“The Bluecoats” is a humorous comic-book series starring Sergeant Chesterfield and Corporal Blutch, soldiers in the Union army during the Civil War. Our two heroes are captured by the Confederates and taken to Robertsonville prison camp, from which Blutch and the Sergeant try to escape five times. The camp commandant despairs, and Chesterfield and Blutch make a final attempt… Robertsonville Prison was inspired by the Andersonville prison camp situated in Georgia, which operated from mid-1863 to mid-1864.

This humorous series on the American Civil War centres around two cavalrymen in the Unionist Army: Cornelius Chesterfield, a zealous and devoted sergeant and Corporal Blutch, a reluctant soldier, highly critical of authority and who always tries to eschew yet another senseless battle. This highly comical duo does what it can to escape the often obtuse military mindset, absurd orders and the madness of war. In this volume, the Sergeant obeys the Captain for the first time and ends up in the Marines…

In this volume, Blutch and Chesterfield go up in an observation balloon in order to spy on the Confederate troops. But the plot thickens when our heroes crash land on their superiors. The generals send them behind enemy lines to try and free Stark who has been captured on a previous sortie. A tricky mission, not only for our heroes, but also for the other side. “The American Civil War has never been so amusing. Raoul Cauvin and Willy Lambil have a knack for turning the miseries of war into a slapstick routine.” Penny Kenny (Comicsbulletin.com)

Blutch and Chesterfield get away from the 22nd Cavalry and go spend some R&R at… Fort Bow, their old posting on the frontier. That’s where Chesterfield’s flame Amelia lives—the daughter of Colonel Appleton. But when the cavalrymen arrive, they find the young lady dancing with a dashing young lieutenant. When a young Native American boy gets mixed up in it by mistake, it doesn’t take long for the situation to spiral out of control. “The American Civil War has never been so amusing. Raoul Cauvin and Willy Lambil have a knack for turning the miseries of war into a slapstick routine.” Penny Kenny (Comicsbulletin.com)

After an even bloodier battle than usual, the Union army is out of men. But so are the Rebels, and General Alexander decides to retreat and come back with reinforcements quickly before the enemy can do the same. To move faster, he leaves his wounded—including Stark and Chesterfield—behind in the nearby town of Rumberley, in the care of its inhabitants and Corporal Blutch. But Rumberley’s a Rebel village…

General Alexander’s Union army is out of horses, and it is now facing none other than Robert E. Lee himself. To rebuild the Northern Cavalry before the coming battle, Blutch and Chesterfield are sent to buy new mounts, with the help of legendary horse trainer Ben “Bronco Benny” Wilcox. But, first, they'll have to cross Rebel lines, face angry Indians, and deal with Benny’s fascination with a very special horse named “Traveller”...

While out on patrol, Blutch and Chesterfield encounter an unusual soldier: a woman wearing a Union uniform, who has come to join the army to look for her brother and uphold the family’s honour. Blutch is unconvinced, but the sergeant, won over by the combination of bravery and a pretty face, agrees to help her. That, however, means taking her along for Captain Stark’s demented charges – a prospect that could drive anyone to shirk their duty or desert…

Two companies are competing to build the intercontinental railway. When one sends saboteurs to intercept the powder needed to pierce tunnels through the mountains, the other calls upon Lucky Luke to protect a last chance convoy. The problem is, it’s not powder that gets loaded onto the train this time – it’s nitroglycerin! And as if that wasn’t enough, the saboteurs are still around ... and the Daltons are convinced the train is full of gold!

Sent to scout the enemy, Blutch and Chesterfield are chased by a Confederate patrol and forced to cross the Rio Grande to safety. But that safety is relative: stuck between Apache bandits and Mexican outlaws, our two Bluecoats have no choice but to disguise themselves as civilians – Blutch as a peasant, Chesterfield as a monk. But the nearby village is eagerly awaiting its new ‘padre’, and the villagers aren’t fooled by the deception...

After another long day of charging, Blutch and Chesterfield make the acquaintance of Matthew Brady, a professional photographer dispatched by President Lincoln to document the ongoing historic struggle. Photography, still a new invention, together with Brady’s talent for capturing the moment, are met with great enthusiasm by both the rank and file and the top brass. Inevitably, it’s not long before Blutch and Chesterfield are ordered to act as the artist’s protective detail – much to the sergeant’s disgust...

Stark’s constant, reckless charging has once again depleted the 22nd Cavalry. Faced with an understandable dearth of volunteers, the Army’s brass drafts – without telling them – some freshly arrived immigrants. And Blutch and Chesterfield are tasked with instructing them in the art of riding down the enemy. But there’s a problem: the new recruits only speak Russian! And while those Cossacks are already fantastic riders, they have no desire to die for the glory of the Union...

Even as the sea blockade by the Union Navy slowly strangles the South, the picket ships begin to mysteriously blow up one after another. Lincoln, worried that the war could stretch on too long if the Rebels are resupplied, orders that the Confederates’ secret weapon be identified. That means sending spies to Charleston, though, in the heart of the enemy’s territory. And who will be the two unlucky fools the brass entrusts with such a dangerous mission … ?

War rages on, and the wounded pile up – including Blutch, courtesy of Confederate artillery. The Union Army doctors are swamped. In order to address his shortage of healers, General Alexander brings in a quartet of female nurses. But while he did also recruit a foul- tempered ‘matron’ of sorts to discourage anyone more interested in flirting than doing their duty, he may not have planned for the possibility of one of the nurses falling for a certain small, unruly, bald corporal …

After a series of bloody battles, the 22nd Cavalry is once again depleted. Sent on a recruiting drive, Chesterfield meets only failure – between the reputation of their unit and Blutch’s constant sabotage efforts, finding volunteers is almost impossible. Until fate brings them to a penitentiary where some very unsavoury characters are about to hang. Offered a choice, the criminals will pick the uniform over the noose, but can they be controlled?

A new recruit makes the mistake of asking Blutch to tell him about the infamous battle of Bull Run … in public! The hostility of the other Union soldiers is immediate, yet Blutch eventually explains the reason for it. That battle, the first major one of the war, which had seemed to the North like such an inevitable victory that masses of civilians had gone to watch it as spectators, ended in a complete rout. And Blutch and Chesterfield were there …

A quiet day in the Union Army … Soldiers are resting, Blutch and Chesterfield are arguing, and the generals are plotting strategy. Things change suddenly with the arrival of a new regiment, sent as reinforcements to counter the imminent arrival of the Confederates. With them is a young dog, Sallie, who’s been on every battlefield with her uniformed masters, and who takes an immediate liking to Chesterfield, to the point that she accompanies him on a dangerous scouting mission …

The Civil War rages on. Despite some much-needed victories, losses have been harrowing on the Union side, and volunteers are getting scarce. That leaves conscription, but it’s an extremely unpopular measure – especially because of the possibility to avoid it by paying a sum of money only the rich can afford. Yet the North has little choice but to maintain it … and this is how, in July 1863 in New York City, simmering resentment turns into bloody rioting – with Blutch and Chesterfield caught in the tragic events.