Confederates needed shoes?

[tullock]

I was only trying to establish that a great many of the Confederates were barefoot at that time.

No they were not. Take a detailed look at the many photographs of the dead Confederates taken after the battle. All are wearing Confederate military shoes. The ANV had been issued new shoes and uniforms before the Campaign and were issue more when needed from the supply trains which held tens of thousands of extra pairs.

 

[infomanpa]

Confederates needing shoes as one of the causes of Gettysburg?
Is this a myth or fact?

The short answer is "myth."

 

[GwilymT]

The need for shoes and the confederate march on Gettysburg on July 1, 1863 are concepts only related in mythology.

 

[thomas aagaard]

The quote below is taken from a letter by Major General Heth, written in June 1877, sent to the Philadelphia Times and the Southern Historical Society.

written more than a decade after the war.
Way way less trustworthy than things written during the actual events.

by 1877 he had every reason to exaggerate the need for shoes to explain why he decided to start a large battle, when it should have been clear to him, that Lee did not want one... especially considering that his actions on the 30th can be excused as a question of supplies. but what he did on the 1st was very clearly not about that... but picking a fight.

 

[rpkennedy]

The need for shoes and the confederate march on Gettysburg on July 1, 1863 are concepts only related in mythology.

Agreed. On June 30, there is no question that Pettigrew was sent to Gettysburg in an attempt to gather supplies, including shoes, but was turned back when they spotted Buford and his troopers. July 1 was another matter entirely. That was absolutely a reconnaissance in force to determine the composition of the force that had been spotted the previous day.

Ryan

 

[rpkennedy]

No they were not. Take a detailed look at the many photographs of the dead Confederates taken after the battle. All are wearing Confederate military shoes. The ANV had been issued new shoes and uniforms before the Campaign and were issue more when needed from the supply trains which held tens of thousands of extra pairs.

There were actually a lot of soldiers, both Union and Confederate who had worn out their new footgear on the march into Pennsylvania. As they approached Gettysburg, many of the Union soldiers only had what supplies they carried with them and by July 3, some of them hadn't been issued food in several days. It wasn't until late on the 3rd and the 4th that supplies from the depots started arriving.

Ryan

 

[RedRover]

Barefoot men were excused from duty to a degree, and not necessarily pressed into combat.
Frank Mixon, 1st SC Volunteers, Jenkin's brigade, Longstreet's corps in East Tennessee in late 1863 gives an example.

 

[Mk VII]

As noted earlier, there may have been a rumor of shoes, but Early's Corps had passed thru the town a few days before and pretty much cleaned out anything there was to be had.

 

[GwilymT]

As noted earlier, there may have been a rumor of shoes, but Early's Corps had passed thru the town a few days before and pretty much cleaned out anything there was to be had.

Yes, getting shoes had no immediate affect on the battle of Gettysburg.

 

[Flash Titan]

Confederates needing shoes as one of the causes of Gettysburg?
Is this a myth or fact?

It was not one of the causes, however, the Army of Northern Virginia did obtain much-needed footwear while in Pennsylvania. The only reason that General Lee took his army north was to win a big battle to cause terror in the North and hopefully cause the United States to sue for peace by bringing the war to northern soil.

 

[Dave D]

In April of 1883, Lt. McHENRY HOWARD, the former aide-de-camp to Confederate Brig. Gen. George Steuart, presented a paper before the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts in which he describes his recollections of the opening of the Overland Campaign in 1864.

He begins with a description of the Confederate winter encampments during late 1863-early 1864 and includes a description how his brigade managed the need for shoe mending:

NOTES AND RECOLLECTIONS OF OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1864
BY FIRST LIEUTENANT McHENRY HOWARD,
LATE A. D. C. AND ACTING ASSISTANT INSPECTOR-GENERAL, C. S. A.
Read before the Society April 16, 1883

Excerpt from pages 84-85 :

[page 84]
"A number of shoemakers in the different regiments -
seventeen, I think - were encouraged to send home - and in
some instances were given leave to go - for their tools, and
were put to work repairing shoes, being exempted from guard
and other routine camp duty, but ready to fall in with their

[page 85]
muskets on any call to arms. The shoe-shops were a separate
camp, near brigade headquarters, and under our immediate
supervision, guarded by sentinels, and no person was allowed
to visit them or carry his shoes to be mended without a pass
and order from his company and regimental commanders,
approved by the adjutant or inspector general. A careful
estimate and report of the saving in the issue of shoes to our
brigade during the winter was made to the higher authorities
at one time, but I am afraid to say from memory what the
saving was confidently stated to have been, certainly several
hundred pairs ; besides, the men s feet were kept in better
condition. [1]

footnote :
[1] On the march back from Gettysburg in the summer before,
the barefooted men of the division, that is to say, those
whose shoes were worn out or whose feet were sore from
wearing bad shoes or other causes, were organized into a
separate command, under officers, to pick their way on the
grassy roadside, and by easy stages on each day's march.
My recollection is that this barefooted and sorefooted
command sometimes numbered a fourth of the division."

[ see https://archive.org/details/wildcampaign04bostrich/page/84/mode/2up ]

 

[RedRover]

footnote :
[1] On the march back from Gettysburg in the summer before,
the barefooted men of the division, that is to say, those
whose shoes were worn out or whose feet were sore from
wearing bad shoes or other causes, were organized into a
separate command, under officers, to pick their way on the
grassy roadside, and by easy stages on each day's march.
My recollection is that this barefooted and sorefooted
command sometimes numbered a fourth of the division."

[ see https://archive.org/details/wildcampaign04bostrich/page/84/mode/2up ]

Robert T. Hubbard of the 3d VA Cavalry noted that the previous year, between Second Manasssas and Antietam, General Lee had lots of fellows taking advantage of an order regarding barefooted men...

Seems like the next year the barefooted were more carefully scooted along, and the next, we have brigade cobbler shops, etc. etc.