So while talking to veteran arms about uniforms I also stumbled across some unique shoes they sell. They right now are going for 50 dollars while supplies last. Sounds too good to be true I thought. So looking at them, I find they are wooden soled, clogs if you will. They look nice, although they have a rail instead of hobnails?

However I wonder, how exactly accurate might these be for southern soldiers to be wearing, as they claim at least a hundred thousand of this patter were made and cite a quotation of the time about said shoe. I do not know how accurate this claim is. I ask if any of you may know more about them


http://www.veteranarms.com/ReproductionMuzzleloadersandFlintlocks/Boots.html

I don't know know much about the shoes but from what i've heard of veteran arms they do quality stuff. And when it comes to shoes, a hundred thousand isn't too much when millions of other shoes were made from other patterns.

Looking at the other descriptions they have for their products it seems what they say is pretty accurate.

what they're selling there are british 19th century workmans clogs, these were made for factory workers, not men who'd be marching around for miles. these are not really correct for CW use, he just found some company reproducing workmans clogs and bought them because they have wooden soles. they are perfect reproductions of workmans clogs, including the iron sole rim, but they match nothing I have seen attributed to the south during the war.


Ian

My sutlery sells them... Mine are directly copied from originals housed at the Museum of the Confederacy... I've done alot of research on this particular subject... I'll post some of my research later.

That would be lovely. Thanks!

From The Book Huntsville to Appomattox

In 1864 (this is from memory so forgive if some of the details aren't
exact), the regiment was crossing a creek with steep banks. As the
column crossed, the far bank became increasingly slipperly from the
splashing water and crossing of men. A young soldier, a new replacement
apparently, was equipped by the CS QM with wooden soled shoes and was
unable to get any traction and couldn't get up the far bank. As he
tried repeatedly, the old veterans laughed at him until he broke down
and cried. (Which I'm sure created still more laughter and cat calls.)

You can see several mentions of them in the Petersburg campaign, they were called trench shoes. There's also a unfinished pair in Don Troiani's Book Regiments and Uniforms of the Civil War with a jean cloth upper and a wooden sole which came out of the Atlanta Arsenal.

On the Confederate Homefront you can see women mentioning these in their diaries quite often, especially in the late years of the war. I know that the wife of the Governor of Alabama had a pair of wooden soled slippers, because I have seen them.

These were quite unpopular, but necessity is the mother of all invention.

The ones I make are surprisingly comfortable and would be a great addition to a late war CS impression.

I like the look of your shoes. I like your mechanics hat too.

Yes I think at some point down the road I might look into a pair of your shoes, they really are like chuck taylor's heh. The mechanic hat is good too, I think Mike might want to look at one, he prefers that style of hat.

I have found this thread very interesting. (I am a long time reader, but have never commented before.)

Confederate brogans with wooden soles and uppers made of leather, canvas, or jean wool were manufactured in large quantities and saw considerable use. This has been a subject of particular interest to me for several years, and I have managed to pull together a significant amount of information and quite a few photographs.

During my research of war-time manufacturing in Columbus, GA I encountered information about the production of wooden bottom brogans made with leather and canvas uppers. Estimates are that of the nearly 300,000 pairs of brogans produced in the city for military use, that as many as half may have had wooden soles. From my recent book:

"Other products of use to the army were produced in Columbus in huge quantities. Two factories produced both conventional brogans and shoes with wooden soles. When leather became scarce, the uppers of the wooden shoes were made with canvas from the mills in town. What the wooden-soled shoes may have lacked in comfort, they made up for in thrift. Whereas leather shoes commanded premium prices by mid-war, often in excess of seventy-five dollars per pair, the government could purchase wooden-soled shoes with cloth or canvas uppers for as little as ten dollars." - Columbus Georgia 1865: The Last True Battle of the Civil War (Univ of Alabama Press: Tuscaloosa, 2010) page 31.

Somewhere in my papers I have copies of the files for the John Tibbet's Shoe Co. & Gov't Shoe Shops (Columbus, GA) showing orders and receipts for wooden soled shoes with leather and cloth tops as well as equipment purchased for their production and employment information for the factory.

