Edged Wpns 1832 Ames Artillery Short Sword

Maximus71

Private
Joined
Dec 20, 2019
Hi All,
Here is my hefty Model 1832 Artillery Short Sword manufactured by Ames, dated 1841 and with all the proper markings. The blade is in very good condition considering the age and the scabbard is about as good as they come with these, also has an inspector mark of w.a.j on the ball. From my research they were mostly used to clear brush and what not and less as a weapon. They are very beefy at just over 2 ft long I can't imagine carrying one or even getting whacked with one...yikes!!! Does anyone have a period photo for reference? Hope you enjoy the pics!!!

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Thank you, and thanks for that picture! Most of the times when they are minty they come from China haha. How can I go about finding out who the inspectors were?
 
A nice find with a scabbard. My 1833 dated example suffered some and had been heavily gun blued, with the neglect of rust. The first contracts/years were with castings fro Huse in Newburyport.

They are a hefty handful an exact copies of the French 1816, meant for fascine work.

The US incoporated them into some use as cutlasses and the Odd Fellows were fond of them as early as the 1840s. Some quite elaborately etched exaples surface from time to time.
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Cheers
GC
 
This is one of the nicest I have seen. Not only is there little wear or excessive signs of aging, but all the markings are well struck. Seldom especially is the eagle as clearly struck as seen here.

I've often heard these swords were used primarily for cutting brush, building fascines, etc. It sounds logical, but for some reason the evidence of the swords themselves doesn't seen to tell the story. If they were so used, you would expect to see a lot of pretty beat-up blade edges and points and this doesn't seem to be the case. I suspect they were more decorative items like the M1840 NCO and musicians swords than serious weapons/tools.
 
This is one of the nicest I have seen. Not only is there little wear or excessive signs of aging, but all the markings are well struck. Seldom especially is the eagle as clearly struck as seen here.

I've often heard these swords were used primarily for cutting brush, building fascines, etc. It sounds logical, but for some reason the evidence of the swords themselves doesn't seen to tell the story. If they were so used, you would expect to see a lot of pretty beat-up blade edges and points and this doesn't seem to be the case. I suspect they were more decorative items like the M1840 NCO and musicians swords than serious weapons/tools.
I have one that was dug out of an artillery emplacement, so I figure that it was used for something other than a weapon.
 
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