Foot care for the foot weary soldier

[Kykeydet12]

I have already searched around and what not for anything concerning foot care and having found nothing I would like to pose the question of foot care to you folks. I am wondering if anything has anything documented on foot care by soldiers.

a couple questions that have gone through my mind in the past couple days may be served to start this conversation:

- how did soldiers with high arches deal with the issue bootees? what about flat footed-ness?
- any documentation of using talc powder?
- obviously breaking shoes in is a very common thing, but did any regiments take on effort to see to it that this was done specifically?
- Foot checks?
- now we have mole-skin but did soldiers have anything they could have used in it's stead?

[cprljohnivey]

Re: Foot care for the foot weary soldier

"- now we have mole-skin but did soldiers have anything they could have used in it's stead? "

A trick that can be traced back since the invention of sheep is to put some lambs wool in your shoe where there is a hotspot, and this will reduce the friction. If you don't happen to come across any farms with lambs wool, you can always yank it out of your cap box but don't let your sgt. see you do it. :wink_smil

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Foot care for the foot weary soldier

Mr Ireland, would you mind sharing the source for that bit of advice? I'd like to include the documentation in my notes on shoes if possible.

[erik]

Re: Foot care for the foot weary soldier

Reprints of various Soldier's handbooks and a Sanitary Commision tract from 1861 recommend the rubbing of soap or wax from tallow candles on the socks where soldiers experience rubbing. This remedy was taught to me when I first entered the Regiment in the 60's. This actually does work.
The above method is supported by an article from a Dr. Hunt, an Army Surgeon who served in the Crimea.

Erik Simundson

[DougCooper]

Re: Foot care for the foot weary soldier

This probably goes without saying but folks in those days, esp soldiers, had very tough feet on avg. Tallow/grease/soap were used as has been said. Washing feet and carrying a dry pair of socks was important too. I cannot recall a specific instance of an official foot inspection. I imagine any good NCO or officer addressed the subject often, as good leaders do.

[PetePaolillo]

Re: Foot care for the foot weary soldier

Here is a scanned page from Butterfields Camp and outpost duty for the infantry 1862. There is a great chapter in there on Rules of Health for the soldier and it gives some great period tips for soldiers on the march. Bullets 22-24 speak specifically of the feet.

[ephraim_zook]

Re: Foot care for the foot weary soldier

The following from Kautz's Customs of Services for NCOs and Soldiers:

150. The shoes are the most important item of clothing to the foot soldier The army bootee is much the best The soles should be broad the heels low and broad Woollen socks should be worn The feet should be bathed frequently in cold water Boots are universally impracticable for marching If the ankles require support the French gaiter can be worn they are also a very good protection from mud and dust and protect the trousers.

Ron Myzie

[hta1970]

Re: Foot care for the foot weary soldier

I posted this in another thread, but I'll repost this here again.

I will provide two examples written by medical officers, both Confederate.

From "The Southern Soldiers Health Guide," by John Stainback Wilson M.D., A. A. Surgeon PACS, Richmond 1863:

Care of the feet - Blistered feet should be bathed in cold water, and then a plaster made of hog's lard, worked up with a finely-powdered chalk or flour, should be applied. It is said that rubbing soap into the socks will prevent blistering. Corns should be well soaked in warm water, closely trimmed, and then one or two wafers should be placed on them The feet should be bathed every morning in cold water to harden the skin, allay and prevent irritation, and guard against cold. A cold foot bath every morning is the best of all remidies for cold feet, and is the best preventative of "colds" and internal congestions.

From "A Manual for Military Surgery, " by Julian J. Chisolm M.D., Surgeon CS Army, 3rd Edition, Columbia 1864

During the mid-day rest, if any opportunity exists, the shoes and stockings should be removed and the feet bathed, which, by removing dirt and acid secretions, will prevent excoriations. It may also be advantageous, at such times, to change the socks from one foot to the other, so the seams may come at different portions of the foot, which will prevent continued and injurious pressure. Soaping the sock will also prevent excoriations, and add much to the comfort of a soldier while on the march.

I found no mention of the topic in the first edition of Chisolm which was published in 1861.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Foot care for the foot weary soldier

Mr Ireland, would you mind sharing the source for that bit of advice? I'd like to include the documentation in my notes on shoes if possible.

I'm also curious to see a period mention of using lambswool or any other pad/covering/barrier to protect the feet from friction. What always surprises me about period foot-care advice is that it rarely addresses any mechanical way of protecting the feet; it's all about reducing friction through soap, etc., or about general foot health like washing. In modern life, that just doesn't work for me. A few minutes walking, and the non-friction substance just wears off.

What makes my feet happy on long walks is cloth adhesive tape (first aid tape) wrapped over any hot spots, but I've only found one period mention of that or anything similar:

During the midday rest, and while dinner is preparing, each soldier would do well to take off his shoes and socks and wash his feet, if water is accessible, so as to remove the acrid perspiration and dirt. He ought especially to wash between the toes, and by this means he will do much towards the prevention of excoriations and soft corns. It is sometimes advantageous to change the socks from one foot to the other, so that their seams or folds shall pass upon new points. When the heels become tender, or ulceration is threatened, they should be protected with common adhesive plaster. A Practical Treatise on Military Surgery by Frank Hastings Hamilton M.D., 1861

So I'm curious about any other period mentions of a mechanical barrier against blisters.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Foot care for the foot weary soldier

Let's not forget eggs and Scott's Military Dictionary:

To cure blistered Feet.—"Rub the feet at going to bed with spirits mixed with tallow dropped from a candle into the palm of the hand; on the following morning no blister will exist. The spirits seem to possess the healing power, the tallow serving only to keep the skin soft and pliant. This is Captain Cochrane's advice, and the remedy was used by him in his pedestrian tour;" (Murray's Handbook of Switzerland.) The receipt is excellent; all pedestrians and all teachers of gymnastics endorse it, and it cannot be too widely known. To prevent the feet from blistering, it is a good plan to soap the inside of the stocking before setting out, making a good lather all over it; and a raw egg broken into a boot, before putting it on, greatly softens the leather. After some hours' walking, when the feet are beginning to be chafed, take off the shoes, and change the stockings; putting what was the right stocking on the left foot, and the left stocking on the right foot. Or, if one foot only hurts, take off the boot, and turn the stocking inside out.

And since we're already there, here's some advice about snow-blindness:

Snow-blindness.—In civilized life blue spectacles are, as is well known, an indispensable accompaniment to snow-mountain expeditions.

I don't always have a tallow candle on hand, but I try to keep my blue spectacles handy. If nothing else, they make the blisters look better.