The Rifle

The main fighting companion of the common soldier throughout the civil war was a muzzle-loading musket. Although the Union and Confederacy had their own standard pattern of rifle, the 1861 pattern Springfield for the Union and the 1853 pattern British Enfield for the confederacy, in reality the arms that the common soldier was equipped with in reality was a mixed bag of rifle patterns that varied greatly in quality, efficacy, and age. The Militaries of the North and South, began the war with extremely small stockpiles of arms, which were quickly depleted when the fighting ramped up, this required them to import many rifles from europes as well as producing their own rifles, this is part of the reason why there was such a varying amount of weapons, and why the opinions these soldiers had on their weapons varied so wildly.

At Prarie Grove, the weapons that regiments were given varied wildely, from one hundred year old Prussian imports to state of the art revolving rifles, the men fighting were all fighting with weapons that were completely different. The men of the 20th Wisconsin were one such unit that were equipped with 4 different arms by the time they arrived at prairie grove¹, the quality of these arms varied greatly. They were first equipped with Austrian import Lorenz Muskets that were of extremely poor quality, and posed a danger the man behind the rifle as much as it did to the soldier on the other end of the barrel.² One disgruntled 20th Wisconsin infantry man was quoted "Worst of all was the miserable, worhtless arm that was furnised to us at Madison, men ought to be shot or hung who knowingly would put such weapons into the hand of our brave Wisconsin boys."³ This shows that within some units they were appaled at the weapons they were furnished with, as they knew there were better arms out there that they could have just as easily been given. This dislike for their main weapons was known to atleast some commanders as the same unit brought forth these issues with commanding officers, one who admitted there arms were worthless, but they must continue with them anyways⁴. The 20th wisconsin then were issued with one hundered year old Potzdam muskets, which were considered a substaintial upgrade to there old Austrian weapons⁵. The final weapon switch that the 20th made was to the Union standard 1861 springfield rifle in Oct. of 1862. This rifle was american made and much newer than the old rifles the 20th had been forced to used previously. As the 20th arrived at Prarie Grove, they were fighting with 4 different rifles, all firing different calibers, much to the dismay of officers and leadership⁶. The many changes in weapons that the soldier were equipped with paints a larger picture on the supply capabilities of the Union, as it shows how they were unable to furnish their all their soliders with the standard rifle. On the Contrary, other units were given much more modern, nearly experimental weapons when they went into battle, such as the 37th Illinois, who fought with Colt revolving rifles⁷, weapons that were capable of significantly higher volumes of fire.

Uniforms and Gear

The uniforms of the soldiers of both the union and confederacy were standardized for infantryman, calvalry, and artillery. However due to the many overseeing bodies, the US government, the CSA government, Individual States governments, and through subsitiution of items of clothing into uniforms, there is a vast, and innumerable combinations of uniforms and gear that soldiers wore and were quipeed with. This section will primarly cover the standard issue uniforms that soldiers had, not taking into account all the subsitiutions and changes that individuals made to thier uniforms.

The Union's standard uniform was laid out before the war through regulations in 1858 and 1860⁸. The base of the uniform for the standard common infantry man was a Navy blue frock coat, a black felt hat, and sky blue pants, these pieces of clothing is what is commonly associated with union troops throughout the civil war. The battle of Prairie Grove is relatively early in the american civil war, so many of the changes that the US governement made throughout the civil war for uniforms is not seen at this battle, namely the addition or corps badges was not seen on uniforms until 1863.⁹ These emblems eventually gave the common soldier a sense of brotherhood and pride for the corp the are serving within. 

The soldiers had the option of substituing parts of their uniforms, such as new boots, when they needed them, although this was usually at their own cost.

The Confederate army had much the same standards of dress as the Union army did. They had specific uniforms for each rank, with specific calls for what has to be on the uniform. The Confederacy however took a different approach to designing their uniforms, with much more graidose uniform decorations for officers. For the common soldier, however, the uniforms remains fairly simple much like the union⁹. The uniform fo the confederacy features a simple light or "Cadet" grey overcoat, with sky blue pants reminiscant of the unions. The coats that the common infantry man wears are extremely simple while denoting rank, and arm of service.

The Uniforms that both the union and confederacy wore, were built to be extremely simple and in theory easily distinguishable during fighting, although in practice that was not always the case. The common soldier was lightly equipped with extra gear besides the items they required to fight, and built to be as easily equipped as possible.