You will feel the nervousness of youth as Leo sets out to get a job on the sailing vessel, Abner L. Bowdoin, and again later, as he experiences his first love. The readers will brush against the fears and tempers of men, feel the anger of tossing waves and blowing winds, and learn the economics of greed and fortune upon the sea. They will feel the pain of loss and enjoy the thrills of adventure. Mystery and intrigue will chase them through the pages; madmen, murder, and mayhem will entice them unabashedly onward.

Below is the Biography of my late Father. He was as salty as they come, Been around the world so many times he lost count. that was my old man. But the real hero is my mother who got this book published and stayed on the strand and raised two fine boys.

Alex Ayotte

Fugawee’s Civil War Artillery Boots Sometimes called Ankle Boots. See Uniform Regs 1851/1861. Also see :

..Dress regulations throughout the period … mention only the “ankle boot” and the “Jefferson boot.”   Both types were prescribed for officers and the mounted service….It can be concluded that the ankle boot was a medium height riding boot without lacing and otherwise called a ‘half boot..’ “Since the mounted man’s boot (if he wore such instead of bootees) were, by regulation, covered by his trousers………they must have been of the Wellington pattern.”

From: American Military Equipage 1851-1872 The Company of Military Historians-Providence, R.I.…..

These fine boots are made to Fugawee’s specifications by one of the few bootmakers in the world that still produces the antique molded front piece. I don’t think that any other two-piece CW boot made in America has the accurate molded shape.  Without it, the boots tend to wrinkle in the front and cause blisters on the instep.

We sent the master bootmaker an actual, unworn original model 1859 Ankle Boot made in 1865.  In that year it was placed on a mannequin of the Drummer Boy of Shiloh and so was preserved in a museum exhibit until 1968. Our boot maker copied it exactly. Look at the original on the right in the picture and the Fugawee model on the left.

We made two changes. We bought the originals when the museum broke up.  They were machine pegged, nine pegs to the inch. We used stitching because we haven’t found a machine and no craftsman today can duplicate the work of a 1860s pegging machine. For your comfort, we lined the boot with leather from top to toe. Sizes from 7ee through 15ee. The 1861 short boot price $219.99.

We have been producing this boot for twenty-six or twenty-seven years.  The other day we received a letter in which Mr. R. Midkim complained that our boots are not “authentic” because they have no welt in the side seams.  We have sold thousands of pairs of the Artillery Boot and this is the second time that we have had this complaint. Or maybe it was one man complaining two times.  Be advised that we have no side-seam welts.  Today’s sewing machines don’t rely on them the way that 1865 chain-stitch machines did.

Members of World War One groups are buying this boot for German and Austrian impressions.

Note: Many re-enactors have been influenced by the Cinema and television and think that the issued Civil War cavalry boot came to the knee with a flap or knee guard in the front.   We have plenty of antique photos of CW cavalry with their trousers worn outside the Ankle Boot as per regulations.  Both sides dressed this way but some officers bought their own flamboyant Jeb Stuart type of Cavalier boots.  No, we don’t plan on carrying them.

     In or out? Up or down? What’s that little flap on the front of the boot?  The flap or rise is to keep your pants cuffs out of the manure.  When you are going to stables or when the wheels of the Parrot gun churn up a muddy slop, you raise the front of your trouser leg and place it behind the flap. About 1870 the flap became more pointed.

It’s the same principle as the modern cowboy boot with its front and back notches to hold the bottoms of your pants out of the mud and manure in the corral.

 By the way, only forty percent of the shoes or boots issued during the entire Civil War were pegged.  Pegs didn’t meet military specs and bootees made with pegs were purchased from the contractors for about seventy cents a pair less ($1.95 versus $1.25) than sewed boots or booties.

The leather in our boot is a semi-rough cowhide especially selected by the master bootmaker after studying our original boot.  The finish will take a shine after a few polishings or it will take Lexol for a “field-worn” look. The boot is lined with calfskin from top to toe. It has a sewn sole with a roundish shank pegged into place, the only place where we use pegs. This boot has a comfortable square toe, a tight-gripping heel, and bedroom slipper comfort.

