This is a pretty classic Confederate D-guard Bowie knife. These were very popular throughout the south early in the war and made by countless blacksmiths and cutlers to meet demand from new volunteers eager to improve their warlike looks, if the weapon did not always increase their battlefield performance. A good number were made to satisfy a centralized demand. The Governor of Georgia, for instance, called for both pikes and Bowie knives to meet the need for weapons until firearms purchases, captures, or production could catch up. This shows some nice lines, but also shows some crudeness in manufacture that likely indicates a smaller producer.

The hilt is iron and uses a flat iron knuckleguard that has a round pommel cap and starts off very narrow from there, widening gradually to the point where it is slotted for the blade, and then tapers gracefully to a point. The curve is very rounded and the quillon is both nicely a tapered and bent forward in a gentle reverse curve over the base of the blade. The blade is flat, has a flat back, and is made without a ricasso, but with a choil, or gap, on the lower edge between the face of the guard and beginning of the blade’s cutting edge. Overall, the knife is 19 inches long and the blade is 15 inches long and 1 3/8 inches wide at the guard. The blade tapers gradually to the tip and has a 5 ½ inch false edge creating a clip point, the curve of the false edge playing nicely with the curve of the blade edge toward the tip, the reverse-S curve of the guard, and round profile of knucklebow. The blade is brown overall with overall scattered small pitting and some crustiness near the guard, but with a good tip and good edge that shows only three or four very narrow and shallow nicks a few inches back from the point. The grip is wood, cylindrical, with an iron ferrule at the guard. The wood shows as light brown with chips and losses that show lighter on the reverse, with a missing short piece and short crack. The obverse shows better, with a uniform light brown color and good surface. The letters “CSA” were lightly carved there in script and are typical of a G.A.R. post or Union veteran’s identification of what to a soldier, north or south, was a quintessentially southern sidearm, for Confederates as sign of eagerness for battle and close combat, and for Union veterans the ultimate war souvenir.  [sr] [ph:L]

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