gotta ask......which side did ya participate on..
were ya dressed in confedrate grey or yankee blue?
Gray or Butterscotch. It was at least $3,000 less expensive even back then than being in blue. The Confederacy didn't issue arms to a lot of the troops; they used what they brought from home that had been hanging over the fireplace mantle, for example. Hence I could use my (percussion) .45 caliber "Kentucky" rifle. I didn't have to buy a (reproduction) .577 Enfield or one of the .58 caliber Springfields, Mississippi, Whitworth, or Zouave rifled for $590 plus. (Confederates using a Northern arm probably got it after the battle from someone that didn't need it anymore, or possibly from those they took prisoner.
They were also not issued all the various leather good, or even uniforms.
Gray wool pants, a suitable vest, and paisley shirts could be found cheap at the second/third hand store. It was easy enough to sew a rank stripe the proper width (in my case 1.5 inch; 1sgt) of the proper color (red for artillery) over the outside seams of the trousers, remove the belt loops, attach buttons for suspenders, and the other modifications to make them period correct. I bought a used field jacket and kepi. Had to change the yellow (cavalry) trim to red and change the buttons on the jacket, but that was easy enough, and saved me $100 or so.
I had a brass frame Remington 1858 New Army (looked close enough at a distance to pass for one of the solid top confederate revolvers, tho both sides had some Colt 1851 Navy, 1860 Army, and 1858 Remington).
The year before I had to quit I went to a yard sale. I bought a 5 gallon oak water barrel with spigot and rack, wood canteen, and his original .69 caliber smoothbore Confederate issue musket that was in shootable condition (he loaded it "like a 20 guage shotgun" and used it for duck hunting. (A reproduction Brown Bess bayonet with a minor modification to the slot fit the musket. (Upper Mississippi River Valley Mercantile Exchange (small store big name) had the bayonet, rank stripes, buttons, flap holster, 2" gun belt, CSA belt buckle, cap pouch, tins of musket and Number 11 caps etc. I needed. Since we were artillery, the good folks holding the event gave us no less than 5 pounds of powder when we signed in. (infantry and calvary usually got one, maybe two pounds of powder. Even 3/4 scale canon use a lot of powder. We could get 4 shots per pound. First Iowa had an original war era 16 pounder. I believe they got between 1.5 and twoo shots per pound. Like us, they used 4 ounces of baking powder in their powder charges for extra boom and smoke ... tho they might have used 6 or 8 ounces of flour.
Even after the guy that owned the canon quit and refused to sell the gun, making us dismounted artillery, they never cut our powder ration. Everyone who was a member of the group had 10 to 40 pounds of powder at home, depending on how long he was with us. I only had a bit over 18 pounds when I had to resign. I shot my muzzleloaders at the range a couple times a week ....
