With regard to the uniforms that the soldiers in the 4th Wisconsin Infantry/Cavalry wore, first see my 6/1/04 response to “Gray Uniforms on Badgers” in this forum. The fact that they were issued both uniforms of blue and gray is confirmed by Colonel Paine’s daughter who noted in a small manuscript that she wrote after the war titled, “The Experiences of a Child in the Civil War,” (this typewritten manuscript is in the archives at the Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies, Hammond, Louisiana) that the regiment had been supplied with gray uniforms and those of “regulation army blue.” During the regiment's stay at the Relay House in Maryland, she recalled, “the soldiers were inclined to be rather careless and would sometimes wear part of one uniform and part of another, which did not present a very soldierly appearance. So my father issued an order that only the blue uniform should be worn.” The jacket styles that I’ve seen in images of the soldiers range from 4 button sack coats to shell jackets to frock coats, the last of which officers such as Colonel Frederick Boardman wore.

When the 4th Wisconsin was designated infantry the soldiers carried primarily .69 Model 1842 rifled Springfield muskets. By June 30, 1863, some soldiers were also carrying Enfield muskets and a few smoothbore percussion rifles. Mike Fraering, one of the curators at the Port Hudson Battlefield museum in Zachary, Louisiana, has painstakingly gone back and inventoried what weapons were carried by the various companies in the various Federal regiments that fought there. Company F, for example, in June 1863, carried primarily Model 1842 muskets and a few Enfields. Additional confirmation for this comes from Company G’s Jerry Flint who wrote home on July 24, 1862 that they had turned their smoothbore muskets (these they had received while in Harrisburg, PA) for a “rifled musket with a clasp bayonet.” Flint described the musket as a “savage shooting thing, carrying an ounce of ball. They are said to be the best in the service [and] are sighted to throw a ball from 1 to 900 yards.” Also keep in mind that this is what the Badgers carried during their stint as mounted infantry, which began during Banks’ Teche campaign and ended when they were changed over to cavalry on September 1, 1863.

Following their switch to cavalry they were issued the following, 5th Model Burnside Carbines, “Remington pistols” and “light cavalry sabers.” This comes directly from Company I’s Order Book for 1863, which is at the National Archives. I was there this past summer and found this order book but none of the other company’s order books. It is likely, however, that the same weaponry was issued to the other companies as well. When the 4th Wisconsin Cavalry was in San Antonio, Texas and brigaded with the 3rd Michigan Cavalry and 2nd Illinois Cavalry, all under the command of the 3rd Michigan’s Colonel John Mizner, all the brigade’s regiments were issued Spencer carbines on September 2, 1865. At that time the 4th Wisconsin, according to an August 20, 1865 inspection report, had only a few, I believe the number was 54, Burnside carbines left. When the regiment finally mustered out on May 28, 1866 at Brownsville, Texas, many of the men purchased their Spencer carbines. Company I’s William S. Jackson got his Spencer and accouterments for $11.15.

Mike