Zouave

zwav, a French soldier. The original Zouaves were a fair haired, blue-eyed, sun-tanned Berber people living in Algiers and Tunis and the oases of the Sahara. Their young men were employed as soldiers by the dey of Algiers and subsequently by the French. Later the term was transferred to French soldiers who were clad in the baggy trousers of the Arab. The French Zouaves distinguished themselv es in the Crimean War. During our Civil War a few Northern regiments adopted the uniform and name.