I have not heard of this substitute. But it would make sence to an extent. I would think that these substitutes would be very limited to the Gulf Coast area which is the natural range of the American alligator. Given the early occuaption of the New Orleans, I could not see that the use of Alligator hides as leather would be very wide spread. So there usage would seem to be highly localize it my opinion. Maybe some of our friends on the Louisiana Board could give us more perspective on this question.

When I grew up we kids hardly ever wore shoes during the summer. This thing of southern soldiers not having shoes seems a bit odd to me. Yes shoes are a necessary part of an army equipment and certainly there are many recording of the need for shoes, but the lack of shoes in most accounts from original sources do not seem to indicate that the lack of shoes was much of a problem to the southern soldier any more than just a straggling issue.

Having worn those shoes for several years I can see how they would wear out quickly under the harsh conditions of army life. And the lack of manufactureing and the quartermaster system of the times especially in the Confederacy, were there was never an over abundence of anything, would lead to these shortages. But how severe a problem was the lack of shoes?

One of the very few comments that my Grandfather could remember his father saying about his experiences in Lee's Army was that He had "made many a bloody footprints in the snow". Now that sounds terrible, but in researching GGrandpa's service with Longstreets Corp that comments came from their service in West Tennessee when they were cutoff from everyone in the winter of January and February of 1864.