"Which firearm sported this nasty looking bayonet? " Topic

Hi Gents,

I've occasionally come across contemporary photos of rifles sporting the particularly angry looking bayonet pictured at the top of the photo linked here…

May I ask which firearm this was coupled with, and, if it was relatively rare, or somewhat common?

Thank you for any insights,
Bob

It's for the Enfield Rifle, sometimes referred to as the Enfield Short Rifle, and not to be confused with the vastly more common Enfield Rifle-Musket.

As to its rarity, have a quick look through this thread:
link

The top one looks less practical for combat ,perhaps it was a dress? One.
It still is nasty looking however.

EDIT. Excellent link and site Perdus

Nope, it was a very functional, and quite deadly weapon.

There is a US pattern of the sword bayonet designed for use with the M1855 Rifle (as above, not to be confused with the M1855 rifle-musket) and also with the M1841 "Mississippi" rifle.

The M1841 began to be refitted to take a bayonet when the IS adopted the M1855 Rifle. Most had a lug welded to the right side of the barrel so the sword bayonet could slide on and lock in place. Some, however, had a smaller lug welded on and a special, longer version of the triangular bayonet could be attached. These were especially common in Massachusetts, though other states could have them. But, they were rarer than the sword bayonet for the M1841.

Here's an image of some of the 7th Maine with their M1841'2 and sword bayonets.

Here's a couple of soldiers of the 22nd NY Infantry (Stawberry Grays) at Harper's Ferry. These have the M1855 Rifle with sword bayonet.

I've noticed they show up in engravings (e.g., Harper's) fairly frequently in the early stages of the War. I would hazard a guess that they were popular with pre-War Militia units, who then retained them when they mustered. By way of analogy, these Enfield patterns are sometimes referred to as "Volunteer Rifles" because they were so popular with the multitude of Rifle Volunteer Corps that were established in Britain in 1859.

One of the drawbacks for this impressive yet unwieldy weapon is that it made the rifle extremely barrel heavy. It's not something you would want to fix until it was really needed. This was a characteristic of all short rifles that mounted sword bayonets to offset barrel length.

If I recall correctly Sharps and/or Spencer Rifles (NOT carbines) had sword bayonets. I don't think they looked like the ones above, though. I think they were much straighter.

The 7th Maine retained their M1841 Windsor Rifles (Called by them "Windsor" as they were made in Windsor, Vermont, and stamped with that on the lockplate) with sword bayonets until 1864 when they were mustered out. In July they (and the reenlisted men of the 5th & 6th Maine) were combined to form the 1st Maine Veteran Volunteers, and issued with new M1863 Springfield rifle-muskets.

The 7th Maine was involved in hand-to-hand combate in the Orchard of Piper's Farm at Sharpsburg. They used those sword bayonets to deadly effect, and several of the men also used them to hack apart the fence surrounding the orchard to prevent the capture of their major, Thomas Hyde, who had been on horseback while leading their charge against the area.

To be honest, most of the pre-war militia carried some variant of the M1816 mucket. Most had been converted to percussion using one of the 3 variations of the process, but some were still in flint when the war began. Very few used the M1841, and I can't think of any who were issued the M1855.

Interesting. So, were they issued to a decent number of newly raised units? Or is it a case of "Pavlovski Grenadier syndrome", i.e., artists over-representing something that is visually distinctive?

No, a number of regiments received them as initial issue, both northern and southern. These were in the various arsenals.

In fact, there's a note in the Master of Ordnance report(s) in the Massachusetts Adjutant General's report of 1862 listing the modification of a number of sets of English pattern accouterments (1000 sets, I believe) to accompany an equal number of M1841 rifles transferred to the state of New Hampshire.

Both the 7th and 8th Maine received M1841 rifles and sword bayonets, and the 4th Maine got M1816 which, in either December 1861 or early 1862 were swapped out for Belgian .55 rifles.

The 4th Texas initially had those English rifles illustrated in the original image above. Val Giles, in his memoir "Rags and Hope" talks about them. It is not known if they were ever swapped out for rifle-muskets.

Ah lovely! Enfant Perdus, thank you for the help, and great link. TKindred, you are a veritable Wikipedia of ACW unto yourself, thank you as always!

So, er, regarding sculpting their representation on a figure…? Would you say, 'not at all necessary given their ultimate rarity', or 'not such a bad idea given their initial issue numbers', or 'historical use and accuracy demand it'?

I mean, they look kinda cool.. but relative to say, the 'necessity' of including Zouave regiments in a range versus regular ole' blue or grey attired regiments, were these rifles/bayonets on a par in terms of numbers of regiments using them, and thus by default a 'necessity' as well?

Thank you again,
Bob

As an ACW gamer, I think it would be great to have figures armed with these. Even if the bayonets weren't fixed, just to have figures armed with the "Short Rifle" and the sword bayonet in its scabbard would be great. A little variety while still keeping things historically accurate.

As to rarity, well, there are plenty of figures of Confederate sharpshooters armed with Whitworths mounted with telescopic sights, so…

Here is an image of a M1841 rifle with it's brass-hilted sword bayonet. Note the lug welded to the right side of the barrel just before the nose bridal for it's attachment.

link

And here's the Enfield rifle with it's sword bayonet.

I have a sword bayonet with a metal scabbard, which has an interesting history. It was imported before the war for the Vermont militia, issued to a Vermont regiment at the beginning of the war, and then sold as war surplus to the French, where it was issued to an Imperial Guard regiment if I've read the French inscription across the top correctly.

The sword bayonet was a mean weapon, engineered to create severe wounds. The vertical curve of the blade was meant to tear the wound as the blade entered. The top of the blade seen head-on is a "T", creating a cut hard to close. The indentation along the blade is there to allow air into the wound, [and dirt] and to keep the blade from being stuck by suction, where the skin next to the blade seals out the air making it more difficult to remove. A lot of pigs were stabbed to come up with the engineering.