Civil War Arkansas Toothpick?

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
Saw this at a museum yesterday.Would this be classified as a knife? In Europe this might be classified as a small sword.
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Looks to be longer than a foot, making it a shortsword.
 
I think the blade was over one and a half feet maybe almost two feet long.
 
Let us say this is a 20+ inch long Arkansas Toothpick. How long does a knife need to be before it is a sword? Dose a sword need to be of a particular shape?
 
That looks similar to the short sword British midshipmen trained with in the old wooden navy. That and a dirk made them quite formidable. I've wondered if the short sword was used because of the age of the midshipmen - 10-12?

Is the Arkansas Toothpick derived from that type of naval sword? The Mississippi had quite a knife culture!
 
It is very hard to say what it is as many blacksmiths in the South made all types of knives, D guards etc and their imagination and skills was unlimited.
 
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