Question on Civil War sword

[goon]

It belonged to a Union soldier that was an ancestor of my girlfriend. The sword looks like a sabre except it is shorter. It has a basket type knuckle guard that appears to be made of steel. The blade is about 18 inches long and has remnants of French writing along the back edge. The handle is wooden and covered with leather that is held on with wire. It has a leather sheath with two metal hangers and a metal tip on it. It actually appears to be a sabre that was shortened. I thought that it might be an artilleryman's sword of some type because of its short length but that is basically just a guess.
Having said that, I will admit that I don't know much about swords other than that they are big knives.
Does anyone know anything about this thing?

 

[Ed]

Is the sabre noticably longer than the blade? That might be a hint if it was cut down. A sword has a straight blade and a sabre has a curved blade .(you might already know that) Can you post a pic? Sorry I'm not of more help.

 

[Jim March]

If the writing was French, then God only knows what it originally was. If that's the original length, it could have been issued to an officer in the Artillery or Engineering corps, where they probably wouldn't see front-line combat but needed a sword as a "badge of office".

OR it could have been a Naval cutlass that some soldier got ahold of and carried as a backup/melee weapon.

Individual troops sometimes carried oddball personal weapons. There's one photo that turned up on the Himilayan Imports forum on BF that seems to show a *Khukuri* of all things on a Civil War battlefield. Not impossible - a guy who'd done service with the British army in India might have picked one up and came to the US later.

 

[goon]

The scabbard is the same length as the blade but it is broken in half. The halves do line up though. The blade is just a little curved. It sort of reminds me of the sword that the French guy on The Patriot carried, if that helps any.
That is about all I can say about it.
Anyway, thank you guys for taking a crack at it.

 

[Dr.Rob]

I'd guess a cutlass too. Many French weapons found their way into US hands.

 

[LawDog]

Single- or double-edged?

Fullered? If so, one or two?

When you say "knuckle-guard", how elaborate is it?

We really, really need to see a picture or three of it.

LawDog

 

[goon]

I would like to do pics on this but that probably isn't a possibility.
It is single edged.
I don't know what "fullered" is. The blade does have a single blood channel running its entire length. The blade is about an inch and a half wide at the hilt and it is about 3/8 inch thick at the spine.
The knuckle guard is fairly elaborate. It has a design on it with alot of engraving. It is made out of steel.
Sorry I can't get a pic of it. I appreciate all your help and patience.

 

[Don Gwinn]

"Fuller" is the correct term for "blood channel" (see, you did know!)

 

[Preacherman]

And after they've bled out, is it then known as the "emptier"?

 

[hso]

It's probably a French Naval Cutlass and probably carried by a Confederate naval officer or enlisted. British and French swords came into the Confederacy (British swords came into both the Union and Confederacy) during the Civil War and were a hodge podge. The army carried longer swords or sabers with the exception of artilery who carried pieces similar to the Galdius.

If it's decorated well, the cutlass would have probably been privately purchased and carried by a Confederate naval officer. If it's an undecortated bell handguard it could have been either enlisted or officer. The US Navy adopted the French Naval Cutlass pattern as well.

A seach of French Naval Cutlass will show many examples.