort to be in full military rig, so yellow seems likely.

 

[captnenglish]

I suspect you are correct sir though I cannot find any strict evidence to bear that out.

 

[garyjd]

Matt, You could go with the branch of service color or have bare sleeves. You could also make them a darker color that is different from the branch of service color. I think Ralph has made some very sound suggestions. Unless you have specific information as to what was worn by the individual carrying the colors/guidon any of these options work. ~Gary

 

[vergilius]

Like many said, probably yellow. But I've got a picture in some book of a sergeant who painted his own stripes on his uniform with black paint. So ...

 

[captnenglish]

Matt, You could go with the branch of service color or have bare sleeves. You could also make them a darker color that is different from the branch of service color. I think Ralph has made some very sound suggestions. Unless you have specific information as to what was worn by the individual carrying the colors/guidon any of these options work. ~Gary

Gary,
Since I knew this to be the case, this is why I asked, in order to try to get some sort of consensus. The figure is metal and the chevrons are sculpted on so they stay, now I just have to decide what color to paint them; I was originally planning to go with the AoS color on the figure kepi band and black (or maybe buff for something different)for the chevrons, and might still. Thanks for the input

 

[captnenglish]

Like many said, probably yellow. But I've got a picture in some book of a sergeant who painted his own stripes on his uniform with black paint. So ...

Patrick, you see my problem.