A question on heel plates

[Locke]

Howdy folks. This'll be my first real post here so forgive me if it's in the wrong place.
There's a really small group of us putting together a unit of sorts. Basically a representation of various branches instead of one cohesive unit. One infantryman, artilleryman, I drew cavalry and we're branching off from there. All Confederate though for now.
My question comes to heel plates. I know they were used by infantry and other foot bound troops, but I can't find anything on their use by cavalry. If I'm going to invest in $250-$300 boots I'd like them to last and I can put miles on footwear without a thought.
Would cavalry troopers use heel plates? What about hobnails?
Displays will be done outdoors so I don't have to worry about scratching floors.
While I will be cavalry, I will be on foot due to being more living history than campaigning.

The infantryman was actual infantry, and the artilleryman was a redleg when they served. So that's how this worked out.

 

[johan_steele]

ONe of my favorite pictures of a US Cavalryman dates to 1864 and the way he is sitting his horse it's clear he isn't wearing boots at all but standard brogans wih both hobnails and heel plates. Cav didn't always wear boots.

That said thre is no reason not to have hobnails and heel plates. The pint of hobnails is better traction and heel plates to prolong the life of the heels.

 

[Locke]

Well awesome. That makes me feel better about that. Thank you Johan.
Now I just need to figure out how to best add a zipper where it doesn't stand out. Yay busted ankle.
I wanted boots to hide my ankle brace. I can modify the boot to fit my needs. Can't stretch a brogan to hide my brace.
I may add some hobnails if I find I'm sliding around too much. Heel plates are definitely going on as soon as I get my boots in. I ordered from South Union Mill. I read a lot of praises for them here and other ACW forums.
Y'all have a good source for hobnails?

 

[mofederal]

Heel plates and bricks can be somewhat dangerous. I about broke an ankle during a reenactment, while street fighting. Running on bricks streets is not a good idea, but the plates never gave me any problems anywhere else.

 

[bankerpapaw]

Welcome from NW Georgia!!

 

[Locke]

Heel plates and bricks can be somewhat dangerous. I about broke an ankle during a reenactment, while street fighting. Running on bricks streets is not a good idea, but the plates never gave me any problems anywhere else.

Brick streets are slick in modern footwear. Glad you didn't break an ankle. I've been there done that and I'm still dealing with the injury 8 years later.
Luckily where we plan on being will be dirt and grass. At least any place that requires any sort of activity. Any man made surfaces are only going to be to and from my truck.

 

[Locke]

Welcome from NW Georgia!!

Thank you Bankerpapaw!

 

[Western Reserve Volunteer]

I personally chose to forgo heelplates, for what it's worth. I found them uncomfortable to wear when walking on hard surfaces (like tarmac, concrete, or brick roads), very slippery on tile, and I had to avoid wearing them on marble and wood floors for fear of scratching the floors up. I also felt like they unbalanced me, I'm not used to having any kind of heel on my shoes and adding more height with the heelplates made it worse I think. Maybe I would have been happier with hobnails instead, I'm not sure. I suppose it depends on the context of your reenacting, I find myself having more often to traverse alot of hard surfaces than the soft ground you'd find on a battlefield.

If you guys are cavalry, you might have less worry about wear anyhow; the rest of us guys hoofing it are the ones who put alot of miles on our boots. As a artilleryman, I get to cheat alot with equipment: we are a QM's worst nightmare as we have both mounted and unmounted members and tend to thus require every uniform piece in the inventory! One of these days, I'm going to get some of those nice short boots everyone is found of. Or get someone to make reproduction early rubber boots!

 

[Rhea Cole]

Civil War cavalry were essentially mounted infantry. Their horses were transportation. Wearing practical footwear was more than a matter of style. Have you looked at artillery boots? They were intended for mounted drivers. The boots were very popular with CW soldiers. Clumping around in knee high cavalry boots gets real tiresome real soon.

Hobnails & head plates turn any hard surface into an ice skating ring. I wrenched the heck out of a knee stepping onto a flat rock while wearing heel plates. Since you already have a mobility problem, I would encourage you to forgo hobnails & heal plates. Remember the ten foot rule… there are a lot of costume details thst really don't matter.

 

[drezac]

Heel plates and bricks can be somewhat dangerous. I about broke an ankle during a reenactment, while street fighting. Running on bricks streets is not a good idea, but the plates never gave me any problems anywhere else.

they are also very bad on marble/granite floors ( like at the Ohio State House) - It's like walking on ice. l was able to find a modern pair of shoes that look like brogans, and I wear those when we do events at the Ohio State House so I don't damage the floors or myself.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

Welcome and calling @captaindrew. Captain Drew is the Host for the Reenactor's Forum. He has LOTS of great ideas!

 

[A. Roy]

I personally chose to forgo heelplates, for what it's worth. I found them uncomfortable to wear when walking on hard surfaces (like tarmac, concrete, or brick roads), very slippery on tile, and I had to avoid wearing them on marble and wood floors for fear of scratching the floors up

I'm kind of old to be taking up living history for the first time, but Dix Park here in Raleigh has started hosting Civil War tours -- the Dorothea Dix land has an extensive CW history. I've started helping out with a civilian impression. I bought brogans, but I was concerned about slippery leather soles. The tour is long, and much of it involves walking on hilly, grassy terrain. So I ordered the shoes with heel plates -- I'm not completely broken-down, but I do feel better with a little more stability when I walk.

