Jefferson Bootees: How late?

[Oregon Bill]

I have a pair of the natural rough-outs from Fugawee. I know they are "right from about 1800 through the Civil War. Anyone know how long this style of shoe endured after the "Unpleasantness" concluded?

[St. George]

Probably about as long as men tied their shoes...

A very similar version of these became the 'Desert Boot' for the British Army, during WWII - but with a crepe' sole.

That said - what sort of an Impression are you going for - one that's being refined as we speak - or one that's using whatever odds and ends that come your way?

If you're doing something that has your Impression doing a lot of his work on his feet, or in a town - or even military - then they're fine, and eventually, they'll darken.

But if you're doing a mounted man, you'll need actual boots - though the simple arrangement of wearing them with the trouser legs tucked in can make them serve for an earlier time frame, while the opposite will give you a later one.

Styles changed over time.

Part of knowing all you can about your Impression and the times is the ability to concentrate your dollars on more specific items, rather than thinking that if it looks 'old' then it should work just fine.

Folks back then were actually more fashion-conscious that you'd imagine, and the American Cowboy never saw a bright color or pattern that he was afraid to wear.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Oregon Bill]

St. George, I am working on my impression, based on my own great-grandfather, a veteran of the Third Wisconsin Cavalry. Mirroring his real life, he comes home from the war and plans to resume farming in Wisconsin, settles in, marries and starts a family, not far from the two of the three brothers who survived the war. Then it all goes to hell, a fever carrying off his wife and child within a few days of each other. He sells the farm, packs up his harnessmaker's gear, throws his trusty old McLellan saddle on one of his horse and heads out to start fresh, thinking he might find work freighting in the border country and the Indian Nations, where the Third Wisconsin hunted Secesh for the Union. He's no rabid Unionist, appreciating all who make their living from the earth and or with their hands.  And he figures knowing leather, harness and horses will improve his odds of finding work. So he finds himself on the edge of the Plains about 1871 ...
He'll have boots very much like those he wore in service for horseback work, and a set of clothes for "town" and camp, as such -- hence the bootees to go with the pull-on boots.

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