civil war era knives...

S

siguy

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Aug 26, 2006
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i am wondering what sorts of knives were used by soldiers and county folk in and around the civil war. this interest stems from wanting to get back to my roots and also from the prospect of doing a little bit of historical reenactment.

did they use some nice basic soddies or were they still using alot of friction folders? did they not really like folders and went for the patch knife type of fixed blade?

any pictures of civil war reenactment gear would be nice...
 
I make about 1-2 trips to Shiloh every year. In the museum they have a knife found on the grounds. Its a close relationship to the sodbuster. The handles were a little wider.
 
I don't know about their knives, but I do have my great great grandfathers bayonet he used. He fought for the Confederacy, as did all of my great grandfathers on both sides. I can post a pic tomorrow, if your interested.
 
sgbeskin,
I believe that you can take it as a given that many here would be interested in those pics, as well as any history you might want to recount. :D

Thanks.
 
I'm not too far from both Antietem, Gettysburg, Manassas, and Balls Bluff battlefields. They have museums at those battle sites and in them are artifacts from the sites. There are some pocket knives in the case, and they are single blade, very plain jacknives that could pass as a sodbuster class of knife. Size seems to be 3 1/2 to 4 inches closed. Once in a great while you will see a barlow type of pocket knife. There was not really a great deal of large fixed blades like bowies. It seems that the men who had the big bowies generally disgarded them after the first long march or two. They had enough to carry as it was.

It seems as though the regular soldier in the civil war was not well off money wise, and bought very plain cutlery with him.
 
I am going to take pictures of the bayonet tomorrow. I do have a little history about that bayonet. It was made, here in Mississippi, my great grandfather carried it with him from Louisiana to Virginia. I believe I heard tell that it went with an Enfield rifle. I'm not sure about that. When the war was over he had to walk back down to Louisiana. All he had with him was a rifle and that bayonet. No shoes, lost his hat somewhere along the way and he had the rifle taken away by yankee soldiers just before he made it home. The Yankees told him he could keep the bayonet for protection and such. It has been passed down since then. How much of that story is true, I don't know. Could be I guess..... You know how stories grow and change through the years.
 
As promised!!!!
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that's an interesting blade...it looks like it is warped a little bit. that, or it looks recurved and that is messing with my mind. that is a nicely worn blade...i wonder if it needed to chop firewood
 
Ah, when the rifle was valued as much for being a "bayonet handle" as it was for firing a projectile. That is one impressive sticky bit!

-- Sam
 
I've seen them before that were wavy a bit, like that one. Don't have a clue why, but there must have been a reason.
 
i noticed that the thin blade on a large kitchen knife became wavy all along the length when i used it for chopping and brush hacking...perhaps this is what happened to these...though the shape of the wave is much much larger. the waves in my blade were about 1/2 to 3/4 inches long i would guess. perhaps they become waved when they hit bones and rocks and other hard things when they are stabbed, and they bend a little bit.

anyone know how hard these are? if they are softer steel it would make sense for them to bend when they hit something hard.
 
It's recurved, not warped. It has a flat spine, with a blood groove. I don't know the hardness of the blade.. I just heard that it was made here in Mississippi. When I was a kid, I remember my daddy and grandpa using it for killing two hogs for cooking. My grandpa rammed that thing under the front left arm and twisted a time or two and it was done. It's still razor sharp after all those years.
 
thank you for clearing that up. i guess it is just a trick of the light.

that's an interesting blade right there. just out of curiosity, do you have some specs? weight, overall length and blade length?
 
Don't know the length right off hand. I can tell you when I get off of work. Don't know the weight. It's not to heavy.
 
Really interesting thread.Any photos of knives of the era(the bayonet was very appealing)? Maybe knife adverts or catalogues from the era?

To extend this thread a bit, it would be very rewarding to find out about the types of knives soldiers took to the First World War. French, German and British troops would all have had knives from their countries but I suspect America was a big supplier as well,even before joining the war. Any pics or info of pocket knives or combat knives from 1914-18?
 
Found that Böker make a repro of the 1915 Trench Knife, some in carbon with wood,stag scales and carbon, and a stainless version with micarta.Believe there's a Damascus one too but at 600euro...
The knife looks authentic, boot knife dagger style, does anybody have one out there? Or any ideas about WW1 era knives from Britain, France,Germany US etc?
I'm writing some fiction about the era and it would be nice to know more about 1914-18 pocket and fixed knives,not just military ones either.
 
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