All-in-all, though, as others have mentioned, heel plates aren't great on hard surfaces, which realistically you're likely to encounter on most modern-day sites. Then, what if you want to stop in some place to eat breakfast, or to use the rest room? You could cause offense (or incur costs!) by marking up someone's floor. Another thing I've noticed is that walking on tarmac wears down these heel plates pretty fast, so I can see that in the near future I might have to think about replacing them.

All this has got me wondering whether there is a softer alternative to metal heel plates or hobnails -- something that will protect the heel and prevent slipping, while at least doing minimal damage to surfaces like wood, tile, or vinyl.

Roy B.

 

[Rhea Cole]

I'm kind of old to be taking up living history for the first time, but Dix Park here in Raleigh has started hosting Civil War tours -- the Dorothea Dix land has an extensive CW history. I've started helping out with a civilian impression. I bought brogans, but I was concerned about slippery leather soles. The tour is long, and much of it involves walking on hilly, grassy terrain. So I ordered the shoes with heel plates -- I'm not completely broken-down, but I do feel better with a little more stability when I walk.

All-in-all, though, as others have mentioned, heel plates aren't great on hard surfaces, which realistically you're likely to encounter on most modern-day sites. Then, what if you want to stop in some place to eat breakfast, or to use the rest room? You could cause offense (or incur costs!) by marking up someone's floor. Another thing I've noticed is that walking on tarmac wears down these heel plates pretty fast, so I can see that in the near future I might have to think about replacing them.

All this has got me wondering whether there is a softer alternative to metal heel plates or hobnails -- something that will protect the heel and prevent slipping, while at least doing minimal damage to surfaces like wood, tile, or vinyl.

Roy B.

I have been a living historian since 1994. There really is no purpose served by crippling yourself with uncomfortable slick soled footwear. Take your brogans to a good cobbler & have a walking sole & heel. Get some industrial insoles. After the Civil War, everybody complained about the Jefferson Davis brogans, there is no need for you to add your voice to the chorus.

I have a pair of modern desert boots that pass the 20 foot rule. It is more than your life is worth to enter a school building with polished linoleum floors wearing leather soled brogans. Heel taps only make the ice skating rink experience more exciting… it is not a dignified experience.

The history police & thread counters are with us always. They don't care if you are miserable at the end of the day… or several days afterward for that matter.

Welcome to our side of the rope.

 

[A. Roy]

Take your brogans to a good cobbler & have a walking sole & heel.

That's a great suggestion -- I'm going to do that!

R

 

[captaindrew]

Welcome and calling @captaindrew. Captain Drew is the Host for the Reenactor's Forum. He has LOTS of great ideas!

It's really just personal preference. There's no happy medium. They're either slippery in the dirt or slippery on hard surfaces. I have heal plates on one pair of shoes and none on another so I can plan accordingly. I don't care for hob nails, not only can they get slick they can hurt your feet after a while.

 

[Woods-walker]

Howdy folks. This'll be my first real post here so forgive me if it's in the wrong place.
There's a really small group of us putting together a unit of sorts. Basically a representation of various branches instead of one cohesive unit. One infantryman, artilleryman, I drew cavalry and we're branching off from there. All Confederate though for now.
My question comes to heel plates. I know they were used by infantry and other foot bound troops, but I can't find anything on their use by cavalry. If I'm going to invest in $250-$300 boots I'd like them to last and I can put miles on footwear without a thought.
Would cavalry troopers use heel plates? What about hobnails?
Displays will be done outdoors so I don't have to worry about scratching floors.
While I will be cavalry, I will be on foot due to being more living history than campaigning.

The infantryman was actual infantry, and the artilleryman was a redleg when they served. So that's how this worked out.

Welcome from Soldiers Who Fought on Horseback Cavalry forum. I don't kniw the answer to your question but I sure someone in the CWT will. I don't believe cavalrymen wore them but am not certain

 

[turner ashby kidd]

I see brogans are not your choice.
I put 12 or so hard years on a pair of Cavalry boots before having them re-soled. Had no hobnails or heel plate. Heels showed little wear. That may not be a problem for you.
I added brogans to my gear. Boots not made for long walks. On all day rides we walked 1/3 of the time. Trot a third, at a walk a third and dismount to lead the horse a third.
At one event of 8-10 hours riding a day for a week, my feet looked worse than my bum...
Would suggest quality footwear, don't go cheap. Your feet will be grateful..

 

[Locke]

I ordered boots from Southern Union Mills based on reviews and recomendations I read on CWT and other resources. I would have gone with MBS but the wait would have been til near spring. I plan on getting a set of brogans too but that'll be a bit later. Boots I have to modify before I can break them in so I need them as soon as I can. Brogans just need to be broken in. I can hold off a while on them.
I am familar with boots and shoes of this nature and how to ease into them. My last pair of boot with solid heels I wore developed a rounding to the heels. Hence my worry. I can always get them resoled but that's not something I want to do.

 

[Locke]

Well, there's a lot to think about here. I can modify the boots anyway I need short of getting a walking sole added. I hadn't thought of that. Solves multiple problems. Hmmm... Yay! This is getting fun and I don't even have my boots yet. Thank you! I love this sort of thing!

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

When I was in Scotland, I saw a member of the guard with real hobnail boots, coming down the steep, cobbled, castle entrance (they were all in formation) do some sort of amazing 4 to 6' skid and acrobatic on those darn things. They can be darn treacherous. Somehow, gun and all, he managed to stay upright!