Marine Musicians'Swords

[reschenk]

My first acquisition of 2019 was a virtually mint condition USMC musician’s sword purchased from another Forum member., Specifically, it is the Type 2 of the so-called M1875 musicians’ sword discussed below. Marine musicians’ swords are probably the least understood of any series of US military swords. I am still researching the topic and hope to document my findings in a follow-on article to my Oct 2018 Man-at-Arms piece on the USMC M1859 sergeant’s sword. Rather than just posting some photos of my new acquisition, I decided to share a bit of what I know about this sword and solicit any additional info Forum members might have on the topic.

In 1859 the Marines adopted the Horstmann M1840 NCO sword for use by Marine musicians. The Horstmann version of the M1840 NCO is unique in that the hilt was cast with a downward tilted rear counterguard. The Marine musicians’ swords are indistinguishable from the M1840 NCO swords which Horstmann sold to Army and militia elements.



In 1861, the USMC Quartermaster asked Horstmann to remove the rear counterguard. As I have noted in other postings, there is considerably question as to specifically what subsequent Marine musician swords looked like between 1861 and the adoption of the so-called M1875 musician’s sword which was clearly identified as a Marine sword since the blade was etched on the reverse side with the initials “U.S.M.C.” in a center panel bracketed with foliate sprays. Conventional wisdom holds these U.S.M.C.-marked swords were adopted in 1875 as part of the changes instituted by the Uniform Regulation of 1875 which also brought back the officers’ mameluke swords. In fact, however, the Uniform Regulation of 1875 is silent on the topic, and in reviewing USMC Quartermaster records in the National Archives I found documentation which indicates that the “U.S.M.C.” markings weren’t added until 1887. This would suggest “M1887” would be a more appropriate designation, but since “M1875” is so well established, I doubt it will be changed any time soon.

There are two variations of the so-called M1875. Type 1 was a slightly smaller but essentially the same design as the Horstmann M1840 NCO sword with the turned-down rear counterguard which was originally adopted for Marine musicians in 1859. It has the maker’s mark “HORSTMANN/PHILADELPHIA” stamped on the obverse ricasso, and most examples have an old English letter “H” on a shield stamped on the reverse ricasso.

[reschenk]

Type 2 featured a modified rear counterguard which was slightly wider and slightly shorter than the Type 1 (3” wide by 1.25” tall as opposed to 2.75” by 1.5” on the type 1 examples). The most obvious difference, however, is that the rear counterguard was changed from the gently sloping profile on Type 1 to a more rolled appearance on the Type 2. Instead of being stamped on the ricasso, the company name, “Horstmann/-Phila-“ is etched within an elongated hexagram on the blade below the reverse ricasso. Below are photos of my newly acquired Type 2. I have noticed nearly all Type 1s I have seen are well worn and almost all Type 2s are in very good to excellent condition. This leads me to believe the Type 2s were late purchases which received little use before the Marines stopped issuing swords to musicians in the first decade of the 20th century.

Almost all Marine musicians’ swords were provided by Horstmann. There were three years, however, in which the contract went to other makers, i.e. to Ridabock in FY1888/9 and FY 1901/2 and to Henry J. Allien in FY 1900/1. I have only seen one example each of these two makers. Col Rankin has a picture of an Allien example in his work “Small Arms of the Sea Services”. If any Forum members have examples of a Ridabock or Allien musician’s sword, I would appreciate hearing the details. I would particularly appreciate any photos which I could perhaps use in my draft article.

[reschenk]

Some additional Type 2 photos: