These boots are well-made copies of an adult’s military style boot, with a rise to the front covering the knee, fixed leather loops to help draw them on, and pegged and nailed soles and heels, all in very good condition. The toes are slightly rounded, not unusual in privately purchased adult boots, and a copper band was added around the toe of each—perhaps from constant wear by a boy imitating his father or older brothers in dress.

Period photographs make clear how children then, as always, strove to imitate their elders, playing at war and dressing the part as soldiers or want-to-be drummer boys. One of our favorite anecdotes is reference in a letter to a Civil War soldier that all the schoolboys at home were sporting brass “F” letters on their caps in imitation of the local company who had received that designation after mustering into a New York infantry regiment.

These are solid, with good surface, color, and seams. The fronts rise about 10-1/2 inches from the to the heel and the backs about 8-3/4 inches. We expect to see these in the not too distant future marketed as “drummer boy’s boots.” We think they are just as telling and evocative of the whole experience of the war as is.  [sr][ph:L]

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