Recently the Journal of the American Revolution (JAR) featured several newspaper advertisements giving descriptions of drummers and bandsmen who deserted from the British army in the Thirteen Colonies during the 1760s and 1770s. These notices, which typically offered a reward for the deserters’ apprehension, also provided unusually detailed descriptions to aid in their identification, reporting physical characteristics, uniforms, accents and even personality traits.

John Murray, trumpeter (and presumably bandsman) of the 23rd Dragoons
DESERTED from the Division of the above Regiment stationed at Lisburn, on the 19th instant, JOHN MURRAY, Trumpeter. Aged about 22 years, 5 feet 9 inches high, fresh complexion, but a good deal freckled, well made, brown eyes, brown hair, round shouldered, by trade a labourer, born at or near Duddington, near Edinburgh – had on when he went off, a plain yellow jacket without laps, black Huzar [sic] cap, white leather bree[c]hes, and black leggin[g]s; he took with him his trumpet, and a clarionet; he sounds the former and plays the latter, both very well.
Whoever will apprehend or cause to be apprehended, and lodge in any of His Majesty’s Jails or Guard-houses, the above-named JOHN MURRAY, shall receive twenty shillings over and above the allowance given by Act of Parliament, by applying to the Commanding Officer at Lisburn, or Messrs. CORRY, BRISTOW & CO., Holles-street Dublin; or Captain JAMESON of the 23[r]d Dragoons recruiting at Glasgow.–Lisburn, June 20, 1800. (Belfast News-Letter, 1 July 1800)

John Massey Tierney AKA Francis Massey, various corps
DESERTED, on the THIRTEENTH February, 1806, from his Majesty’s 21st Regiment of Light Dragoons, at York Barracks,
JOHN MASSEY TIERNEY, aged 23 years, 5 feet 11 inches high, fresh complexion, brown hair, hazle eyes, born at Rathkeal, in the County of Limerick, and by profession a Musician; had on when he deserted a light brown or drab coloured double-breasted coat, black satin waistcoat, blue overalls, hussar boots, white neck-handkerchief, and round hat. He slept at the Tiger Inn, at Beverley, on Friday night, the 14th inst. at which place he left his overalls to defray his expenses. It is supposed he is gone to Hull, as he wanted a Chaise [horse-drawn carriage] from Beverley to that place. He was formerly a trumpeter in the Limerick Fencible Cavalry, and was discharged at the reduction of that Corps; after which he enlisted into the 21st Light Dragoons, married, and purchased his discharge. He has since served in the 16th Light Dragoons, and the 96th Regiment of Foot, from both of which he deserted, and availed himself of his Majesty’s late Proclamation for Pardoning Deserters, and was allowed to join the 21st Light Dragoons.

The following advertisement of the above Man, appeared in “The Hue and Cry,” of the 9th November 1805:
DESERTER – From the 96th Regiment of Foot,
FRANCIS MASSEY, 22 years of age, 5 feet 11 inches high, is handsome and well made, gentlemanly manners, and animated address; had on a blue hunting jacket, single breasted, with white metal buttons, striped waistcoat, brown breeches, German boots, white cotton stockings, black beaver hat, a pea-green silk plaid cravat, and sometimes a white fur inside his cravat.
This man has a strong propensity to lying, is continually talking of having gambled away large sums of money, which has reduced him to his present state; of being nearly related to Lord Clarina and the Massey family of the county of Limerick. Has been in the practice of forging letters of introduction to respectable families for the purpose of obtaining money, by pretending to be a young gentleman who will shortly possess large property; and it is not impossible that he may have recourse to swindling to maintain his imaginary or assumed consequence.
He was formerly a trumpeter in some regiment of dragoons, married a girl in Limerick, who had some money, by which he procured his discharge, and spent the money, was necessitated to inlist in the 96th regiment as a Musician, in which he remained but a few months before he deserted; he was charged at Bristol with having loaded dice in his possession.
He surrendered himself under His Majesty’s Proclamation of the 14th? of October last before a Magistrate [word obscured] to Lieutenant Dawson, commanding a recruiting party of the 2d Battalion of the 62d [Regiment – words obscured], and deserted again on the [date obscured]. (York Herald, February 22, 1806)

