Back in the late 1970's a very knowledgeable friend of mine when it comes to Civil War friearms was asked to identify the remains of a relic rifle that had been uncovered in an archeological dig at a Civil War battle site outside of Richmond, Va. He identified the relic as that of the remains a M1863 Remington Rifle, a.k.a. the "Zouave" Rifle.
Figuring that the relic remains of that Zouave would "prove" that, at least, one Zouave had seen combat during the Civil War, I contacted the company that did that dig. Unfortunately, their records from that period are missing along with any remains of that Zouave they dug up.
The historical record indicates that as far as can be determined, all of the Remington Zouaves delivered during the Civil War to the U.S. Government were shipped directly to warehouses and remained in storage until around 1900 when they auctioned off at surplus auctions. In other words what we call the Remington Zouave today probably "never fired a shot in anger." [at least, if and when the relic remains of that relic Zouave Rifle are ever found again-then we can probably say the Zouave "probably fired a
few shots in anger!"]
Most Re-enactment groups have now banned Zouaves from use because there is no documented use of those rifles during The Civil War. Val Forgett and Navy Arms was responsible for the initial production of the first replica Zouaves in Italy back in the early 1960's. Since then the replica Zouaves have been manufactured by many different manufacturers in Italy not to mention by factories in Spain and even the Far East.
The quality of the replica Zouaves goes from "superb and excellent" to "terrible," depending who, where and in what time frame the replica was manufactured. Some of the early Italian Zouaves are truly fine, high quality firearms in the best sense of the words.
HERE IS THE ANSWER TO THE MYSTERY AS TO HOW THE REMINGTON RIFLE BECAME KNOWN AS THE "ZOUAVE RIFLE."
The story of the replica Zouaves are intertwined with the early history of the North-South Skirmish Association [
www.n-ssa.org/ ] The N-SSA was founded in 1950 and N-SSA rules allowed the use of ONLY original (or N-SSA "Approved" replica,) Civil War
military issue arms.
Back in the early 1950's original, "mint condition-never issued" Civil War military arms (Springfields, Enfields, etc.,) were available at very reasonable prices from the various surplus dealers for around $20.00-$25.00 each. While many of these arms were used in N-SSA competition, the "mint condition" original Remington made Zouaves were also available.
These original Remington Zouave rifles quickly earned an exceptional reputation for accuracy in N-SSA competition, often winning target matches and easily surpassing the accuracy of the three barrel band Springfields and Special Model 1861 Rifle-Muskets, etc., [Probably due to the fact that the manufacuring quality of the original Remingtons were very. very high and the Remington rifles used a short,"heavy" stiff barrel compared to the Springfield Rifle-Muskets.]
Val Forgett was a member of the N-SSA and was aware of the reputation of the original Zouaves to be "Match Winners." As founder and President of Navy Arms, he had started the entire replica industry by the introduction of the Italian made Model 1851 replica Navy Colts in the late 1950's.
So, Val Forgett made the decision to have a replica of the Remington Rifle made in Italy and imported and sold in the U.S. by Navy Arms.
Val Forgett's problem was that he could not market and sell the replica Remington rifle as a "Remington" because the Remington Arms Company was still in business and the "Remington" name copyrighted by the company.
So, for advertising purposes, Val Forgett simply named his replica Remington Rifle the "Zouave" to associate it with those colorfully uniformed Yankee regiments in the early days of the Civil War. For merketing purposes, Val Forgett's descision to name his replica Remington the "Zouave" was sheer advertising genius.
Obviously, as far as can be determined by historical research, NO original Zouave Regiment ever were issued the Remington "Zouave" rifles [as they were in storage in a warehouse somewhere in the North]...however, some of the Zouave regiments during the Civil War were issued U.S. Model 1841 "Mississippi" Rifles.
But, thanks to Val Forgett and his advertising copy for Navy Arms, the name "Zouave" stuck to all of the replica Remington rifles and still does to this very day.
The Remington "Zouave" is actually an "amalgamation" in design. REmington had been one of the contractors that produced U.S. Model 1841 "Mississippi" Rifles for the U.S. Government in the late 1840's and early 1850's. When Remington delivered the last "Mississippi Rifles" on their contracts, they must have simply set aside some of the specialized Mississippi Rifle machinery and fixtures. Then during the Civil War, when Remington got the government contracts for the "Zouave" rifle, they got that machinery out of storage, dusted it off and used it to produce the lock and barrel of the Zouave Rifle.
The stock and furniture of the Remington Zouave Rifle is almost a direct copy of the stock and furniture found on the brass mounted, U.S. Model 1855 Harpers Ferry Rifle. So, design wise the Zouave Rifle uses the lock and barrel of a U.S. Model 1841 "mississippi" Rifle and the stock and furniture (slightly modified) of the U.S. Model 1855 brass mounted Harpers Ferry Rifle.
So, there you have it Val Forgett gave the replica Remington rifles he had made in Italy the name "Zouave" for advertising purposes!! A great business then and now-but nothing to do with history.