Leather Shoes

Length: 7" Width: 2¾"	Material: Leather Date: Civil War Issue	This illustration* shows how recovered shoes would have looked when first manufactured

Look carefully at the image on the left and you will see the remains of a pair of leather shoes found during an archeological investigation at Fort McHenry in 1974. A team of archeologists under the direction of project leader Edward S. Rutsch were examining the original drainage systems of in and around the Star Fort walls. The experts believed water was trapped behind the brick structures and not draining properly. The freezing and thawing of moisture trapped in the wall was causing serious damage to the Fort. Rutsch dug out a section of earth at the foundations of a wall and water came pouring out!

The remnants of the Dry Moat are located at the base of the Fort Walls as may be seen on the site base map. While the archeologists were examining the drainage system here, they discovered this pair of leather shoes.

Near where the shoes were discovered, the archeologists also found evidence of a stockade wall built in May 1861 that sealed the entrance to the Fort’s gun batteries. The shoes were found in a four foot trench which lay on the exterior of the wall, identifying them as having belonged to a Confederate soldier. They were sent to the National Park Service Conservation Laboratory in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia for study and stabilization.

The conservation report indicates the leather was preserved under the soil because of the moist conditions. Identification of the type of leather and the stitching was made. It was determined that the shoes known as “brogan style” were standard military issue during the Civil War period. Army shoes, called “brogans” or “whangs,” were large, heavy and roomy.*

The War Department used Fort McHenry as a military prison during the Civil War. Over 15,000 captured Confederate soldiers were detained and processed at Fort McHenry during the war years. After a brief time at Fort McHenry, prisoners were moved to larger prisons at Fort Delaware and Point Lookout.

It would be impossible to imagine the hardship of the man who wore these shoes during the Civil War era when Fort McHenry was used as a military prison.

*References:
Lord, Francis A.

Uniforms of the Civil War. Alexandria, Virginia: A.S. Barnes and Co., Inc., 1970.

Catalog Number: 5783, Accession number: FOMC 297.