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Welcome to the Virtual Home of Old Zouave Militaria, L.L.C.!
I am
a member of the Company of Military Historians, the Hellfire Stew Mess (a small group of American Civil War reenactors), and
the Sons of Confederate Veterans. I collect original Civil War militaria, French Foreign Legion items, original zouave images
and ephemera, vintage photographs and stereoviews, as well as military and historic items from various eras and countries.
On this site, I am posting images from my personal collection, as well as images of items currently for sale or in online
auction at eBay. I was formerly enrolled at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts, so I am also inflicting my artwork on the
online community. (Ha!) This site is continually being revised, so visit often!
"AINSI SOIT-IL!" (The
Battle-Cry of the Hellfire Stew Mess)
They call me . . . "ZOUAVE OUTLAW" (among other things).
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"Warfare in the nineteenth century was no less
bloody than today, yet people of the Victorian era saw it as a romantic adventure. Their vision of the battlefield was largely
formed by the art of the period."
"None were more heroic in lithographs and paintings than the Zouave. He seemed the
'beau-ideal of a soldier,' as General George B. McClellan, of Civil War fame, described him. The French Zouaves enjoyed a
reputation of being recklessly brave on the battlefield, as though warfare was merely a game and their lives simply the table
stakes."
"Their conduct off the battlefield was equally notable, for they tended to be undisciplined, resourceful foragers
who provided for their comfort in any manner which was practical and the 'liberation' of goods meant little to men who could
expect to die in their next combat. Yet, they were not brigands. They were members of an elite corps with an esprit de corps
which bound them together as a family ..."
"The Zouave became a Victorian ideal of a soldier. He was not afraid to
die in combat for he looked upon battle as a field of honor. Yet, he was human and capable of emotion, whether rage on the
battlefield or deep sorrow at the death of a comrade."
"The end of the Victorian era - and it died in the muddy Flanders
fields in 1914 with thousands of brave soldiers - also meant the end of the Zouave. He was a product of Victorian sentimentality
and could not survive the twentieth century in the same form. The French Army retains units of Zouaves, but they no longer
wear distinctive uniforms. ... But the True Zouave, the gallant rascal of the nineteenth century, is gone forever."
Michael
J. McAfee, Zouaves - The First and the Bravest (Thomas Publications, Gettysburg, Pa., 1991)
[Original CDV Image from
the Denis Gaubert Collection]
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Ambrotype of Four Union Soldiers
(Denis Gaubert Collection - Not for Sale)
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Tough Customers of the Old West
Are they (L to R) Frank James, Fletch Taylor,
and Jesse James?
The hombre standing in the center has a Whitney Navy conversion revolver tucked in his vest.
(Denis
Gaubert Collection - Not for Sale)
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19th Century French Zouaves
(Original
Image from the Denis Gaubert Collection)
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There were no survivors in General Custer's command on that hot day of June 25,
1876, and no photographers to record the aftermath and the victors' celebration. This photo is probably the most accurate
depiction of what it must have looked like immediately after the "Last Stand" ended. It was taken in 1909, 33 years
after the event, during a reenactment in South Dakota. (Denis Gaubert Collection - Not for Sale)
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