Question About CW Era Pocket Knives

[diggummup]

I'm having an ongoing debate on another forum about whether or not the US military ever issued pocket knives to soldiers during the Civil War. I say no, they were all private purchases even though most soldiers carried one.

Since I've stated that, I have been told about and shown a U.S. Navy marked rope knife from that era. So I guess that makes me wrong. My question is, outside of the U.S. Navy rope knives, were there any other folding knives issued during the Civil War?

[VMI88]

To my knowledge the Navy knives are the only CW-period issued folding knives.

[diggummup]

Thanks. That's all I can find too.

[gunbarrel]

I know this is an old post, but I hate knowing that incorrect information will continue to be spread on the Forum if I don't correct it. The Union Army supplied a number of soldiers with combination (spoon/fork/knife) folding knives like this:

[gunbarrel]

I have one made by LAMSON GOODNOW & CO. 1860-1865. I also have a CW private purchase bowie made by them.

[MAW]

The above posted knife is an excellent period example, but there are some nuances here...

 

I am not aware of any issued pocket knives...by either the federal or state governments. Typically these would be a personal item, a sutler purchase, or perhaps something from a soldier's aid society if you were really lucky.

 

The fact that the tag above says "regular army equipment " is not an absolute. I don't doubt that soldier carried it, but I doubt it was issued.

 

As a modern case in point, I just had a pair of WWII officer pink trousers that I know belonged to an officer who is still alive.

When I met him, he did not believe the trousers were his...he didn't remember them being quite the same shade...even though they were standard officer pinks. Point is, recollections can become fuzzy as time goes by.

[gunbarrel]

Sir,

 

Are you a knife expert? How many knife books have you read to reach that conclusion?

[MAW]

Again.

 

No argument it is a period piece.

 

I have never seen federal or state quartermaster reports declaring such a thing as an issued item. Maybe you have.....feel free to share them.

 

Googling for variations on "Lancome goodnow civil war knife" and similar variations turned up nothing to disprove that observation....but I had limited time.

 

Individual mess gear was the same way. Mess plates, knife/fork/spoons..... They are not typically an "issued" item in the sense people would think of it in modern terms.

 

Don't be defensive or offended. I am just relaying my observations.

[Steve Rogers]

It would be interesting to know on what basis the claim is made in the entry shown above that the combination was "made for the Union army." That LG&Co stamped their pieces "army knife" does indicate that they wanted to market their products to soldiers. In that sense one might say that the knife was made "for the Union army." It can at the same time be an attempt to market to those who wanted to carry something they thought might be like soldiers used, in the same way a Boy Scout bugle might be marked "U.S. Regulation." But, as for being items issued to soldiers by the government I am not aware of any records of US government purchases of these combination utensils or of any documents showing their distribution by government authorities. When Fred Gaede's book on US CW contractors comes out it might provide some answers. The situation is complicated, however, by the fact that mess gear was usually issued by the recruiting services, hence the lack of reference in quartermaster returns, and further that these were largely the province of the various states early in the war.