[Ray Allan]

Originally Posted by Ironguard1940

Many of the US Army and Navy officers that resigned their commissions and joined the Confederate side kept their old uniforms until they could get new Confederate ones. Some Union militia units at the Battle of First Manassas also wore gray. Also, the First National Confederate Flag, called the Stars and Bars, looked very similar to the US flag, especially from a distance, through the smoke and haze of battle. You can imagine the confusion created by these factors. This is why the armies adopted standard colors for their uniforms, although the Confederate Army wore butternut as well. This is also why the Confederate Battle Flag was created in September/October of 1861 in Fairfax Courthouse. I have read that it was General Joseph E. Johnston's idea to make the Battle Flag square.

I haven't seen Gods and Generals, but that made sense. In the below video Jackson and JEB Stuart are still in Yankee blue. That's true the CSA lacked the industrial and manufacturing capacity of the North, and Southern soldiers made use of a lot of US equipment and armaments, including parts of uniforms appropriated from federal supply depots in the South at the beginning of the war or captured in battle. And state militia units on both sides had all kinds of different uniforms which did cause much confusion until standard colors were adopted. Even then, regulations in the field weren't always followed--look at the flamboyant dress officers like Custer and others sported. It just looked strange to see Southern officers like Lee, Jackson and Stuart still wearing blue when we are so used to seeing them in Confederate gray. And the South had most of the best officers, West Pointers like these men when the war started.

Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart, 1861

Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart, 1861