Matthew Pollard, Armagh Militia
MATTHEW POLLARD, Musician, aged 22, five feet four inches high, fair complexion, a little freckled, oval vissage, brown hair, grey eyes, slender body, strong limbs, thick ancles [sic] and large feet, remarkable thick lips, rather turning outwards, a particular open between the front teeth of the lower jaw; had on at the time of desertion, a regimental Waistcoat over his Uniform, viz. white Jacket laced with scarlet twist in the Light Dragoon style, Bearskin wings, round buttons, with a black Waist-belt, and [a] high black varnished Cap, speaks affectedly as endeavouring to imitate an English accent.
A Reward of FIVE GUINEAS, over and above his Majesty’s Bounty, will be paid to any Person lodging the above Deserter in any of his Majesty’s Gaols or Guard-houses…
(Belfast News-Letter, 6 November 1807)

Three musicians and a drummer of the East Essex Militia
All four men deserted from Portsmouth on the evening of 21 August, 1811, presumably as a group.
1st. JAMES CRICK is about 30 Years of age, 5 Feet 8 Inches high, very thin make, pale complexion, dark hair, hazle eyes, by trade a watchmaker, born and served his apprenticeship at Norwich, long head and face, very wide mouth and large teeth, aquiline nose, round shoulders, stoops in his walk, has been employed as a singer in the Royal Circus, London some years ago, noted for comic singing, played a bassoon in the band.
2nd. JAMES FULKER is about 23 years of age, 5 feet 8 inches high, straight and well made, fresh complexion, dark brown hair, grey eyes and dark eyebrows, round head and face, short nose, wide mouth, and speaks thick, walks very upright, born at Halstead in Essex, played the octave fife in the band, and plays on the violin.
3d. WILLIAM SMITH is 28 years of age, 5 Feet 10 inches high, stout, well made, fresh complexion, brown hair, gray eyes, light eyebrows, large head and round face, common mouth, broad shoulders, walks very upright, lisps in his speech, born at Halstead in Essex, by trade a woolcomber, played on the trombone in the band.
4th. WILLIAM CARTER, Drummer, is 33 years of age, 5 feet 6 3/4 inches high, stout made, dark complexion, dark brown hair, hazle eyes and dark eyebrows, large head, round face, short thick nose, small mouth, pitted with the small pox, has a scar on the right side of his chin, large square shoulder, proportionable thighs and legs, small feet, steps very quick in his walk, born at Coggeshall in Essex. (Ipswich Journal, 31 August 1811)

James Smith, formerly of the disbanded Royal African Corps 
JAMES SMITH, 1st Company, 42 years of age, 5 feet 4 3/4 inches high, stout made, round head, oval face, grey eyes, brown eyebrows, long nose, small mouth, long neck, brown hair, square shoulders, long arms, small hands, proportional thighs and legs, small feet, born in Liverpool, County of Lancaster, by trade a labourer, deserted on the 22d Sept. 1822, from Wynberg [Cape Colony]; he has a wound on the right knee, and plays on the trumpet, bugle, flute, and other musical instruments. (Cape Town Gazette, and African Advertiser, 14 June 1823)

For anyone with even a passing interest in current affairs, the phrase ‘boots on the ground’ seems impossible to avoid. When discussing policy options for resolving conflicts in the Middle East, politicians and 24-hour news networks have embraced this expression to refer to the deployment of Western land forces in war-torn areas. Of course, boot-wearing soldiers have been trudging through mud since time immemorial, but this increasingly ubiquitous piece of military jargon has surprisingly recent origins.

British military officer and counter-insurgency expert Sir Robert Grainger Ker Thompson came close to employing the phrase in his 1966 book Defeating Communist Insurgency: Experiences from Malaya and Vietnam – chapter 15 was titled ‘Feet on the Ground’. In the book, Thompson posited that air strikes and artillery could not in themselves defeat guerrilla forces; victory required the physical presence of land forces to occupy and police conflict zones.

