Civil War soldiers under fire appreciated the value of quickly erected field works long before the army high command and, as other excavated examples show, bayonets were used to make improvised entrenching tools that were the forerunners of the army’s experimental 1873 trowel bayonet and the 1880 entrenching tool. In this case the blade was shortened and bent at a right angle to the socket, with a slight curve like a mattock or pick, well withing the abilities of an army blacksmith. This is in good, excavated condition, showing dirt and rust, but solid. The bridge on the socket is damaged, likely the reason it was chosen for the alteration.  [SR][PH:L]

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