State Bayonet

[ranger326]

I understand that bayonets marked "US" were made under Federal contract. Many Civil War bayonets were unmarked and could've been made under state or private contract. But how did that work exactly. Were there many differences between the bayonets? Did the states mark their bayonets? Why didn't the Federal government make enough bayonets? If you're going to manufacture the musket, it seems a relatively easy task to make the bayonet as well?

As always, I am looking forward to expanding my education.

d

 

[Grayrock Volunteer]

Difference between bayonets? Yes, huge differences when you consider the variety of arms one might encounter. Granted though, M1855 and the M1861 series rifle-muskets (1863's and 1864's included) are essentially all the same.

State marked bayonets? Not typically, the only ones that I am familiar with that have state markings are prewar bayonets and even those usually don't have state ownership marks.

Shortage of Federal bayonets? One must remember that even the Federal government contracted for arms. And just because one firm received a contract for stands of arms doesn't mean that they produced all of the parts for those guns themselves. Arms from the Springfield arsenal should all have U.S. stamped bayonets, but contractors just had to follow the pattern sizes for the arms and bayonets. Also, when thousands of arms are placed in storage it is inevitable that bayonets get mixed up or lost. Chief examples of this are the 2 separate style bayonets for the M1816 and M1842 series muskets that needed replacements after they were no longer in production.

I'm sure that someone else will be able to add to this, but this should give you a good start.

Cheers,
Garrett Glover

 

[rob63]

Some general background about how the system worked might help to clarify some things for you. Under the Militia Act of 1808 the federal government undertook responsibility for procurement of arms for the states. Congress provided the funds for purchases, and then the arms were allocated to the states according to population. The federal government would have purchased and supplied a bayonet with each musket. As a general rule the Ordnance Department tried to reserve arms that were produced at Springfield and Harper's Ferry for the regular army and to issue arms purchased from contractors to the states. It didn't always work out that way, but they tried.

It is only natural that there is much more uniformity, not only in patterns, but also in markings, amongst the products of the 2 national armories than what there was amongst the various private contractors. The surprising thing to me is that there is as much uniformity as there is amongst the surviving arms.

Obviously, once the weapons were issued to the states they became the responsibility of that state. I think the answer to your basic question of why there are unmarked bayonets, and why there weren't enough bayonets, lies in human nature. A bayonet is relatively small compared to a musket and thus is much easier to lose or steal. Consequently, they needed replaced more often. This would lead to additional contracts and result in more variety amongst bayonets than muskets.

People who work in the modern day shipping industry will tell you that if you are sending something small and valuable the best way to make sure it is neither lost or stolen is to stick it inside a large box.

 

[ranger326]

Thank you gentlemen!

Excellent and concise answers. It fills up a lot of gaps in my understanding.

Still, if the states could mark things like belt buckles, buttons, discs for leather goods, etc., I would've thought a quick stamp of "PA", or "NY", for example, would have been relatively cheap and easy. What a different perspective to have now as compared to the early 1860's, eh?

Another question occurs to me. And, thank you very much, by the way, for all of your patience. Was there any kind of a "mass" collection of arms after the Civil War? Did the government collect and then destroy excess arms (including bayonets)?

d

 

[johan_steele]

A contracted arm fore the United States included the bayonet with the arm. A "stand of arms" included the bayonet.

While many bayonets were thrown away by the soldiers that practice quickly stopped when it was discovered that they were govt property and the responsability of those issued them. If lost the soldier was expected to pay for them.

Post war the govt recouped quite a lot of coin by flooding the surplus market with arms. Many first class arms from the ACW ended up in other armies in Asia, Africa and Europe.