Enlisted Man's Pants

  In mid December of 1861 the regulations stating that issued pants should be of dark blue wool were changed.  The color now was to be sky blue.  The picture on the left is of typical sky blue enlisted infantry pants.  These pants came with 5 pressed tin buttons on the fly and 4 around the waist for suspenders which typically were not issue items.  Some of the pants were issued with a belt sown into the rear of the pants.  More times than not the pants were issued with a slit in the back at the waist line with two holes for a piece of twine or rawhide to be run through and tied.  The Army bought 6,068,049 pairs of pants throughout the duration of the war.  Non-commissioned officers were to have stripes following the outer seam of their pants as follows: 1 1/2 inches for sergeants and 1/2 inch for corporals.  Pants were not issued with this stripe sewn on them so most NCOs didn't bother to put these on.  

     The picture on the right is of typical sky blue mounted pants.  They are similar in construction to the infantry pants except for the second layer of wool sewn as reinforcement inside the legs from the crotch to the ankle.  This was to protect the rider while in the saddle.  The Army bought 1,688,746 pairs of these pants during the war.