Where did the soldiers get there shoes for the civil war?

Answer 1

Leather

For the most part that is true, but there is one famous case of a war profiteer who made shoes out of cardboard. When he was caught at his fraud, he tried to excuse himself by saying his his contract was for boots that went to the cavalry.

Answer 2

Many of them got none.

The location of the Battle of Gettysburg had a lot to do with a nearby boot-and-shoe factory that the Confederates wanted to raid, to equip their men.

By the time of Appomattox, most of Lee's men were barefoot (and starving).

It is a curiosity that a pair of Civil War boots did not have a left and a right. They were identical, and you walked them into shape.