Lieutenant Erasmus Corwin Gilbreath in Uniform

After leaving Valparaiso, Indiana, the 20th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment traveled to Indianapolis, the state capital, to be equipped.

Erasmus Corwin Gilbreath wrote of the experience:  

“Officers procured their uniforms, swords, & etc. The uniform of the men consisted of a jeans suit, gray in color, the coat or jacket was of Zouave shape with round corners and a braided edge. Thus our first suits were the gray color which the Confederacy adopted as their own. The material was of the worst possible quality and soon wore out. The Officers wore the blue of the Regular Army.”  

Being an officer in a volunteer regiment, Gilbreath purchased his own uniform.