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PATTERN 1876 US ARMY MOUNTED TROOPER’S BOOTS ––
STAMPED “US QMD” - A VERY RARE PAIR IN SOLID CONDITION:
This matched pair of US
Army Pattern 1876 Boots were worn by the mounted
enlisted men during the height of the Indian War period,
and have the added value of being stamped with a legible
“US QMD” stamp, indicating they were produced within the
army’s internal manufacturing system as opposed to being
made by a civil manufacturer under contract.
This set presents as having been together forever, as if
the trooper just kicked them off at the end of the day.
And, I suspect that is exactly what happened. He
finished his final enlistment and packed the boots
away.
In his seminal
work, Boots and Shoes of the Frontier Soldier,
Sidney Brinckerhoff provides a detailed study of the
evolution of the post-Civil War cavalry boot.
After only four years in service, the design of
the Pattern 1872 Boot was reviewed by the 1876 Uniform
Board and minor changes to the pattern were ordered. In
response to requests from the soldiers who wore them,
the boot front was increased from 15” to 15 ½” high, and
the circumference of the leg of the boot was increased
to more readily accommodate the trouser leg inside the
boot top. Compared side by each, the leg of the Pattern
1876 Boot is noticeably larger than that of the Pattern
1872 Boot.
Although the tops of this pair of boots have relaxed due
to being worn, and the leather has formed the
characteristic “wrinkles” around the ankle, when the
leather is expanded to its full height, the boot fronts
measure the proper 15 ½” high.
Brinckerhoff goes on to document that in 1874 Congress
created the Military Prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,
and that the same law specifically provided for the
production of Army footwear by prison labor. The boots
and shoes produced at the prison were marked “USQMD” and
“MP”, however examples have been noted which do not bear
both stamps on the same boot or shoe, or even in
combination on a pair. The left boot of this pair is
legibly stamped “USQMD” on the inside of the front top,
indicating “U.S. Quarter Master Department”.
This presence of this stamp and the dimensions of the
boots, serve to firmly identify this pair as Pattern
1876 Boots produced by the army, rather than by a
civilian contractor. As a significant number of the
civilian-made boots were used by the army at the same
time the QMD produced boots were issued, finding a
surviving pair with the Quartermaster stamp is a rare
event.
These boots are manufactured of the proper “waxed calf”
leather - that is the rough side of the leather is outer
surface of the boot rather than the smooth finished
side. The rough nap was finished with a wax coating
which prevented the boots from hardening and
subsequently cracking due to repeated wetting and drying
cycles as they were exposed to wear in the field. The
leather is very strong, remains live and supple, and
retains much of the original waxed finish. The boots
are made with a one piece front and one piece back, sewn
along the sides with a reinforcing welt to protect the
stitches.
Despite the obvious evidence of wear, these boots have
survived in very respectable condition. The uppers are
fully intact with none of the characteristic heavy wear
around the toe area.
The leather on both boots
is supple, has not hardened, and the finish is overall
excellent.
The right boot of this pair has a
repair on the outside of upper just above the sole and
just forward of the front edge of the heel, where this
soldier’s boot would have rested and worn against the
wooden frame of his stirrup, confirming that these boots
were worn by a mounted soldier. The left boot shows
light cracks in the leather surface at this same
location, likely the beginnings of stirrup wear to this
boot as well. The boot tops are of the diameter of the
Pattern 1876 produced by the army, increased from the
diameter of the Civil War boots and again larger than
that of the Pattern 1872 Boots in order to better
accommodate the wearing of the soldier’s pant legs
inside the boot tops.
Both boots are complete with all components to include
both sets of boot pulls. The boot pulls all bear the
same stamped numeral – “6350”, and I will offer a
thought on these numbers. Leather workers in the 19th
Century, like other tradesmen, were "piece workers"
rather than hourly employees. A worker was literally
paid by the number of pieces he produced on a given day,
an accounting made by the shop foreman in the course of,
or at the end of, the work day. This was true for the
army’s arsenal workers as well, with small sets of
initials stamped on the accoutrements produced at the
arsenals during the 1870-1918 period, applied by the
worker as he finished each piece so he would get credit
for it.
