These knee-high boots are made of black leather and reinforced with iron in the heel. Most soldiers in the war wore ankle-high shoes called "brogans", which is Gaelic for "little shoe". Tall boots were very expensive and hard to come by for soldiers. The army only provided them for artillerymen. Generals were usually the only people who could afford to buy tall boots for themselves. These were owned by Colonel Christopher Columbus Andrews. Andrews later became a champion of forest management and was Minnesota's first fire warden.