Nothing symbolizes the early-war Confederate soldier like the D-guard Bowie or fighting knife. Knives for personal defense were common throughout the south before the war, popularized by tales of Jim Bowie and bloody duels. The war ignited a massive output of larger fighting knives across the Confederacy that symbolized the public determination to fight to the end, and certainly added to a soldier’s warlike appearance.

This is a Civil War Confederate D-guard measures about 21 inches overall and has a very impressive 16-inch blade with a slight curve and rudimentary false edge extending about 6 inches from the tip. The guard is flat, iron, with flat quillon bending slightly forward with a slight curl at the top. The grip is two-piece. The side-slabs are secured to the tang with two rivets. The condition is very good. The grips show old divots, handling marks, and wear, but no cracks or missing sections. The blade is flat, just the suggestion of a median ridge from the false edge forward, and shows gray, with some dark gray and a little brown near the tip on the reverse with some light pitting. The obverse shows light pitting for about two inches below the guard and for 2 inches from the tip. The tip is good, with just slight rounding. The edge shows a small nick at 4 inches and another about 6 inches from the guard, with a little roughness, but has no large chips. Hilt and blade are tight.

This is a well-made knife and bears a slight resemblance to Kenansville products, but has a slight curve and false edge, uses two rivets on grips instead of three (where Kenansville shows rivets at all,) and has the tang slightly above the blade middle. With a load of modern-made copies and mis-identified Philippine knives on the market it is nice to find a reasonably-priced, “dead-real” Confederate D-guard that you can sleep at night owning.  [sr]

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