Help identifying this sword please

[red05]

Can someone help me identify this sword? I received this from my grandfather about 20 years ago and I don't know too much about it. I think maybe Civil War era? It has an eagle in the pomel and engraving all down the blade. There is an eagle holding a parchment on the blade saying "E pluribus Unum". Sorry for the bad quality of pictures. Thanks.

 

[horseclover]

It appears to be a fairly standard post American Civil War US army staff and staff corp sword. There is a pdf here you will probably get some information from but the bulk of the article regards the earlier swords. Main differences between this and the older swords is no inboard counterguard and a narrower diamond cross section blade.

http://www.oldswords.com/articles/Swords for Officers of the Staff and Staff Corps-v1i6.pdf

I have mirrored that on my own pages, if the first pops up as a subscription ( Mark is ok with that)

https://files.myopera.com/3sails/files/Swords for Officers of the Staff and Staff Corps-v1i6.pdf

There were dozens of variations and a lot of options, such as the fish skin grips. The base style goes back (as many do) to the Bourbon years of the French restoration following Napoleon's demise. The US staff swords were used by all branches of the army (including cavalry) as dress swords until finally being replaced with the US M1902.

A close look at the blade under the oxidation may reveal the retailer. There is a fellow Tim Graham at http://www.swordforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?11-Antique-amp-Military-Sword-Forum that may have an opinion on tyhese pictures alone. Not surprisingly, there is a recent thread for a cousin of one of these posted there just yesterday. They are fairly common.

Cheers

GC

 

[red05]

Great! Thanks for the info. That looks like what it is. I figured that was probably what it was but couldn't really find any info.