US Brass Hilted Sword Bayonets

Why am I writing this?

First and foremost, I want to consolidate and preserve in one place the small amount of information on this subject that I have read, been told and observed from many different sources. A place where I can find it when needed and know where it came from.

I also want to share this information with others that are interested and to solicit those others to share their knowledge here as well.

Please keep in mind that this is and probably always will be a work in process. All suggestions, corrections, additions or any type of input would be highly appreciated. Please feel free to contact me!

Disclaimer

Only a few of these bayonets have been positively identified to the rifle for which they were produced. A few cases exist where the rifle and bayonet have matching serial numbers or have been historically kept together. The poor quality of period photographs and the lack of accurate period drawings makes the process of identification difficult at best. Checking the fit of the bayonet to the rifle helps but a good fit is not absolute proof that they are a match. A lot of what we currently believe is based on experienced opinions handed down to us by earlier collectors. Much of this information is probably correct but there are mistakes and the mistakes will continue. In this work I have made many bold claims on possible identifications and I am certain there are mistakes. In the "Speculation and Questions" sections I have attempted to identify my opinions as speculation, not fact. It is a work in process and I revise sections frequently.

Current omissions

At this point in my endeavor, I am purposefully omitting the following types of US brass hilted bayonets to help narrow my focus and to get something working.

German-American militia bayonets: They are well covered in Thomas Rentschler's book "Rifles and Blades of the German-American Militia and the Civil War".

Acknowledgements

I would like to give credit to Albert Hardin for his book "The American Bayonet 1776 / 1964" and Rollin Davis for his book "US Sword Bayonets 1847 - 1865". Two early pioneers on the subject from the 1960's and to my knowledge the only works focused on US brass hilts. In this task, I have leaned heavily on Hardin's work for details.

George Moller's book "American Military Shoulder Arms, Volume III" has provided a lot of information from the rifle side of the subject where I am woefully short.

The book "Sharps Firearms The Percussion Era 1848-1865" by Roy Marcot, Ron Paxton and Edward W. Marron, Jr. has helped a lot in clearing the fog on the various bayonets used on Sharp's firearms. Paul Johnson's contribution on the bayonet sections was especially helpful.

Articles in "The Journal of the Society of American Bayonet Collectors" by Richard Berglund, Peter Albee, Ed Hull, Phil Leveque, Trevor Bovee, Thomas Singelyn, Jim Maddox and others have been very helpful.

Fellow collectors who have made contributions to this effort:

Roy Anderson

Randy Baker

Shawn Gibson (The Bayonet Connection)

Eduardo Gorostiza

David Hughes

Ed Hull

Jason Kaplan (J & J Military Antiques)

Dorlin Kerr

Jim Maddox

Ken McPheeters (McPheeters Antique Militaria)

Petr Rubín (www.bajonety.cz)