AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN SWORDS 53 



and the pommel is a silver gilt eagle's head. The knuckle guard 

 and quillons consist of an ornamental silver gilt strip in the form of 

 palm and oak leaves bound with ribbon terminating above the blade 

 in a scroll. A rectangular gold shield attached to the obverse of 

 the blade is engraved with a view of a flat boat on the Ohio Kiver. 

 The scabbard, which is gilded, is decorated with four designs in high 

 relief, one of which represents a war trophy, including a cannon on 

 a carriage, a drum, a standard, a mortar, and balls; the whole is 

 flanked by two medallions containing fruits and grain within an 

 oak wreath. The reverse of the scabbard is plain. This sword was 

 presented to the National Museum in 1900 by Mrs. George W. 

 Morgan. 



MILITARY SWORDS, 1850 TO 1870 



A marked change in the types of the swords carried by officers 

 of the United States Army occurred in 1850. Prior to that year 

 various types of such swords had been used, nearly all of which 

 were antique in design and quite typical of the early part of the 

 nineteenth century. In 1850 two new types of swords were adopted 

 by the War Department, which differed greatly in design from those 

 hitherto used by United States Army officers. These were the foot 

 officer's sword and the field and staff officers' swords. Both these 

 swords were based upon French models. In 1860 a third new sword 

 was adopted, the use of which was optional with officers of the gen- 

 eral staff and staff corps. The design of this also was based directly 

 upon that of a French sword of the same type. 



FOOT OFFICERS' SWORDS, MODEL OF 1850 



These three kinds of swords were used in large numbers by United 

 States Army officers during the period of the Civil War, and the 

 National Museum collection includes several examples of each type 

 of both technical and historical interest. The foot officer's sword, 

 as it is termed in the Ordnance Manual, was prescribed for officers 

 of Infantry, Artillery, and Foot Eiflemen from 1850 to 1873. 



FROM THE ALFRED F. HOPKINS COLLECTION 



One of the earliest examples of the foot officer's sword of the model 

 of 1850 in the National Museum series belongs to the Alfred F. Hop- 

 kins collection.'® It has a blade of medium length with a wide shal- 

 low groove in the center and a narrow short groove near the back. 

 The obverse of the blade bears broadly sketched designs in silver 

 chasing showing the United States arms, a trophy, and floral and 



""> Length, 89 cm. Blade, 77.5 cm. long, 2.6 cm. wide. PI. 20, fig. 1. 



