Bent Bayonet.

[bankerpapaw]

Thanks. As much death and misery those men had seen, I don't believe that happened. This statement was made by a so-call author who wrote a book about Jenkins' Ferry.

 

[redbob]

They were bent for a number of purposes, for hanging a pot, for dragging a body (body hook) bayonet + rifle = almost a 10' pole- if you have ever had to handle a body (especially one in an advanced stage of decomposion) anything that can put some space between you and it is welcomed, for a candle holder, a firepit poker and for a digging instrument. After the war (and sometimes during) swords and sword bayonets were used to make fighting knives and corn, cotton or crop knives. These were frugal people in hard times and they made do with what they had.

 

[John Davison]

Here's a reference from another forum:View attachment 38816

Kinda renders it useless for it's intended purpose.

 

[John Davison]

Soldiers are a pretty inventive lot. While I was attending the Jungle Warfare School in Panama. I learned a neat trick to heat water for coffee. A tin of C ration of peanut butter with army issue insect repellant added would produce a flame that lasted long enough to make hot coffee in my aluminum canteen cup.

 

[frankconrad]

There are a lot of salesmen??? that are experts, just ask them, who will fabricate any kind of a story to sell something or explain something.
In order to bend the bayonet like that it would have to be heated and bent while red hot or cooled slowly and then bent, There are pictures of testing bayonets at Springfield Arsenal with the point stuck in the floor and the blade bent almost 45 o which they were expected to return to straight.
My thoughts are that at some later date someone needed a special hook and had the bayonet handy.

 

[101combatvet]

Question: I recently heard someone say that bayonets were nearly bent double to aid soldiers drag bodies to burial sites. They would jab the bayonets into the necks of the dead soldiers. Is this true?

Yes it's true, but not to jab the body just to hook a belt or piece of clothing. I believe this has been referenced in Phillip's Relic book.

 

[redbob]

There are a lot of salesmen??? that are experts, just ask them, who will fabricate any kind of a story to sell something or explain something.
In order to bend the bayonet like that it would have to be heated and bent while red hot or cooled slowly and then bent, There are pictures of testing bayonets at Springfield Arsenal with the point stuck in the floor and the blade bent almost 45 o which they were expected to return to straight.
My thoughts are that at some later date someone needed a special hook and had the bayonet handy.

I have a number of battlefield dug bayonets that were bent into various shapes and remember that units such as teamsters and artillery had blacksmiths traveling with them.

 

[johan_steele]

All this reference to bending a bayonet to move a body, I sure would like to see a period reference to the practice. Because until I do I see nothing more than some used car salesman trying to make a buck... or the buyer trying to justify his purchase.

 

[Frederick14Va]

All this reference to bending a bayonet to move a body, I sure would like to see a period reference to the practice. Because until I do I see nothing more than some used car salesman trying to make a buck... or the buyer trying to justify his purchase.

If you locate one, let me know for Ive never found a credible one either... use of a blanket or tarp was much more efficient and less effort than trying to drag a body across the ground.... with hooks or anything else...

Besides the fact that Ord folks typically would quickly scour the field gathering up weapons and accoutrements and anything of use... including those off the dead... by the time the burial details came around majority of the dead would not have any straps or belts remaining to make use of as grasping points to move them with... rare to see period photos of the dead ready for burial with any gear still on them...

 

[unicornforge]

A regular camp fire is sufficient to take the heat treatment out of just about anything, including a bayonet. If you use a bayonet to adjust the logs in a camp fire, or use the bayonet to hold your container to cook your meal, the bayonet is going to loose its heat treatment, and become bendable. Also, if you leave the bayonet in the campfire until it becomes red hot, then a quick flick of the end of the bayonet against a rock or other hard object will create a bend. ... Soldiers knew how to bend railroad rails, so bending a bayonet would be child's play for them....... And then there are the accidental bending of a bayonet, where the bayonet was used for cooking, and then used to pry something..... "ooops sarge, it just bent, I didn't do nuttin to it." I've seen bayonets at reenactments that fell into the last category.

