January 2009 A Model 1855 Civil War Bayonet By: Gareth McNair-Lewis,
Conservation Technician
 According to a newspaper account, this Civil War bayonet was found
by construction workers digging between W. Patrick Street and Court
Street in the town of Frederick, Maryland during the Carroll Creek
project. Frederick’s status as a major crossroads put it at the
center of campaigns during the Civil War, and saw both Union and
Confederate troops march through the city. The Monacacy battlefield
lies just outside the city’s limits.
The physical dimensions of the diagnostic features
on this bayonet, such as blade length, width, socket length and
shank length, identify it as a model 1855 bayonet. These features
remained standard on many successive models up until 1873 (Webster
1964). In fact the Model 1855 bayonets are virtually identical in
appearance to the US Model 1873. This bayonet is typical of the
period and was originally produced for the Model 1855 Springfield
rifle (Shuey 1999). It is offset, meaning it has a cylindrical  socket
which fits around a musket barrel and the shank is at right angles
to the socket. The mounting slot closing bridge greatly strengthens
the socket cylinder. The bayonet also features an L-shaped transverse
and locking slot, locking clasp, closing joint and clasp retaining
band.
This particular bayonet was found in fairly good condition, except
that six inches of the blade tip is broken off and missing, not
uncommon for a weapon that probably saw considerable action. Even
though every soldier during the Civil War was issued a bayonet for
his musket, the weapon was rarely used in combat. The improvement
in rifle accuracy in the 1860s meant that soldiers seldom engaged
one another up close. Many relics found at battlefield sites indicate
that some bayonets were altered with the help of the company’s blacksmith
to be used as tent pegs, picket pins, candlesticks, pot hooks, entrenching
tools, pry bars and even can openers (Shuey 1999).
In initial inspection of the bayonet, it was noted that some of
the iron edges of its triangular blade were missing and there was
some delamination and surface pitting due to corrosion. When first
brought to the MAC Lab, the bayonet was still encased in burial
dirt.
A treatment was proposed that is fairly standard for iron in relatively
good condition; it was placed for a short time in electrolytic reduction
in a sodium carbonate solution at low amperage, followed by manual
removal of corrosion, encrustation and soil. Next, hot wash baths
in de-ionized water and chloride tests determined when it was ready
for coating with tannic acid, a corrosion inhibitor, and finally
the surface was coated with microcrystalline wax in order to prevent
further corrosion and degradation.
References
Webster, D. B.
1964 American Socket Bayonets 1717-1873. Historical
Arms Series. No.3.
Shuey,
R.W.
1999 Socket
Bayonets of the Great Powers: A Collector’s Guide. Excalibur
Publications. Tucson, AZ.
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