What is this? Salter & Co Socket Bayonet

Detar24

Cadet
Joined
Feb 24, 2021
I'm new to the forum and am looking to gather some information on a socket bayonet. It came from a chest my grandfather purchased at an auction in the 1950s while living in Maryland.

It is in good condition with mild surface staining. The SALTER & CO mark is clearly visible on the blade shoulder as is an engraved 345 A near the butt of the socket. Total length is 20-5/8" with a 17-1/16" blade. From my uneducated internet searching, I believe this is an 1853 Enfield socket bayonet that, given the engraving, was likely delivered to the Confederacy under the 2nd Sinclair, Hamilton & Company contract (per collegehillarsenal.com).

What is everyone's thoughts? Is there a way to tell if it is an original or a replica? Also, does anyone have any information on the 345 A engraving that might shed light on the bayonet's history? Any and all thoughts are greatly appreciated!

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Your bayonet looks good to me. Your analysis is spot on. This bayonet is from the second batch of 10,000 P1853 Rifle-Muskets delivered as part of the 2nd SHC contract. I don't show any muskets on my list that are reasonably close. Suffix guns are pretty scarce, and there aren't many known sub- A-1000.

Sending you a PM.
 
It appears that the 2nd SHC contract was fulfilled in late-1861/early-1862. Based on available records/lists, is it known which regiments received these weapons, or were they scattered across the Confederate armies?
 
It appears that the 2nd SHC contract was fulfilled in late-1861/early-1862. Based on available records/lists, is it known which regiments received these weapons, or were they scattered across the Confederate armies?

The guns were scattered around quite a bit as pretty much everyone wanted to arm their troops with new rifle-muskets. Written records detailing the specific guns issued to individual men or even to regiments are extremely rare, bordering on non-existent. Most of what we know about which units got numbered guns relies on surviving examples with positive identifications to the soldiers that carried them. I don't have an information IDing any of the low a-suffix guns.
 
Great pickup!!! Here is my “A” suffix Confederate Enfield. Mine is missing the ramrod and bayonet.
If you contact Tim Prince at College Hill he does keep a database of Suffix rifled muskets, bayonets etc.

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Well that is an very nice bayonet. Suffix numbered ones are pretty hard to find and if you do you’re paying a great deal more for them. Do you know if your Grandfather ever found any other interesting relics in that old chest that he purchased?
 
I don't believe there was anything else of interest in the chest, which is somewhat odd to me. I would think that if you were keeping something like this, you would have other items/papers. It was the 50s so I would've assumed this was a family heirloom at that point and not a collector's misplaced item. Do you know any of the history of your gun?
 
I don't believe there was anything else of interest in the chest, which is somewhat odd to me. I would think that if you were keeping something like this, you would have other items/papers. It was the 50s so I would've assumed this was a family heirloom at that point and not a collector's misplaced item. Do you know any of the history of your gun?
That’s too bad! I’m sure that bayonet is worth more than the old chest ever was.
I know that there are only 50 “A” suffix guns known to have survived to this day according to Tim Prince.
I got it for a good deal from a great friend of mine. The person who sold it to him said it was his Fathers and it survived a house fire because it was kept in an expensive fireproof safe. It also a JS Anchor stamp. Definitely imported P53 for the Confederacy. It is one of two Confederate Enfields that I own.

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@ detar 24,

Grayrock has, as usual, given you great information on your bayonet. Numbers in the low "A" range are indeed scarce., as are the P53 rifle muskets in that range.

There are about 3 different "list keepers" and from these I count 54 P53 "A" socket bayonets, the lowest numbered one is 198A, the next being 746A. There are even less "B" items as the CS gave up on the numbering system in the late "B" range. There is also a comparative s/n gap in the P53 guns about the same range. {189A to 1104A}

Some of these are most likely at the bottom of the ocean, causing gaps in the surviving Enfield items s/n ranges.
 
Wow, I didn't realize how scarce it actually was! I read an article about the Union blockade that seemed to shed some light on this. The blockade was ineffective through 1861, mainly because there were no ships and even less qualified crewmembers. However, by mid-1862, the blockade was becoming more effective such that many of the heavier loads (such as arms) were being dumped by the blockade runners trying to elude capture. This meant that many of the late A and B arms may have never reached the CS. It could also explain why the CS gave up numbering them (i.e., large gaps of missing arms made the numbering difficult and pointless). Likewise, the earlier delivered arms (1st SHC contract, early 2nd contract) arrived before there was a blockade issue, meaning that a casualty's weapon stayed with him. As the blockade's effect started to become felt on the battlefield, the weapons were more likely to be reused, especially the rifled muskets. I've not actually reviewed the cataloged lists to see if this theory is supported by them.
 
After telling my grandfather about the history of the bayonet, he remembered that the chest also had a musket ball mold that he saved. Oddly, while the bayonet is Confederate issue, the musket ball mold has a US strike on it. Most of the examples I looked at online were just a mold, while this one appears to have a set of clippers built into the head. Interesting nonetheless.
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