Officer riding boots?  :  More probably they were “puttees”, strapped leather leggings that encased officer's trousers similar to riding britches, and which which fit over the tops of leather shoes. I always assumed that this was a rank-thing that hung over when officers were all on horseback.

    Could be.  I was familiar with my fathers boots (which I like to put on when I was little).  He was field artillery at VMI for a couple of years, in that time frame, and he had them as artillery was horse drawn (in his time).  I had never heard of puttees.

-- 
Jon Miller
For me time stopped in 1941
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