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That is not easy to answer, as at the beginning of the War there were many colors used by state troops who were called up to fight for both sides. For instance the New York Grays, who fought for the north, wore gray uniforms. Many troops from southern states wore blue, early in the war. The First Battle of Manassass had some friendly fire deaths, simply because no distinct differences existed between the uniforms of the Confederates and those of the Unionists, during that battle! After some more battles, the two sides settled into issuing more recognizable uniforms that were, for the most part, very plain and simple. The northern Federalists troops wore blue. The southern Confederates wore gray. Then their are the Zouve suited combatants from both sides, who wore very colorful uniforms patterned after the French Zouve troop's uniforms.
A quick answer is; in general the north wore blue and the south wore gray. Dye became a problem for the south, along with all other imported items. Once the south could not get good dyes, they experimented with various items from local vegetation, that would color cloth and they strove to get gray clothing. Usually the homemade dyes bleached out, when exposed to sunlight and ended up being a yellowish tan, called "Butternut". This butternut color showed up more and more in the latter days of the War. Since all images taken with period cameras are in black and white, it is hard to see what colors were used. Visits to museums, containing period uniforms helps, but one has to remember that time has althered the matieral's color, sometimes to a great degree.
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