Wooden-soled brogans are mentioned several times in period newspapers from Columbus in addition to wooden-soled shoes of manufacture elsewhere. The following is an example:

"Wooden-Soled Shoes. - We learn that the Georgia made shoes with double maple sole are in very good demand. Mr. Markstein has already filled a considerable order from Virginia, for army demand, we suppose. Several planters have been testing their merits, and the result in all cases proved favorable. In our own immediate vicinity, or in what might be properly called “The Army of Mobile,” they have been tried, and the report is so favorable that only yesterday an additional lot was ordered. We have no hesitation in saying that they will prove an excellent marching shoe. Some other article might better suit the double-quick movement, but for an all-day lick they will prove less fatiguing than a more elastic shoe. Besides, the foot is less liable to heat in them, no matter what kind of sock is worn, or even should the soldier find himself without any. One thing we must say - though that will not diminish their value among our boys - they’ll never do to run away in; indeed, they are a Southern shoe, and not designed for that kind of service." -Columbus (GA) Enquirer - January 21, 1862

For other CW newspaper mention:

"SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY [ATLANTA, GA], October 6, 1861, p. 3, c. 2
*************** Wooden Shoes.--We have received, from Mr. McKinlay, a pair of shoes, very simply and ingeniously made of a species of gum wood, of which our swamps contain an everlasting supply, and which, when seasoned, combines the lightness of white pine, the strength of hickory, and, to some degree, the elasticity and endurance of horn.* They can be made water-proof by the addition of a coat of oil or varnish.* In the present scarcity of leather, the suitability of these shoes for plantation use is a matter of grave moment.* Specimens of the shoes may be seen in our office--Charleston Mercury, 2d October."

Wooden-soled boots were also produced by A.F. Purejoy (Forrestville, NC). These shoes conform to the most commonly encountered style - solid wood sole with metal rails and leather uppers. (They are also similar to the traditional English clog that had been common in Europe and in America since colonial times.) A photo of one of these brogans can be seen in the work: The Illustrated History of American Civil War Relics by Stephen W. Sylvia & Michael O'Donnell (Moss Publications: Orange, VA, 197 on page 138. The shoes depicted were captured from a Confederate soldier. Attached is a photo of a pair of almost identical boots.

From Entrepreneurs In The Southern Upcountry: Commercial Culture in Spartanburg by Bruce W. Eelman: "Military demands and civilian shortages also resulted in greater diversification of products made at the mills. In 1864 John Bomar's Bivingsville factory was reportedly turning out six hundred wooden shoe soles per day." page 124.

There were several patents for wooden-soled shoes issued by the Confederate Patent Office including:

M.G. (*G.M.) Rhodes and A. Bingham of Talladega, AL for Wooden Bottomed Shoes - 69
02/03/1862

E.S. Collins of Aspinwall. VA for Wooden Soled Shoe - 131
12/19/1862

Robert Creuzbaur of Travis Co., TX for Wood Soled Shoe - 168
05/04/1863

Sylvester L. Burford of Lynchburg, VA for Wooden Shoe Sole - 172
05/25/1863

Robert Creuzbaur (*Creugbaur) of Austin, TX for Wooden Sole Shoe - 196
08/28/1863

Robert Creuzbaur (*Creugbaur) of Austin, TX for Half Wooden Sole Shoe - 197
08/31/1863

A.T. (*A.F.) Purejoy of Forrestville, NC for Wooden Shoe Sole - 265
11/23/1864


The style of other documented CW wooden-soled shoes/brogans vary significantly. Some have relatively flat bottoms, while others are curved. Most feature a one-piece sole, while others were produced (or were modified) with a split sole to allow the foot to flex. Many feature toe caps of brass. The soles frequently have iron plates or rails on the toe, heel, and often both. Toe shape also varies with some having square toes, some more rounded toes, and few with a more pointed toe (resembling early English clogs from the colonial period), the latter probably having started life as civilian shoes. The style and height of the uppers also vary.

For a photo of an unfinished pair of CS brogans with jean wool tops, see the following link:


In addition to wooden-soled shoes produced for military use, civilian wooden-soled shoes were common enough to have made an appearance within CS ranks. Mill and factory workers sometime wore them as did slaves. I am attaching a photo of a pair of documented CW period "slave shoes" which are almost identical to the Purejoy shoes with the exception that the uppers are of "brogan" height as opposed to the taller "boot length." Attached is a pic.

The civilian shoes, of whatever quality, were not just for men either. From Scatterlings: Blair, Williams, and Turner To Texas 1858-1973 by Rusty Williams: "But her last pair of boots had fallen to pieces from wear and there were no more to be bought. What boot leather was available in Texas had gone to the army for saddles and harness. So now she wore sabots, homemade shoes with carved wooden soles onto which coarse leather uppers were tacked. They rubbed blisters on the tops of her toes and raised painful red growths on the sides of her feet; her ankles would swell, and the edges of the unfinished leather chafed her skin. The sabots were just one more "Confederate makeshift" that Virginians in Texas had to deal with."

Have some photos, but I can't figure out how to upload them. Oh well.
Fun thread.

Charles

Oh wow, thanks so much for putting all this research up for us to see. This is most certainly something I would like to see more off in our camps -- something I'm sure most of the public and most other reenactors are unaware of.

since i need new boots i might save up for a good pair of wooden soles now