 

[Frederick14Va]

A regular camp fire is sufficient to take the heat treatment out of just about anything, including a bayonet. If you use a bayonet to adjust the logs in a camp fire, or use the bayonet to hold your container to cook your meal, the bayonet is going to loose its heat treatment, and become bendable. Also, if you leave the bayonet in the campfire until it becomes red hot, then a quick flick of the end of the bayonet against a rock or other hard object will create a bend. ... Soldiers knew how to bend railroad rails, so bending a bayonet would be child's play for them....... And then there are the accidental bending of a bayonet, where the bayonet was used for cooking, and then used to pry something..... "ooops sarge, it just bent, I didn't do nuttin to it." I've seen bayonets at reenactments that fell into the last category.

Very true.... The repro's even worse since they are not made of the better steel or iron as the originals were... nor most seem to be tempered... so bend much easier with little effort....

Always fascinated at some of the Confederate made bayonets that were made of iron... but the last few inches of the blade were of steel....

 

[John Davison]

A regular camp fire is sufficient to take the heat treatment out of just about anything, including a bayonet. If you use a bayonet to adjust the logs in a camp fire, or use the bayonet to hold your container to cook your meal, the bayonet is going to loose its heat treatment, and become bendable. Also, if you leave the bayonet in the campfire until it becomes red hot, then a quick flick of the end of the bayonet against a rock or other hard object will create a bend. ... Soldiers knew how to bend railroad rails, so bending a bayonet would be child's play for them....... And then there are the accidental bending of a bayonet, where the bayonet was used for cooking, and then used to pry something..... "ooops sarge, it just bent, I didn't do nuttin to it." I've seen bayonets at reenactments that fell into the last category.

Probably would make a great skewer for your shush kabob ration.

 

[Patrick H]

Earlier in the thread, it was suggested that many pieces of army gear were re-purposed after the war. I think that's a good explanation for what we see here. Think of it this way: If you're on active duty, do you really want to render this weapon useless for its intended purpose? You might do it to a battlefield pick-up from an enemy soldier, but not your own bayonet. But things change after the war. Once home, you can fashion a bayonet into any of several tools. Regardless, I think the shape of the one photographed gives us a good clue--I think it's a stove or fireplace tool.

 

[bankerpapaw]

Soldiers are a pretty inventive lot. While I was attending the Jungle Warfare School in Panama. I learned a neat trick to heat water for coffee. A tin of C ration of peanut butter with army issue insect repellant added would produce a flame that lasted long enough to make hot coffee in my aluminum canteen cup.

When I was in Vietnam, we would pinch off a chunk of C-4 to heat our coffee. Burns very well.

 

[bankerpapaw]

All this reference to bending a bayonet to move a body, I sure would like to see a period reference to the practice. Because until I do I see nothing more than some used car salesman trying to make a buck... or the buyer trying to justify his purchase.

Exactly.

 

[John Davison]

Earlier in the thread, it was suggested that many pieces of army gear were re-purposed after the war. I think that's a good explanation for what we see here. Think of it this way: If you're on active duty, do you really want to render this weapon useless for its intended purpose? You might do it to a battlefield pick-up from an enemy soldier, but not your own bayonet. But things change after the war. Once home, you can fashion a bayonet into any of several tools. Regardless, I think the shape of the one photographed gives us a good clue--I think it's a stove or fireplace tool.

Or a branding iron to itimidate an unruly guest.

 

[Billy Yank]

When I was in Vietnam, we would pinch off a chunk of C-4 to heat our coffee. Burns very well.

I definitely would not have wanted to have been the first person to try this.

 

[John Davison]

I definitely would not have wanted to have been the first person to try this.View attachment 39101

A little dab 'ill do ya!

 

[redbob]

I definitely would not have wanted to have been the first person to try this.View attachment 39101

You just didn't want to stomp on it to put it out.

 

[Billy Yank]

You just didn't want to stomp on it to put it out.

Burns just like wood, actually, if you light it with a match.