Quote Originally Posted by ccga3359 View Post
So what exactly was the purpose of puttees? And how were they donned?
They are great support to your ankle and lower leg. They also enclose the trousers or hose with the boot, which keeps things cleaner and dryer. Keep in mind that boots were a lot shorter than the ones worn today. They also eliminate the need for full kilt hose, since regular socks and hose tops were worn. Puttees were also worn with trousers as can be seen on one of the photos above. (We were issued with trousers in addition to kilts). The ones we wore (ankle puttees, not the long ones, and this is all from memory of about 35 years ago) were about 4" wide and maybe 3 feet long. You wrapped them from the boot up the bottom of your calf and then back to the ankle. There was a tail end, approximately an inch to an inch and a half wide, which you kept wrapping around your ankle, then you wrapped it around itself and tucked the leftover in. The ending knot had to be exactly placed on the outside of your ankle, or you had to unwrap and start all over again. The whole thing was maybe 6-7 inches high when done.