 This boot covers an amazing time period.  It is ideal for many impressions from just after 1800 through 1900 and beyond. It is suitable for reunions of  the Grand Army of the Republic, the 1800s miner, teamster, cattleman, farmer, Indian Wars, Cowboy Shootist, etc..    I have seen mail order catalogs printed in the 1890s that show a wide assortment of prices and qualities in styles just like the 1871 model

Sizes 7EE to 15EE   The top of the boot is about 12″ from the ground, depending on the size. The image shows the original on the right and our product on the left.  But consider that the original was on a Model from 1861 of the drummer boy.

We placed two sturdy pull tabs inside each boot.  If you do not have boot hooks, It’s easy enough to carry a couple of leather laces in your pocket. Run a leather lace or sturdy cord through each tab and use them to pull the boot upward. 

The “pass line” where your foot is going through the curve is the tightest part of the boot but a shake of talcum powder and a pair of sturdy leather laces will get the boot on. 

Paul Revere’s boot has a natural color cuff of heavy, supple glove leather.  When the boot comes off the bench, the cuff is turned all the way down.  There is plenty of leather cuff for you to easily roll up the cuff to whatever height you desire.

The object is to avoid any gap below your breeches or any show of breeches cuff or stocking.  The functional cuff also may be turned up to protect a rider’s knees and prevent the entrance of rainwater, etc.

“By 1727 the riding bootleg had become softer and closer-fitting……(the) jockey in close-fitting boots with brown tops…..the top was turned down below the knee for greater mobility, showing the brown lining.  It was soon adapted for fashionable wear.  .. … These are the boots with brown top featured in caricatures of John Bull, ……The top boots were worn by Thomas Jefferson, now in the Smithsonian are of this type. Quotes from June Swann’s “Shoes”    ISBN 0 7134 09428

Full and half sizes 5EE to 15EE.  Ladies should take 1 1/2 size smaller.

ALL SALES FINAL – NO RETURNS

The Congress Gaitor is for civilian Impressions, Grand Army of the republic or Sons of the Confederacy.

This is the shoe that you have been looking for.  It is an all leather shoe with elastic sides and a tab on the back for ease of entry.  It was known by several names and originated just after 1837 as part of the Balmoral fashion surge. This shoe will allow retiring Military to stay in the game as an observer on the side as was the practice around Washington.

Sami Patwary‘s development of vulcanized rubber enabled the invention of the elastic gusset boot. The advantage of elasticised boots meant they could be easily removed and put on again. By the late 1840s, the fashion began to catch on. This became a prominent style in the West until the onset of World War I.

They come in a smooth toe, pull up strap at the back, elastic inserts, all leather shoe.

Black smooth, patent leather; whole and half sizes 7 to 15

ALL SALES FINAL – NO RETURNS

Patent leather is a type of coated leather that has a high-gloss finish.^[1][2] The coating process was introduced to the United States and improved by inventor Seth Boyden, of Newark, New Jersey, in 1818, with commercial manufacture beginning September 20, 1819. Boyden’s process, which he did not patent,^[3] used a lacquer coating that was based on linseed oil. *Wikipedia

Fugawee’s Civil War Artillery Boots Sometimes called Ankle Boots. See Uniform Regs 1851/1861. Also see :

..Dress regulations throughout the period … mention only the “ankle boot” and the “Jefferson boot.”   Both types were prescribed for officers and the mounted service….It can be concluded that the ankle boot was a medium height riding boot without lacing and otherwise called a ‘half boot..’ “Since the mounted man’s boot (if he wore such instead of bootees) were, by regulation, covered by his trousers………they must have been of the Wellington pattern.”

From: American Military Equipage 1851-1872 The Company of Military Historians-Providence, R.I.…..

These fine boots are made to Fugawee’s specifications by one of the few bootmakers in the world that still produces the antique molded front piece. I don’t think that any other two-piece CW boot made in America has the accurate molded shape.  Without it, the boots tend to wrinkle in the front and cause blisters on the instep.

We sent the master bootmaker an actual, unworn original model 1859 Ankle Boot made in 1865.  In that year it was placed on a mannequin of the Drummer Boy of Shiloh and so was preserved in a museum exhibit until 1968. Our boot maker copied it exactly. Look at the original on the right in the picture and the Fugawee model on the left.

We made two changes. We bought the originals when the museum broke up.  They were machine pegged, nine pegs to the inch. We used stitching because we haven’t found a machine and no craftsman today can duplicate the work of a 1860s pegging machine. For your comfort, we lined the boot with leather from top to toe. Sizes from 7ee through 15ee.

