Model 1855 Sword Bayonet

This sword bayonet was made to fit the Model 1855 musket but also the Model 1841 Mississippis that were chambered in .58 caliber. It was made at the Harpers Ferry Arsenal which produced 4,858 bayonets between 1854 and 1855. There were two types of this bayonet – the Type I and the Type II

The bayonet has a 21 1/2 inch blade with a slight curve at the tip and a single fuller. The handle and handguard are made of brass with a channel on the back of the handle for attaching to a bayonet lug found on the barrel of the rifles. Type I bayonets have a ring on the bottom of the handle for attaching over the barrel and a second ring inside the handguard for aiming while the bayonet is attached. This was deleted in the Type II bayonets, with a guide above the main attachment channel. The Type II bayonets have two different styles of handguard – a “S” shape and a “C” shape, the former for modified Model 1841 rifles and the latter being for the Model 1855 rifles. A May 7, 1860, order was for a steel “stop pin” be added just forward of the finger release button of the spring. This extended into the bayonet stud channel to take the force of the bayonet stud when mounting the bayonet and keep the brass from being deformed. The scabbard is made of black leather with a brass throat and finial. It has a square post for attaching to a frog that attaches to a belt. 

These bayonets saw service early in the Civil War especially with Confederates but were considered unwieldly and with so few produced, they eventually were switched out for newer rifles with socket bayonets.