However, as William Safire noted in The New York Times in 2008, the precise expression did not appear in print media for another fifteen years.[1] In an April 1980 article in The Christian Science Monitor, American four-star general Volney Warner discussed the possibility of ‘getting U.S. combat boots on the ground’ to resolve the Iranian hostage crisis. Employing the term ‘boots’ as a metonym for military personnel was not novel; it had been used since the Second World War as slang for marine recruits, explaining the origin of the phrase ‘boot camp’ to refer to basic training.

But as military jargon goes, ‘boots on the ground’ was something of a sleeper hit. A search of Google Books shows that the phrase only appeared in published works with its modern meaning from 1997. A Google n-gram chart (see below) likewise suggests that the expression entered common parlance at the end of the 1990s, gaining traction with the onset of the War on Terror. For instance, as American forces began a ground offensive in Afghanistan in October 2001, The Guardian quoted Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon mooting the possibility of British ‘boots on the ground’ as part of efforts to capture Osama bin Laden.[2] Similarly, in 2004, the Associated Press reported that President Bush had approved the request of his military commanders for ‘more boots on the ground’ to help secure Iraqi elections.[3]

Perhaps not surprisingly, the phrase has become increasingly controversial and politicized as its popularity has grown. In contrast to no-fly zones, airstrikes, and providing military aid to local forces, putting ‘boots on the ground’ involves placing Western soldiers directly in harm’s way – always a contentious proposition, and all the more so in the wake of drawn-out deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. James Wright took issue with the expression in a 2016 piece in the The Atlantic, arguing that the focus on footwear ‘obscures and abstracts the humanity’ of soldiers sent overseas on dangerous combat missions.[4] The precise definition of ‘boots on the ground’ is also open to debate. Writing for The Guardian, Scott Beauchamp recalled the Obama administration’s contention that the phrase did not apply to special forces advisers sent to Syria in 2015.[5] Even though these advisers were presumably wearing military regulation footwear, the White House press secretary claimed that the President had not violated his 2013 pledge to avoid putting ‘boots on the ground’ in Syria, as the figure of speech, in Obama’s mind, referred only to ‘large-scale, long-term ground combat operations’, not to the limited deployment of specialists.

Strikingly, the metaphor has enjoyed considerable success beyond military and foreign policy circles. ‘Boots on the ground’ is now used in the context of political campaigns to refer to volunteers and grassroots support.[6] The expression even found a place in the titles of 2016 papers on archaeology and forestry management, in the latter case seemingly as a synonym for frontline workers.[7]

Perhaps echoing the fears of critics of indefinite overseas deployments, the phrase ‘boots on the ground’, having only recently parachuted into the lexicon, is by all appearances here to stay.

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[1] William Safire, ‘Let’s Do This’, New York Times (7 November 2008). http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/magazine/09wwln-safire-t.html?_r=2&&mtrref=en.wiktionary.org

[2] ‘US special forces attack Taliban in fierce firefight’, The Observer (21 October 2001), p. 1.

[3] ‘Bush: Iraqi vote must go on as scheduled’, The Item (3 December 2004), p. 8a.

[4] James Wright, ‘Remembering Those Who Wore the ‘Boots on the Ground’, The Atlantic (30 May 2016). https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/boots-on-the-ground/484682/

[5] Scott Beauchamp, ‘“Boots on the ground” and other military jargon are designed to confuse’, The Guardian (13 November 2015). https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/13/boots-on-the-ground-other-confusing-military-jargon-us-troops

[6] William Safire, ‘Let’s Do This’, New York Times (7 November 2008). http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/magazine/09wwln-safire-t.html?_r=2&&mtrref=en.wiktionary.org

[7] K. Reese-Taylor et al, ‘Boots on the Ground at Yaxnohcah: Ground-Truthing Lidar in a Complex Tropical Landscape’, Advances in Archaeological Practice, Vol. 4, Iss. 3 (August 2016), pp. 314-338; ‘Boots on the Ground’, Journal of Forestry, Vol. 114, Iss. 2 (March 2016), pp. 178-183.