Confederate Marine swords

[MuleyGil]

The officer corps of the Confederate Marines was made up of approx 50% former USMC officers. In 1859, the USMC changed from using the Mameluke sword to the US Army Staff and Field sword for officers.

Has anyone come across a reference to a CSMC officer using the older style Mameluke sword?

[marine05]

Re: Confederate Marine swords

The CMSC Officers and NCOs carried the swords that they had with them or that served the purpose. The same with the USMC officers. The reason the switch was made on the eve of the ACW was the the blade of the mameluke was not considered heavy enough for combat, however many Marine officers continued to carry that sword throughout the ACW. The uniform regulations for the CSMC were practically identical to the USMC although the same trend was in the CSMC as in the PAC or state volunteeer/militia units in that most officers did not possess all required uniforms.

The Infantry Officer's sword is the sword now carried by Marine NCOs (optional uniform item) while all Marine Officers are required to possess a Mameluke.

There is a fairly good book called the Confederate States Marine Corps, plus a 4 volume set on the USMC in the Civil War.

s/f

DJM

An interesting tidbit was that the son of the longest serving Commandant, Archibald Henderson, while never serving in the USMC was a CSMC officer.