The French army was held in high regard by Americans of the 1850s and 1860s, and many Civil War units adopted the distinctive uniform style of the French Zouves.  One of HäT's first sets provided Civil War buffs with the zouaves they needed to complete their armies.  An update to that set allows for even more variety, providing two heads with straw hats for Confederate zouaves, two heads with fezzes for those units that wore them, four French army backpacks from the first world war, and a new marching figure on each sprue.

The colors of the zouave uniforms varied a great deal.  There are any number of sources both in print and on the 'net that will detail uniforms from the Civil War.  I used Military Miniatures Magazine, an online modeling resource, for the colors of Civil War units.  I have taken information on French zouaves in World War I from Men at Arms Series 286: The French Army 1914-18.  Although the brightly colored zouave uniform tended to draw fire more than the usual dark blue, the Union army continued to form new zouave units right up until the end of the Civil War.  The uniform did not fare so well in the trenches of World War I.  As early as November of 1914 zouave units were issued khaki uniforms to replace the bright red that, although nice to look at, provided a nice target for German sharpshooters.

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Confederate zouaves frequently replaced their tasseled caps with straw hats.  These figures show the uniform of the Louisiana Tigers, an entire brigade of zouaves in the Army of Northern Virginia.

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The first figure is a new, previously unavailable pose for this set.  New York contributed a substantial part of the Union regiments.  Ten of the thirteen zouave units in cap or fez were from New York.

Top (L-R):  5th NY (Duryee Zouaves), 5th NY (Duryee Zouaves), 9th NY (Hawkins' Zouaves)

Middle (L-R): 11th NY (1st Fire Zouaves), 146th NY (Halleck Infantry), and 146th NY (Halleck Infantry)

Bottom (L-R): 69th NY (Meagher's Zouaves), 155th PA, 155th PA

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The last figure is from the 2e Regiment de Zouaves of the French army of World War I.  The second shot shows the whopper of a backpack these guys wore.  There are four backpacks on each sprue, and four of the figures (standing firing, kneeling firing, marching, and stabbing down) have pegs on their backs to accommodate the packs.

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Comments are welcome, and can be sent to Scott MacPhee.

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