Editor's note: At the time this
article was originally published in The Charger in the Winter of 2002,
Sid Sidlo, a long-time friend of the CCWRT, was editor of the North Carolina CWRT's newsletter, The
Ramrod.
It is a truism that by the time of
the Civil War, the bayonet had outlived its usefulness in combat.
Yet like many truisms, it tells only part of the story. Certainly
the bayonet was not used in the 1860s as it had been before then. Up
through the war with Mexico, the last conflict fought with
smoothbore muskets, the bayonet's value was as a "shock tactic" to
disorganize the defenders and take the ground, but not necessarily
to win by killing. Men would often break and run from an attack of
gleaming bayonets. Most, if not all, of the casualties would be
caused by rifle fire, but in a sense the victory belonged to the
bayonets.
The Civil War started out with just
that tactic in mind, but the superior range and accuracy of the
rifled musket, developed between the wars, changed everything. The
charging line would be stopped in its tracks before it was close
enough to use bayonets. It was only at times of desperation, when a
unit under heavy attack ran out of ammunition and the options were
to turn and run or make a desperate charge with cold steel, as did
the 20th Maine at Gettysburg, that a bayonet charge would be
ordered.
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A 16th
century harquebus
without its plug bayonet
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The bayonet originated in the 16th
century when the dagger used for hand-to-hand fighting was inserted
into the muzzle of the harquebus, the first gun fired from the
shoulder and its successor, the musket, to form a long lance. This
"plug" bayonet had a cross-guard and a straight double-edged pointed
blade.
In the latter part of the
seventeenth century, British and French armies shortened the blade
and extended and tapered the hilt to fit different calibers so that
the handle could be inserted into the mouth of any firearm,
eliminating the need for separate units of infantry pikesmen
carrying "pikes," or long spears.
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Sword bayonet
and scabbard
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Toward the end of the 18th century
the sword bayonet was replaced by the angular socket, or ring,
bayonet, with a sleeve that fit around the barrel and was held in
place with a slot and stud. Also called a "spike" bayonet, it was
about 14" to 18" long, round or triangular in shape, lighter in
weight than a sword bayonet, and did not interfere with firing.
Full-length arms, as the Springfield rifle, were equipped with the
socket bayonet, which was standard equipment for both sides during
the war.
As terrible as bayonets may seem,
few in the Civil War ever died from bayonet wounds received in
combat. Gen. John Gordon wrote: "The bristling points and the
glitter of bayonets were fearful to look upon as they were leveled
in front of a charging line, but they were rarely reddened with
blood."
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Socket
bayonet;
standard equipment for both sides during the Civil War
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To be effective, the bayonet had to
be aimed to reach a vital spot, deep in the body or protected by
bone (they were also hard to pull out). While bayonet wounds were
frightening and painful, they were generally not as devastating as
bullet wounds. The accompanying excerpt from the report of a
Confederate surgeon describes the differences.
During the ten months of Grant's
overland campaign, from the Wilderness to Sayler's Creek, only some
fifty bayonet wounds were treated surgically at Union army
hospitals. In his Regimental Losses, Fox claims that of 250,000
Union wounded treated in hospitals, only 922 (.4 of 1%) were victims
of cavalry sabers or bayonets.
Most Civil War soldiers recognized the practical ineffectiveness of
the bayonet. In hand-to-hand combat they preferred to use knives or
wield their muskets as clubs. For most of the war, both Yanks and
Rebs chose to use their bayonets as entrenching tools, tent pegs,
candle holders, roasting spits, or can openers.
In the years since the Civil War,
the bayonet has had many modifications, but has not disappeared as
an infantry weapon. One model of rifle had a permanently-attached
folding bayonet. During World War I, the British preferred the knife
bayonet, the French the spike bayonet, and the Germans a knife
bayonet with a saw at the rear to be used for construction. Yet
World War I had about the same percentage of bayonet victims as the
Civil War.
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WWII-era knife bayonet
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By World War II, with the notable
exception of the Russians, who carried very long spike bayonets when
they attacked German lines, the knife bayonet had become standard
issue for most armies. It had been further shortened, and provided
with a hand grip as well. Japanese soldiers carried very sharp knife
bayonets with a hooked ring that would catch the opponent's blade.
For hand-to-hand fighting, they usually held the bayonets in their
hands and used them as swords. A common tactic for small attack
forces in World War II was to creep up to the enemy line, unleash a
shower of hand grenades, then charge with bayonets fixed.
Rather than say that the Civil War
made the bayonet obsolete, it is fairer to say that the tactic of
charging with bayonets alone, except in desperate situations, ended
with the Civil War, but because of its usefulness in hand-to-hand
fighting, the bayonet is still a valued member of the arsenal of
military weapons. |
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