Brinckerhoff’s description of the labor arrangement at
Leavenworth is brief, however the employment of
prisoners in work shop settings has a long historical
record.
While their wages were extremely
low, what pay they did receive allowed them to keep
themselves in coffee, tobacco, etc. that the prison
would not have provided. I have no doubt that the
prisoners were paid as piece workers like any other
bench workers of the period - just not as much.
Brinckerhoff does make the point that when the
manufacture of boots was established at Leavenworth, the
cost per pair of boots and shoes dropped dramatically.
I
strongly suspect the four digit
number on the boot pulls was a prisoner number -
assigned by the prison system and entered in the record
books, stenciled on his clothing and any other place
that his individual identification was required. If the
records of the prisoners
incarcerated at Leavenworth
for this period exist, it would be interesting to see if
this number shows up, and if indeed it does, do the
records indicate that prisoner was employed in the
leather shops at the prison.
The top of the right boot has a triangle of leather
pieced in the “knee lobe”, and at first glance it
appears as an old repair. Once again, Brinckerhoff’s
research reveals that this piece of leather was not a
repair, but rather part of the original manufacturing
process. On page 13, he shows a pair of what he
describes as “1876 officer’s quality [boots]”, and the
left boot of that pair shows this same triangular piece,
sewn in the same manner, in the same location as on the
right boot of this pair. During the Indian War era,
finances were a constant source of concern and the army
made every effort to conserve expensive commodities such
as leather. When the patterns were laid out on the
hides for cutting, that the pattern extended past the
edge of the hide for this small amount would not have
been sufficient for the cost-mindful workers to discard
the hide. Rather, they simply cut a piece to fill the
void and stitched it in place. At this place on the
boot, such an addition would not compromise the comfort,
strength or durability of the boot, nor did it affect
the appearance.
After discovering this feature and finding the
photograph of the second pair, I realized I had seen
this same pieced-in treatment on an item in my personal
collection. Years ago I purchased a Northern Plains
beaded bag fashioned from what I recognized at the time
of purchase as two pieces of army boot top leather. The
bag, measuring 10” long by 6” high, is sewn with sinew
around the bottom and the sides, and is then beaded
along those edges and along the open top. The stitching
pattern of the boot pulls (which were removed) is
visible in the waxed calf black leather, and there is no
doubt the maker of the bag salvaged the leather from a
pair of high topped boots. While the balance of the
stitching on the bag is all hand done with sinew, and
definitely of the period, there is a short 2” section of
machine stitching, like the stitching which at one time
anchored the boot pulls, where a triangular piece of
leather was added to the main piece. Before
understanding that these additions were commonly
executed in the manufacture of these boots, I had no
context to understand this small stitched piece on the
bag, but now this small triangular patch further
explains the history of this bag as having been made
from tops of a pair of Indian Wars era army boots.
The sole and
heel of the right boot shows light wear, but they are
fully intact. Evidence that this soldier had a problem
with his gait on the left side, perhaps from an injury
or wound, the left sole and heel show considerably more
wear – almost as if the soldier was dragging his left
leg when he stepped out. If the wound was severe
enough, and resulted in him being retired from the
ranks, his release from the army may explain why this
pair of boots survived. After leaving the army, he may
have found civilian footwear more comfortable and stored
this pair of army boots as a keepsake of his service.
Without some compelling reason to keep army footwear
after leaving the army, ex-soldiers, like everyone else,
would be prone to use up a utilitarian item such as
boots until they were no longer worth keeping.
Soldiers’ footwear is generally not something that
survived his period of service, or his post-military
life in great numbers. Comparatively little US Army 19th
Century footwear survives today and even fewer examples
of mounted soldier’s boots in any condition are
available for purchase by the private collector.
Obviously worn by a cavalry trooper, these Pattern 1876
Boots present as a prime example of the footwear that
bore the Frontier Army across the American West on any
of the famous campaigns during the height of the Indian
Wars. That this pair of boots survives today in the
condition they do is nothing short of remarkable.
Capturing all of the character of the frontier soldier
who wore them, this pair of boots will be a historic
addition to your Indian War Cavalry display.
SOLD
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