Pegged vs Sewn Soles

[Thumper]

I do a Georgia Milita impression and I am getting ready to buy a new pair of shoes. I am going to order a pair of "Common" (civilian) shoes from Mattimore Harness. The shoes are available with a sewn sole or a pegged sole. Which would be more common in a "civilian" shoe?

Thanks,

Thumper/Tom Glaze

[JimKindred]

Re: Pegged vs Sewn Soles

Ask Tom, he should be able to help you with that.

[Thumper]

Re: Pegged vs Sewn Soles

Jim,

Thanks for the suggestion. Tom suggested a sewn sole for a civilian shoe worn by a militaman.

However, I would like to learn more about sewn sole shoes during the Civil War era. I have been checking out shoes by MBS, MJN, Mattimore and Robert Land and was surprised that all offered shoe styles with sewn or pegged soles.

Over the years I have come to associate pegged sole with Civil War era shoes but have no historical basis for thinking that way.

I want to know as much as I can about 19th C. shoe styles and construction. Can anyone suggest some good reference sources?

Thanks,

Thumper/Tom Glaze

[markj]

Re: Pegged vs Sewn Soles

Greetings,

"Pegged" soles were uniformly considered to be better than sewn-sole shoes and this was repeatedly stated in various depositions by shoemakers that were published in "Government Contracts" (the published proceedings of the 1861-1862 Congressional investigation into alleged contractor fraud).

For example, the State of Indiana ordered large numbers of pegged shoes. An 8 May 1861 Indiana QMG notice requested "high cut Brogans, with pegs cut out, and each shoe strung with leather strings." Another, 16 June 1861, notice solicited "5,000 [pairs] Army half double-soled Shoes, strung with
leather strings, and pegs to be cut out." These shoes were eventually furnished by "Benedict, Hall & Co., of New York, and "E. C. Mayhew & Co.," of Indianapolis, at prices ranging from $1.20 to $1.30 per pair.

If you look in various QM depot bid solicitations, however, sewn-sole shoes are also requested. Guys like Tom Mattimore can undoubtedly furnish additional documentation on this question.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[tmattimore]

Re: Pegged vs Sewn Soles

I reccomend "the Organization of the Boot and Shoe Industry in Massachusetts Before 1875" by Blanche Evans Hazzard. Harvard university press, I belive it was her doctoral thesis of 1912. It is a good overview of the growth of the industry.

In the era there were three main types of shoe construction, sewn welt, turn shoes and pegged. Pegged shoes begin to appear around 1800 in large numbers although in a recent discussion on the HCC web site evidence of their use appears much earlier. European shoe guilds had codified in the publics mind that sewn welt was the best type of construction but in the vast sea of mud that was America the thread tended to rot and the shoe fell apart. Pegged shoes tended to hold up better and were easier to repair.

Sewn welts require a high degree of skill compared to making peg shoes. For many reasons the shoe trade centered on two cities in the U.S. Boston and Philadelphia. In Boston the shoe trade became a major export industry and started the growth of the modern factory. Most of the pegged and turn shoes made in America were made there. Philly became the center of the sewn trade due in no small part to the army QMD and clothing bureau.

Prior to the WBTS all military shoes were of sewn welt constuction but followed the desgin of the basic Blucher type popular in the civilian market. The QMD felt that a sewn welt shoe was more flexible and easier on the feet of the soldier. As the demand was only in the area of 20,000 pair per year this was not a tax on the ability of the local makers and contractors. Meanwhile towns in Mass. as early as the 1840's were making a million pair of shoes and boots per year. These numbers only swelled with the advent of sewing and pegging machines in the 1850's. Just a side note most of the contractors to the government did not have factories but subcontracted to many factories. At the start of the war there was no where near enough production capicity to meet the demand with states and the federal government competing for shoes( the main reason Lyman Blake invented his sole sewing machine was because he could not find enough sewers to fill his orders in 1857).The man who taught me to sew a welt started at the age of twelve making threads for his father, a piece worker at the Tony Lama factory. he could inseam a pair in about a half an hour I have never seen any one faster.
Consequently millions of pegged shoes were purcased although sewn welt shoes were made through out the war.By 1862 Blake,who had sold his patent to the Mckay sewing machine company, had fully devolped his machine which sewed thru the inside of the shoe insole upper and outsole. He personally trained the early operators who were capable of sewing as many as 400 shoes per day. Thus millions of these were also purchased and by 65 were the bulk of the shoes purchased.

As to early or pre war militia units many were quite well to do and purchased well made uniforms and shoes from custom shops in Phil. and N.Y. They were interested in competions of drill and wished to look and drill sharp which is why I would suggest a sewn shoe for a militia impression.I hope this does not confuse but helps.

[markj]

Re: Pegged vs Sewn Soles

Greetings,

We have the Hazzard book here at Purdue University. Another potentially good source that we have, and which Tom is also probably aware of, is:

Richardson, William H. The boot and shoe manufacturers' assistant and guide. Containing a brief history of the trade. History of india-rubber and gutta-percha, and their application to the manufacture of boots and shoes. Full instructions in the art, with diagrams and scales, etc., etc. Vulcanization and sulphurization, English and American patents. With an elaborate treatise on tanning. Comp. and ed. by W.H. Richardson, Jr.... Boston: Higgins, Bradley & Dayton, 1858.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[tmattimore]

Re: Pegged vs Sewn Soles

Mark
I have been looking for that one since I saw the goodyear patent rubber shoes at the steamboat arabia. I will check and see if I can get it on ILL at the university. Thanks