This boot comes from Fort Buford, North Dakota, is in relic condition and was excavated on private property with the owner’s permission in anaerobic soil conditions that preserved it. The leg has both front and back seams, a level upper edge with no rise to the front, about 12” tall from bottom of the sole, and was constructed of black leather with the smooth side out. The sole was sewn. The vamp of the shoe portion comes up high on the front of the leg. This does appear to be army issue and was likely a private purchase by an officer or enlisted man. The heel is missing and there are holes along the left side of the foot, and a larger hole on the left at the ankle. The leather is stiff and has brown and gray stains. The relatively short height and sewn sole might point to an early date.

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 for its first year, 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.

This has a great connection to that fort and postwar frontier army.  [sr] [ph:m]

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