Greetings & Question on Boots

[USCavTrooper]

Greetings,

After eight long years, I am finally returning to the hobby. With the help of some friends, I am forming a new cavalry unit in Ohio (with some members in Indiana). The new unit is B Company (tentatively), 2nd US Cavalry Regiment (Mounted). I have previous cavalry experience in Rev War reenacting, but I was in the infantry when I was active here.

We do not expect to be ready to take the field until spring, but as I put together our uniform guidelines, I am a bit stumped. I see some cavalry reenactors wearing dragoon boots and others brogans. Was there a specific footwear issued to cavalry? Did it vary by regiment? Or is it a case where they may have been issued one thing but had the option to buy another?

Shane

2nd US Cavalry

[paulcalloway]

Re: Greetings & Question on Boots

Shane -
Firstly, you need to sign your full name to your posts so please include your last name.

Secondly, uniform guidelines for a troop or company are often best sourced by looking at company returns - if they are still in existance. Have you searched for those?

[USCavTrooper]

Re: Greetings & Question on Boots

LOL Sorry Paul. I just realized it after I posted and even sent you a PM apologizing. :) I haven't had the opportunity to look at any original documents. There are two other units portraying companies of the 2nd and I emailed them to say hello and inquire about that and some other questions I had. Being a brand new unit, authenticity is our single biggest focus (along with safety of course), and we want to get things right from the start before we develope any bad habits or spend too much on items we don't really need.

Shane Donovan
B Company, 2nd US Cavalry

[BrianHicks]

Re: Greetings & Question on Boots

Sir,

Might I suggest that you defer to original source documents before you look to the standards of another reenactor group. Even some 'Very Authentic' groups get it wrong on some items.

Also consider that as the war went on, the consistency or uniformity of dress, appearance/issue of items of a particular Regt. or unit was not always a priority of either the men on the ranks or the Quartermaster command that sent the items to the unit. In other words... it may very well be that you find that at any given time, not all men were shod with the same type of issue footwear, or wearing the same particular Arsenel patterns blouse, etc. (Portraying a US Regulars unit may prove otherwise.)

[Andrew German]

Re: Greetings & Question on Boots

Greetings Shane:

Cavalry footwear is a subject of perpetual discussion. Nevertheless, the sources, incomplete as they are, strongly indicate that the cavalry was issued boots, not shoes (brogans). However, that means the 12" boots sometimes called artillery drivers' boots, not the tall boots you see in many photographs. Volunteer troops felt free to purchase their own boots and liked the tall look, as well as the leg protection they afforded. Regular troops conformed to regular issues and lived with the lower boots, which they wore under their pants in any formal setting and perhaps always if required by their officers.

If you want a full accounting of arms and horse equipments for the Co. B of the 2nd, I have microfilm of the ordnance records from the National Archives. They're currently on loan to John Tobey ( a prime resource for cav. specifics), but we can get you details if you need them.

For excellent details on life in the regular cavalry, see Sidney M. Davis, Common Soldier, Uncommon War (John H. Davis, 1994), a trooper in the 6th US.

Regards,
Andy German

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Greetings & Question on Boots

Hallo!

"We do not expect to be ready to take the field until spring, but as I put together our uniform guidelines, I am a bit stumped. I see some cavalry reenactors wearing dragoon boots and others brogans. Was there a specific footwear issued to cavalry? Did it vary by regiment? Or is it a case where they may have been issued one thing but had the option to buy another?"

IMHO, I would urge against looking toward what reenactors wear or do as a General Rule. Sometimes they are research, documented, and authentically kitted- many times not depending upon the segment of the CW Community one is viewing...


IMHO, I am not so sure there is an easy answer to your question...

First, we should perhaps get the "usuals" out of the way.. such as what research indicates for the unit impression time, and place; whether one is going with the Quartermaster Department "issue" mounted services boot, pegged or sewn; whether one is going with an issue versus private purchase boot, etc., etc. Or for that matter, following the "shoe" provisions for cavalry in the 1861 Revised Regulations. Etc., etc.,

Second, assuming it is not the issue boot, then one needs to look at the possibilities and probabilities among a number of Period Correct civilian style boots for a mounted impression; then to what a private could have afforded to have, then to experience/likes/dislikes/druthers; then to one's Period concept of a Personal Statement; then to one's working concept of what constitutes PEC, NUG, or even a Believeable Image, etc.

And third... Whether one's Mental Picture calls for the wearing of "issue" boots, rather than having a shoe/boot maker like Serio, Land, or Mattimore make a pair of custom-made boots to the measurements/dimensions of one's left AND right feet.

But yes, the so-called "issue" mounted services" type boot is a "Wellington" style of "two piece" boot. After that, there is a wide variety of "variations on the theme" in the civilian world, as was there regulations for and against, practices, and individual soldiers going to and away from wearing boots.
And, generally, "stove pipe boots " are called so because the height of the fronts and the backs were even like a section of pipe rather than the front piece being higher. However, there are surviving boots where the front height extentensions were cut off to make them even.

And generally, the "Wellington" style was such that trousers could be worn inside or outside, unlike some styles that flared dramatically toward the top so that trousers had to be worn tucked inside (such as some "mule ear" boots) . Or, some styles where the high height of the boot pretty much dictated that the trousers had to be worn inside.

Again, being too brief and over-generalized here...

[USCavTrooper]

Re: Greetings & Question on Boots

Greetings Shane:

Cavalry footwear is a subject of perpetual discussion. Nevertheless, the sources, incomplete as they are, strongly indicate that the cavalry was issued boots, not shoes (brogans). However, that means the 12" boots sometimes called artillery drivers' boots, not the tall boots you see in many photographs. Volunteer troops felt free to purchase their own boots and liked the tall look, as well as the leg protection they afforded. Regular troops conformed to regular issues and lived with the lower boots, which they wore under their pants in any formal setting and perhaps always if required by their officers.

If you want a full accounting of arms and horse equipments for the Co. B of the 2nd, I have microfilm of the ordnance records from the National Archives. They're currently on loan to John Tobey ( a prime resource for cav. specifics), but we can get you details if you need them.

For excellent details on life in the regular cavalry, see Sidney M. Davis, Common Soldier, Uncommon War (John H. Davis, 1994), a trooper in the 6th US.

Regards,
Andy German

Thank you sir for your input, and thank you to everyone else as well. I have not yet had the opportunity to see what information I can get at the National Archives, and would love to see whatever you have that could help.

Shane Donovan
B Company, 2nd US Cavalry

[Tom Craig]

Re: Greetings & Question on Boots

Shane,
Welcome to the wonderful world of the cavalry! Andy German is a wealth of info...get in touch with him and learn what you can.

I totally agree with what has been said on here about not learning about what is historically accurate by watching other reenactors. Learn from period sources and you can't go wrong. If you and your pards would like to ride with a group that does things pretty good (we have plenty of room for improvement) drop me a line. The 1st Maine does event primarliy in the MD?PA/VA area, and we do only the "better" events. I'll be happy to send you our schedule if you like.

Take care,
Tom Craig

[Benedict]

Re: Greetings & Question on Boots

Randy Steffen in one of his books on the horse-soldiers, section about the Civil War, wrote that they were issued the standard bootees - but maybe he has been proven otherwise.

[1st Maine Trooper]

Re: Greetings & Question on Boots

Randy Steffen has made some incorrect assertions in the past. Particularly the practice and method of attaching canteens to the saddle.

Thats the really fun part of research, the more you dig, the more you find out just how little you actually know and the more you find out just how many previous assumptions are simply wrong.

Dave Myrick