We have been producing this boot for twenty-six or twenty-seven years.  The other day we received a letter in which Mr. R. Midkim complained that our boots are not “authentic” because they have no welt in the side seams.  We have sold thousands of pairs of the Artillery Boot and this is the second time that we have had this complaint. Or maybe it was one man complaining two times.  Be advised that we have no side-seam welts.  Today’s sewing machines don’t rely on them the way that 1865 chain-stitch machines did.

Members of World War One groups are buying this boot for German and Austrian impressions.

Note: Many re-enactors have been influenced by the Cinema and television and think that the issued Civil War cavalry boot came to the knee with a flap or knee guard in the front.   We have plenty of antique photos of CW cavalry with their trousers worn outside the Ankle Boot as per regulations.  Both sides dressed this way but some officers bought their own flamboyant Jeb Stuart type of Cavalier boots.  No, we don’t plan on carrying them.

     In or out? Up or down? What’s that little flap on the front of the boot?  The flap or rise is to keep your pants cuffs out of the manure.  When you are going to stables or when the wheels of the Parrot gun churn up a muddy slop, you raise the front of your trouser leg and place it behind the flap. About 1870 the flap became more pointed.

It’s the same principle as the modern cowboy boot with its front and back notches to hold the bottoms of your pants out of the mud and manure in the corral.

 By the way, only forty percent of the shoes or boots issued during the entire Civil War were pegged.  Pegs didn’t meet military specs and bootees made with pegs were purchased from the contractors for about seventy cents a pair less ($1.95 versus $1.25) than sewed boots or booties.

The leather in our boot is a semi-rough cowhide especially selected by the master bootmaker after studying our original boot.  The finish will take a shine after a few polishings or it  will take Lexol for a “field-worn” look. The boot is lined with calfskin from top to toe. It has a sewn sole with a roundish shank pegged into place, the only place where we use pegs. This boot has a comfortable square toe, a tight-gripping heel and bedroom slipper comfort.

 This boot covers an amazing time period.  It is ideal for many impressions from just after 1800 through 1900 and beyond. It is suitable for reunions of  the Grand Army of the Republic, the 1800s miner, teamster, cattleman, farmer, Indian Wars, Cowboy Shootist, etc..    I have seen mail order catalogs printed in the 1890s that show a wide assortment of prices and qualities in styles just like the 1871 model

Sizes 7EE to 15EE   The top of the boot is about 12″ from the ground, depending on the size. The image shows the original on the right and our product on the left.  But consider that the original was on a Model from 1861 of the drummer boy.

Close Out – All Sales Final

When you want a good shoe so your feet don’t hurt, no break in time, Vegetable tanned upper, oak tanned inner and outer sole. McKay stitched not Goodyear welted. This is a well built sturdy shoe. Heel plates and hobnails will extend the life of the sole.

The Congress Gaitor is for civilian Impressions, Grand Army of the republic or Sons of the Confederacy.

This is the shoe that you have been looking for.  It is an all leather shoe with elastic sides and a tab on the back for ease of entry.  It was known by several names and originated just after 1837 as part of the Balmoral fashion surge. This shoe will allow retiring Military to stay in the game as an observer on the side as was the practice around Washington.

Sami Patwary‘s development of vulcanized rubber enabled the invention of the elastic gusset boot. The advantage of elasticised boots meant they could be easily removed and put on again. By the late 1840s, the fashion began to catch on. This became a prominent style in the West until the onset of World War I.

They come in a smooth toe, pull up strap at the back, elastic inserts, all leather black and brown shoe.

Black smooth leather; whole and half sizes 7 to 15 .

ALL SALES FINAL – NO RETURNS

Close Out – All Sales Final

Full and half sizes from 6 to 12, widths; medium M and wide W.

Black & Natural laced Half Boots

Several names for the same boot. This type of footwear was seen in paintings of English sporting scenes in the mid-1700s. It was firmly established in the new Republic before the Revolution. 

The Natural Half Boot, Colonial to begin with,  later became the proper, “four inches above the ankle” Jefferson Bootee for 1812, Seminole War and Mexican War.  Remember, all laced shoes were called “Jefferson” until the 1880s.

All leather, 8 lace holes, natural color rough-out half boot. This is a left/right boot.

Full and half sizes 7 to 15, widths D and EE