Confederate Butternut

With the Union blockade ever tightening its vice-like grip on the Confederacy as the war dragged on, supplies of most commodities. including dye and cloth, became in short supply.   No longer able to produce regulation light-grey uniforms, Confederate soldiers used whatever clothing items were available—from their personal attire to captured Union uniforms.  These items were dyed in solutions made from the butternut tree and/or various combinations of walnut hulls, acorns, lye and even rust--concoctions which produced a dizzying variety of shades of brown and khaki.   

As early as 1862, uniforms of these colors were so predominant, that Union soldiers nicknamed their Confederate counterparts “butternuts.”  As regulation grey uniforms began to become worn and filthy, they took on a light brown hue as well.  The “butternut” color also served as a rudimentary form of camouflage as it didn’t allow troops to stand out at a distance. 

Brickafig’s “butternut” is dressed in typical attire—a light tan shirt, darker tan pants, kepi, knife, Confederate belt buckle and bedding rolled in a blanket which was carried across one shoulder.