Zouave History
Images and text taken directly from "American Civil War Zouaves"
Elite Series (62)
By Robin Smith & Bill Younghusband
Storming the heights of the Alma, charging gallantly at Inkerman and scrambling up the Malakoff at Sebastopol during the Crimean War, the elite Zouaves of the French Army became the subject of many heroic paintings and illustrations. Across Europe and America their daring reputation caught the imagination. Queen Victoria even had one of her colonial regiments, the West India Regiment, wear Zouave dress.
General George B. McClellan, who was a captain had been called an American Observer in the Crimea, called French Zouaves the ‘beau-ideal of a soldier’, and many Union Volunteers, and some Confederates, fancied themselves as brave ‘Zoo-Zoos. During the course of the American Civil War more than 50 Zouave regiments were formed, mostly in the North.
American Zouave regiments based themselves on the fine reputation that had been built up by the French Zouaves. The original Zouaves had been natives of the Zouaoua tribe mixed with some French settlers, who had served with the French Army during France’s North African campaigns in the 1830s. Their Native North African dress – baggy Trousers, short jacket, and fez – became the basis of the famous Zouave uniform that remained virtually unchanged for more than 50 years; at the beginning of the First World War French Zouaves marched to the front in uniforms little different to those worn in the Crimea. The French originally raised two battalions of native Zouaves; but by the time of the Crimean War, three Zouave regiments of the line had been created entirely of Frenchmen, and a regiment of Imperial Guard Zouaves was raised in 1855. The appeal of being a Zouave was so great that non-commissioned officers often gave up their stripes to serve as privates in these regiments. The Zouaves saw hard service in the Crimea, where they had a great affinity with the wild Highlanders of the British Army. In 1859 during the Italian campaign, when France joined in the fight against the Austrians for Italy’s independence, the 3rd Zouaves won a gold medal for their conduct at Palestro, and all their officers were decorated with the Military Order of Savoy.
Four years later, while their American brothers-in-arms were fighting for the French North and South,
the Zouaves saw much action in the 'Mexican Adventure', adding the honours Puebla and San-Lorenzo to
their achievements, American Zouaves had a formidable reputation to live up to. Most succeeded; some
failed, but all considered themselves to be elite.
The American Zouave Craze:
Gunned down at the beginning of the American Civil War, Elmer E. Ellsworth never even tasted battle, but he sparked a Zouave Craze across America. Born in the village of Malta near Mechanicsville, New York state, on 11 April 1837, Ellsworth became a Military enthusiast at an early age, putting his friends armed with sticks through drill movements in the schoolyard. When he moved to New York Ellsworth frequently visited the drill session of the 'Dandy Seventh', the 7th regiment New York state Militia, a crack unit who were also nick named the 'Old Greybacks' because of their grey uniforms. Later as a struggling law student in Chicago, Ellsworth met up with Charles A. DeVilliers, a former French army surgeon who served with a Zouave regiment in the Crimea.
Ellsworth imagination was fired, and he formed his own Zouave unit, proudly named the United States Zouave Cadets, from a company of Illinois State Militia. Ellsworth issued a challenge to any volunteer or regular regiment in the United States to take on his men in a drill competition, but no other unit took up the challenge.
Instead in 1860 Ellsworth took his cadets on a drill display tour of 19 East Coast cities. The public loved the Zouave cadets, and Ellsworth became a celebrity: His portrait sold by the thousands and ladies swooned over the dashing young officer and his men. The Old Greybacks, whom Ellsworth had lovingly watched in his youth, freely admitted that no other unit could touch the Zouave Cadets for their precision; at the call of a bugle, Ellsworth's men performed gymnastic drill movements, including square, triangle and double cross formations.
Newspapers were full of stories about Zouave exploits. ' A Zouave is a fellow who can climb a greased pole feet first, carrying a barrel of pork in his teeth - that is a Zouave' ran one enthusiastic account in a Chicago newspaper. 'A fellow who can take a five shooting revolver in each hand and knock the spots out of the ten of diamonds at 80 paces, turning somersaults all the time and firing every shot in the air - that is a Zouave'.
Ellsworth and his men had established a Zouave craze in America, but maintaining the crack unit proved too expensive, and the Zouave Cadets were eventually disbanded. Ellsworth moved to Springfield, Illinois, entered Abraham Lincoln's law office and campaigned on the future president's behalf. He was invited by Lincoln to accompany him to Washington, and he saw this as a chance to enter the War office and start a National Militia Bureau in the Federal Government, with himself at the head. But, his dream was never realized.