An American War of 1812 era cutlass

Jim McDougall · 13th February 2019, 08:12 PM

Beautifully described Mark!!! and this truly puts things in perspective as far as the actual 'combat' and 'boarding' circumstances in the days of sail. Most of these guys were anything but combat trained and were certainly not fencers!!
Nobody really kept these weapons up as far as sharpening etc. and that was truly a problem with most issue weapons.

In the Civil War, despite all the colorful images of sabre wielding cavalry there were so few injuries ever recorded as sword wounds that references on the medical aspects of the war only mentioned several cases. These were invariably blunt force trauma to the head....not cuts.

Actually dull blades have been a pretty regular situation it seems in many campaigns in history....the British cavalry in India were always complaining of how ineffective their sabres were, In the 1820s when the stout M1796 sabres were replaced with a blade supposed to be more effective in thrusting, the older swords were phased out.
Later the British troops were amazed and horrified at how effective the Indian warriors were with their swords........and even more so when they discovered the warriors were using thier OLD SABRE blades!!!

13th February 2019, 08:12 PM	#15
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,295	Beautifully described Mark!!! and this truly puts things in perspective as far as the actual 'combat' and 'boarding' circumstances in the days of sail. Most of these guys were anything but combat trained and were certainly not fencers!! Nobody really kept these weapons up as far as sharpening etc. and that was truly a problem with most issue weapons. In the Civil War, despite all the colorful images of sabre wielding cavalry there were so few injuries ever recorded as sword wounds that references on the medical aspects of the war only mentioned several cases. These were invariably blunt force trauma to the head....not cuts. Actually dull blades have been a pretty regular situation it seems in many campaigns in history....the British cavalry in India were always complaining of how ineffective their sabres were, In the 1820s when the stout M1796 sabres were replaced with a blade supposed to be more effective in thrusting, the older swords were phased out. Later the British troops were amazed and horrified at how effective the Indian warriors were with their swords........and even more so when they discovered the warriors were using thier OLD SABRE blades!!!