Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw Lowell, October 13, 1864

Cedar Creek, Oct. 13, 1864.

I went into winter-quarters yesterday, that is, I abandoned thin boots for morning wear, and substituted the Guvveys¹ with leather ears, which you may recollect, — you can fancy me now in all, the magnificence of them. In proposing to come home in Government clothing, I did not think of parading New York in those ears; don’t be alarmed.

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¹ “Guvveys” means the common cavalry boots, which the Government furnishes to enlisted men.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 359, 472