e first
"machine sewed bootees" were purchased by the Army in 1861. Inventors
continued their efforts; the most prominent of these was Gordon McKay,
who worked on an improvement of the Blake machine with Robert Mathies in
1862 and then with Blake in 1864. Reportedly, the Government at first
preferred the machine-stitched shoes as they lasted eight times longer
than those stitched by hand; during the war the Army purchased 473,000
pairs, but in 1871 the Quartermaster General wrote:

No complaints regarding the quality of these shoes were received up
to February 1867 when a Board of Survey, which convened at Hart's
Island, New York Harbor reported upon the inferior quality of
certain machine sewed bootees of the McKay patent, issued to the
enlisted men at that post. The acting Quartermaster General, Col.
D. H. Rucker, April 10, 1867, addressed a letter to all the
officers in charge of depots, with instructions not to issue any
more of the shoes in question, but to report to this office the
quantity remaining in store. From these reports it appears that
there were in store at that time 362,012 pairs M. S. Bootees, all
of which were ordered to be, and have since been sold at public
auction.[81]

The exact complaint against the shoes was not recorded. Possibly the
entire shoe was stitched by machine. It was found that although
machine-stitched shoes were more durable in some respects and the upper
parts of most shoes continued to be machine stitched, pegged soles for
the more durable varieties remained the fashion for a decade or more, as
did custom hand-stitched shoes for those who could afford them.

OTHER USES

The use of sewing machines in all types of manufacturing that required
stitching of any type continued to grow each year. While the principal
purpose for which they were utilized continued to be the manufacture of
clothing items, by the year 1900 they were also used for awnings, tents,
and sails; cloth bags; bookbinding and related book manufacture; flags
and banners; pocketbooks, trunks, and valises; saddlery and harnesses;
mattresses; umbrellas; linen and rubber belting and hose; to the
aggregate sum of nearly a billion dollars--$979,988,413.[82]

SEWING-MACHINE ATTACHMENTS

The growing popularity of the sewing machine offered still another boost
to the economy--the development of many minor, related manufacturing
industries. The repetitive ne