As we all know, Battle Cry of Freedom is a game about the American Civil War (At least I hope you know that).
In the ACW, like any other war, when people fight things tend to get... messy. People get shot, uniforms get ripped, mud gets over your brand new shiny brogans just before round-shot takes the rest of your leg off. To put it in a quick way of saying it, War is Hell, and bad shit happens in Hell.
I'm proposing the idea of adding these effects to uniforms in BCoF (Not dismemberment, that's extremely over demanding for an indie game such as this).
When you get shot, blood splatters onto your uniform (Like in NW), but also you see a bullet hole where it came in. If you get slashed with a sword a rip appears along with some minor bleeding. When you walk through a river, your trousers and sack coat get soaked, along with your brogans. In rainy maps, while you slosh through mud and dirt it starts to appear on your uniform itself. Also, as battles go on you start seeing minor fraying in your uniform, some cotton puffs sticking out, strings going askew, actual rips in your uniform.
Also it'd feel pretty cool to shoot someone's kepi off, just sayin'.
Some examples of degrating costumes or dynaimic effects in games (Be advised, some vids/pics will be graphic in nature).
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine
The Amazing Spider Man
The 3rd Birthday (No, I have never heard of this game either)
Spoiler
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SQV5FjFu6hE[/youtube]
Red Dead Redemption