To Plate or not to plate?

[FlemSmythe]

This has probably been covered before, but Ill ask it again. How do people feel about Heel plates and their use. Would it be a bad thing to not have them on your brogans? I have noticed that having them on my brogans causes some heel and back pain. what are your thoughts?

[Jayhawk102]

Re: To Plate or not to plate?

I haven't had any heel or back pain. The hell plates are supposed to make them last longer. What I hate about them is you can be heared on wood a mile away and mud sticks to them like he??.

[JohnnyReb42k]

Re: To Plate or not to plate?

I have found no problem with my heel plates. No pain what so ever. Although they are noisy, they do add years of life to your investment. My friend doesn't have heel plates and his didn't last very long. Mine are still kickin'. The only things I hate about them is all the mud that gets stuck in between them, creating an uneven heel. But that can easily be solved by a stick or a knife.

[Michael Comer]

Re: To Plate or not to plate?

I don't use them because they are overrepresented in my opinion, although I understand why folks have them put on.

I have a pair of Tom Mattimore's Paige Lapham shoes. The leather on the top part of the heel has worn down exposing the nail heads more. These seem to act kind of like a heel plate. The nail heads are making more contact with the ground than the leather. I think that will extend the heel's life but will wait and see.

I emailed Tom last week with that very question because I was wondering if the 15 mile march at Mansfield might cause undue wear and tear on the heel. He replied that such an extended continuous march should not have that much effect on the shoe.

[Jimmayo]

Re: To Plate or not to plate?

Usage of heel plates was very uncommon in the CS forces. All you have to do is examine the GB and Antietam photos of dead Confederates to realize the absence of heel plates. Of course those guys were not walking around on paved surfaces and buying their own shoes.

Heel plates are often found in Union sites indicating more Yanks wore them than Confederates.

The sad part of all this is most of the heel plates being used by reenactors just don't look like the originals. The majority of original heel plates were just flat strap iron crudely shaped to the heel. Some were a bit fancy having a channel in which to put the nails.

Some of the heel plates in use now are a bit fancy and custom shaped for what they are.

[vamick]

Re: To Plate or not to plate?

personally If I were in the 'real war' thats one of the first things I would have tossed! they are a menance, and you can forget sure footing on rocks/pavement/cobblestones, or when running/jumping on such, I know of a pard who fell and broke his kneecap because of those cursed things, that why I use a modified version, not quite the whole 'horseshoe' design, more of a heeltap

G Mitchell 1st. Stuart horse artillery

[Matthew.Rector]

Re: To Plate or not to plate?

[QUOTE=huntdaw]I don't use them because they are overrepresented in my opinion, although I understand why folks have them put on.QUOTE]

I agree- I think it is over represented in the hobby as well. The originals I have personally seen haven't had them and many photos I've seen of original are without them.
I may be wrong to assume that most did or did not have them, so I won't make such a statement-however, I have observed that most living historians wear them on their shoes. I do not think it is a bad thing at all to go without them if you choose to.

[TeamsterPhil]

Re: To Plate or not to plate?

that why I use a modified version, not quite the whole 'horseshoe' design, more of a heeltap

Not to be nit-picky or anything, but is there any documentation of this type of heel treatment? I'm just curious as to when this method of protecting shoe heels was developed.

Phil Campbell

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: To Plate or not to plate?

I dont know of any quotes off hand, but relic hunters find them alot.

[marine05]

Re: To Plate or not to plate?

Just a thought here, but this passage from The Last Full Measure, the Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers, may shed a little light on the extent of use of heel plates:

on or about 25 June 1863: Marching in the rain that afternoon, the regiment followed what Henry called a "zig-zag course" through Haymarket and Sudley Springs. By now the rough roads had taken their toll on the new shores that had been issued in Falmouth (just a short time prior) and many of the men were virtually barefoot.

This was not a very long distance, Falmouth is near Fredericksburg, and Haymarket and Sudley Springs is close to Manassas, so the distance is less than 40 miles. I live in the area.

YOS,

DJM

[Mofedshirker]

Re: To Plate or not to plate?

I personally don't have them because I agree with Mr. Comer. I believe that they are over-represented.

[FlemSmythe]

Re: To Plate or not to plate?

So do you think that maybe the reason they find so many heel plates in dig sites is because they tore the cursed things off? Maybe they were just as much a pain in the ass to them too>

Smythe :)

[marlin teat]

Re: To Plate or not to plate?

So do you think that maybe the reason they find so many heel plates in dig sites is because they tore the cursed things off? Maybe they were just as much a pain in the ass to them too>

Smythe :)

Maybe just my bad luck but I've been digging for over twenty years and have never found a single "horseshoe" heel plate and a just a couple of "shield type." Most of my digging has been in winter camps (controlled archaeological digs) and get-there-before-the-bulldozer scrambles in the northwest Ga. area.

This isn't data to draw conclusions from, just personal observations.

[Jimmayo]

Re: To Plate or not to plate?

It's my experience that the number of heel plates found is a very small percentage compared to the number of feet that must have been walking around. Most that I have been found were in Union positions and camps.

Buddy of mine dug a heel plate still attached to a complete heel. Of course there was no shoe attached with a foot in it.

[Jefferson Guards]

Re: To Plate or not to plate?

Does anyone know how common heel plates would have been in civilian usage?