This bayonet serial number "6302" is for one of the first 10,000 Pattern 1853/58 Enfield rifle-muskets contracted for by the Confederacy in 1861. This is discernable by the lack of a letter A to C(?) prefix.  By February 1863 as many as 70,980 long Enfields had been purchased by CS government agents and of these 30,000 were numbered (perhaps 40,000 if the letter prefix "C" can be substantiated).  This complete but excavated bayonet measures 21 inches overall with a 17 1/2-inch blade. Stamped on the ricasso of the blade is "W-". Glued to the socket is a typed linen tag created in 1954 that reads: "2nd Manassas. S of RR cut. May 54". "S of RR" cut means South of the Railroad cut. On the 29th of August 1862 Pope's army found Jackson's men posted along an unfinished railroad grade or cut, north of the Warrenton turnpike. All afternoon, in a series of uncoordinated attacks, Pope hurled his men against the Confederate position. In several places, the northerners momentarily breached Jackson's line, but each time were forced back in bloody fighting. During the afternoon, Longstreet's troops arrived on the battlefield and, unknown to Pope, deployed on Jackson's right, overlapping the exposed Union left. Ultimately the Federals were decisively defeated. This one could possibly be cleaned up to function having been found less than 100 years after the battle of 2nd Manassas. [pe][ph:L]

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