Figure 1.--We tend to see most boys wearing white or light-colored stockings in the 1860s. This was true of boys not yet breeched as well as those wearing knee pants. And some of those boys wore stripped stockings. We are not ebtirely true just how common they were.An example is an American boy in 1865.

Boys still commonly wore long trousers in the 1860s, but knee pants were beginning to become popular. We tend to see most boys wearing white or light-colored stockings in the 1860s. Large number of images in the photographic record shows boys wearing white stockings. A good example is the Johnson boys in 1867. White stockings were very common. This was true of boys not yet breeched as well as those wearing knee pants. White stockings, however, were not universal. We so see some striped stockings. And some of those boys wore stripped stockings. We are not entirely true just how common they were. An example is an American boy in 1865. By the end of the decade we begin to see more striped stockings and they became very common in the 1870s as white stocking went out if style, especially for boys.