During the course of the American Civil War, the Confederacy imported hundreds of thousands British Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifle Muskets, with some estimates placing the total Confederate purchases between 300,000 and 400,000 guns. Each of these rifle muskets was ordered as a “stand of arms”, and as such a socket bayonet was included with each musket. This makes the Pattern 1853 Enfield socket bayonet one of the most commonly used bayonets by the average Confederate infantryman. Much like the guns themselves, it is often difficult to know for sure if a given socket bayonet was used during the American Civil War, let alone whether it saw US or CS use. While it is generally accepted and known that British military marks on either a gun or bayonet generally exempts that item from possible Civil War use, the lack of these markings in no way guarantees it. Only a small percentage of Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle muskets were marked in any way that identifies them as being Confederate purchases. The most well-known of these guns are the ones marked with the J S over {ANCHOR} inspection mark behind the triggerguard tang, as well as with an engraved inventory number on the upper tang of the brass butt plate, or a number stamped in the toe of the stock of the iron mounted Enfield short rifles. The rifle muskets that were so numbered were shipped with a matching engraved numbered ramrod, and a similarly engraved numbered socket bayonet. The short rifles also had numbered ramrods, and they mounted engraved number saber bayonets.

For more than thirty years a small group of researchers and authors regarding the subject of Confederate arms imported from Great Britain have been assembling a database of Confederate numbered rifles and rifle muskets. During that time, we have assembled a database of approximately 400 surviving Confederate inventory numbered Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifle Muskets. This list includes the numbered Pattern 1853s acquired by both the states of Georgia and South Carolina that are known to have survived. During that same time, we have assembled a list of only about 80 Confederate numbered socket bayonets. That means that Confederate marked English socket bayonets are about five times scarcer than the numbered Confederate long arms.

The Confederate Imported Pattern 1853 Enfield Socket Bayonet offered here is engraved with the Confederate inventory number 70 / A on the socket. This number places it within the second of three groups of 10,000 numbered arms that were delivered to the Confederacy under the 2^nd Sinclair, Hamilton & Company contract. The initial group was numbered from 1-10,000, and the two subsequent groups were numbered in the same range, with the suffix “A” added to the second 10,000 and “B” added to the third 10,000. As low B suffix numbered guns exist with provenance to the battle of Shiloh in early April of 1862, it is likely that this bayonet (and its accompanying rifle musket) were part of the deliveries of arms to the Confederacy during the first quarter of 1862. This means that this bayonet was more than likely in use by Confederacy in time to see service at the battle of Shiloh in the Western Theater, or the Peninsula Campaign in the Eastern Theater. The bayonet has a weak maker’s mark on the ricasso that appears to read ROBINSON. Since maker marked examples are the exception, not the rule in the case of these bayonets, this is a nice bonus. Bayonets with marker’s marks by Preston, Salter and Heighington & Lawrence are also known to have survived, but this is the only known example with a Robinson maker’s mark.

The bayonet is in about GOOD ATTIC condition. The bayonet has a heavily oxidized and completely untouched thick dark brown patina over all of its metal surfaces. The metal of the bayonet shows scattered light to moderate pitting along the entire length of the steel blade and areas of moderate surface roughness. The iron socket shows similar pitting and roughness, although the softer iron means that some of the pitting is a little deeper. The iron socket and the steel blade have the same completely untouched rich brown appearance. The bayonet is complete and full length, and retains a sharp tip, with no rounding to the point. The blade measures nominally 17 ½” from the shank to the tip with a 15 1/8” face flute and an overall length of 20 ¼”.  The nominally 3” long socket retains the original locking ring, and it remains functional. These bayonets were handmade and were not interchangeable due to minor variations in dimensions. They were numbered to keep them mated to the gun that they were fit to. This example has a muzzle diameter of .763” and a muzzle to stud distance of 1.18”. These dimensions may help you to determine if the bayonet might fit on your Confederate Numbered Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifle Musket. The bayonet has clearly seen use during its service life, and the relatively early inventory number confirms it was a bayonet that likely saw use during the majority of the war. Currently our database only includes 15 “A” suffix bayonets, so surviving examples are extremely rare. This is the lowest numbered “A” suffix bayonet known, with the next lowest number in the 3XX/A range. When looking at the database of surviving “A” suffix Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifle Muskets, there are about 60 surviving examples, with roughly four times as many guns extant as bayonets. The lowest numbered “A” suffix gun is in the 6XX/A range.

Confederate numbered socket bayonets are significantly less common than Confederate numbered guns, and every Confederate imported Enfield rifle musket is worthy of being displayed with a Confederate numbered socket bayonet, even if it may not fit that gun. No collection of Confederate purchased English imports is complete without one of these bayonets. These bayonets have an extremely low survival rate. Based upon the database of known Confederate imported numbered arms, roughly 1% of the numbered guns that were imported have survived, roughly 1 out 100. However, the survival rate of the socket bayonets is only .2%, or about 1 in 437! Of those surviving examples that have been documented (about 80) there are no B-suffix bayonets known, and less than 20 A-suffix bayonets known to exist. The majority of those socket bayonet are numbered without a suffix, meaning they are from the first group of 10,000 Confederate central government guns, or from Georgia and South Carolina state contract guns, which were numbered without a suffix. Many advanced Confederate collections do not have a Confederate imported and inventory numbered Enfield socket bayonet in them, and this is a nice opportunity to own a really rare piece of Civil War history. If you have an “A” suffix gun, then you have to have an “A” suffix bayonet to go with it, and if you have an even rarer “B” suffix gun, this is as close are you are likely to get to the right bayonet, as no authentic “B” suffix bayonets are known to exist at this time.

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