Union Knives?

[Redcoat]

Belt knives being useful as both a weapon and for utilitarian purposes, leads one to question, why didn't Union Soldiers wear one on their belts, like the Confederates did?

 

[redbob]

Large belt knives while impressive in pictures, were not very practical in the field and were often discarded by the Confederates; probably the two most valuable knives that soldiers of either side could have was a good butcher knife for preparing their rations and good pocket knives for a multitude of other purposes.

 

[kevikens]

Belt knives being useful as both a weapon and for utilitarian purposes, leads one to question, why didn't Union Soldiers wear one on their belts, like the Confederates did?

I can think of three possible reasons. Union troops had greater access to factory manufactured folding jackknives and found them less cumbersome to carry than belt knives. Second, as the belt knives were not a standard issue Union officers were less likely to be thrilled about seeing them on their men whereas Confederate officers were less likely to pay attention to improvised equipment as much of what the men normally carried was already improvised out of necessity. Third, Union factory manufactured clothing had pockets to put those folding jackknives into and Southern homespun may not have had those pockets. I have seen actual period civilian clothing, not sutler's repro clothing, where trouser pockets were either very small and shallow or totally missing. This last reason would have to be researched further but if Confederate troops were wearing clothing short on pockets belt knives may have been the way to carry those blades.

 

[Rebforever]

Belt knives being useful as both a weapon and for utilitarian purposes, leads one to question, why didn't Union Soldiers wear one on their belts, like the Confederates did?

I would say they were not interested in looking in the eyes of the one they were going to kill!