Although generally classified as artillery short swords the M1832 short sword was initially carried by infantry NCOs and musicians until later restricted to heavy artillery in the regular army, though it was perhaps light artillery who might better appreciate their usefulness in clearing brush for visibility and fields of fire. Militia units held onto them for more general use as an impressive sidearm. During the Civil War some made their way into U.S. Navy hands as stop-gap cutlasses and some newspaper reports of cutlasses produced by southern manufacturers might be referring these. In any case, this is a scarce southern version using a simple wasp-waisted blade with no fullers and hilt cast from a US version.

The blade is full length and with tip intact. One edge shows a number of small nicks from the midpoint forward. All are shallow with those at the midpoint being more narrow nicks and those near the tip somewhat broader. The metal is generally smooth, gray with dark stains, but with some shallow pitting near the guard and some deeper corrosion and darker color near the tip, which has one shallow nick just under the point.

The hilt is clearly cast from another US made short sword, showing the eagle on both sides of the pommel, but mostly in outline and not much detail, though slightly more on one side than other. The pommel is relatively smooth on the face and back. The top shows more signs of sand casting, though the blade tang is very neatly peened. The feathers of the grip show stronger signs of rough sand casting overall and consequent loss of detail, though the feathers are distinct. The seam is visible. Small recessed spots show where the grip rivets of the original had been. The maker paid somewhat more attention to the crossguard, machining out the roundels at the ends and the channel connecting them.

The scabbard is an even rarer survivor than the sword. Constructed entirely of black leather, it is fitted with a tall, narrow belt loop attached to the reverse of the throat by two rivets crudely peened over washers. The scabbard lacks a few inches of the tip, which could have been mounted with a brass, tinned iron or leather drag. The color is good. The obverse shows well, with some cracking to the finish, wrinkles and losses on the lower third. The reverse shows more cracking, some openings below the seam near the top with more losses and opening to the seam near the bottom. In any condition, however, these scabbards are scarce.

This is a no-doubt-about-it Confederate version of the regulation US short sword that would display well in a collection of CS edge weapons, knives and short swords in particular, or even CS naval gear.    [sr] [ph:m]

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