1862 Civil War Boarding Cutlass found today. Has name on blade

[johnny12550]

Hi,

 

Found this at my local antique dealer today. He has been buying out an elderly man's collection and comes up with pieces weekly dating from the CW to the Indian Wars. I live in NY and it looks like most of the old man's stuff is local. a lot of NYNG CW or Indian War kepis, buckles, ammo pouches, etc.....This is without a doubt legit Navy cutlass. One thing I found was that it has a name neatly engraved on the blade. "C.H. Hyde" I would say the sailor did it himself. Is there any other place I can look besides Ancestry for listing of Naval personnel during the war. I have found one Charles H. Hyde who enlisted in 1875 in New York aboard the Receiving Ship Vermont as a cabin boy. Another was Charles Hyde, a black sailor, who joined in 1861 in New London and served aboard the USS DeSoto during the CW and was listed as a Landsman. Beyond that nothing matching up with the name and being in the Navy. Other marches came up, but they were all Army records.

[johnny12550]

USN marking

[johnny12550]

markings

[johnny12550]

rivets on back of scabbard

[johnny12550]

pommel cap

[johnny12550]

grip and hand guard

[johnny12550]

name on blade

[johnny12550]

name

[swmdo]

Nice

[sundance]

That is in really great shape. Usually there are at least a few dents in the hand guard. Also, nice to know that new pieces are coming. Great find - congrats.

[brad k]

I checked the national park service soldiers and sailors database and came up with the same charles hyde that you did, did a quick search of the de soto and looks pretty interesting.

[johnny12550]

Thanks for the replies. It was a nice sword and I've always wanted an original naval cutlass, so I had to get it. The DeSoto sailor looked like a good candidate, but I have not been able to find that particular sailor to have the middle initial of " H".

[shellman825]

I used to have a dug one like that, yours is very nice

[johnny12550]

Thanks, does anyone know if it would be unusual for a sailor to put his name on a sword? I would not think that the Navy would allow that since it's ship's property and not the individual property of any one sailor

[Leatherneck72]

I've owned 3 or 4 of these over the last 20 years. 2 of them had initials or names etched into the guard. So, I think it was not unheard of for that to happen off and on. Brass lends itself to carving by bored sailors and Marines! The scabbard is normally the hard part to find .