This is an excavated US Army campaign shoe from Fort Buford, North Dakota, found on private property with the owner’s permission. The army went through a series of shoes and boots in the 1870s and 1880s as replacements for Civil War footgear that might be more appropriate for western campaigning, pushed into trials of different patterns in part by Sherman’s decision to permit soldiers to buy any kind of shoe they pleased with their own money, giving rise to numerous complaints about an increasing lack of uniformity. This appears to be the Model 1885, which returned to the use of sewn soles rather than brass screwed and used a high top with lacing hooks as well as holes. The Model 1892 followed suit, but included a rivet joining top and bottom of the shoe that we do not see here.

This qualifies as a study example, in poor condition showing dirt and muck, with stiff leather, tears and parts separating, part of the sole loose, etc., but revealing of construction techniques and design changes.

Fort Buford, portions of which are now a state historic site, was established in Dakota Territory at the confluence of the Missouri and the Yellowstone in 1866 and named after Civil War cavalry general John Buford. Initially garrisoned by a single company of the 13^th US Infantry, it was under sporadic attacks and harassment until the garrison was expanded to five companies and the post itself expanded and better fortified, and then expanded again to a six-company post in 1871-72, no longer in need of a stockade. The post became a key point in the supply route for military campaigns further west, reaching a high point of nearly 100 buildings and 1,000 personnel in the 1876-1881 period and was the site of Sitting Bull’s surrender in that latter year. After a final expansion in 1889, the post was decommissioned by the army in 1895.  [sr] [ph:m]

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