The Last Cavalry Sword

An Illustrated History of the Twilight Years of Cavalry Swords (UK) General George S. Patton and the US Army's Last Sword (US)

Anthony C. Burke

• Publisher: Frontline Books
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781399081283
• eBook ISBN: 9781399081290
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

This book tells the story of the last sword ever designed by a major power for its army to use as a weapon, not as an article of a dress uniform. The sword was the U.S. Model 1913 Cavalry Saber; the designer was George S. Patton, then a lieutenant on the staff of the Army chief of staff. Patton participated in the modern pentathlon in Stockholm in 1912, which included fencing, coming fifth overall. No one in the U.S. Army could be better suited, therefore, to design its last major edged weapon. The Last Sword provides an illustrated overview of the history of cavalry swords and their employment on the battlefield from the end of the Renaissance, through the Napoleonic Era, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, culminating with the Patton cavalry saber, and includes descriptions of a number of the more famous cavalry charges. Patton's unswerving belief in the value of horse-mounted cavalry, and in the value of those troopers and officers being equipped with the sword he designed, is described using his own words. He continued to advocate horse-mounted cavalry right up to the start of the Second World War. Though mechanized squadrons replaced the conventional cavalry, it was not quite the end of Patton's sword as some Model 1913 Cavalry Sabers were converted to fighting knives carried by GIs during the war. The book is fully illustrated with images from the collections of the Smithsonian Institution Museum of American History, the Library of Congress, the General George S. Patton Museum, the National Museum of the U.S. Army, the Connecticut Historical Society, and from private collections, most of which have never been published before.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Swords, from the Roman Cavalry to the Medieval Knights
• Chapter 2 Overview of Cavalry Swords and Cavalry Sabers and their Development in Europe and Great Britain
• Chapter 3 Cavalry Swords and Sabers in the Napoleonic Wars
• Chapter 4 From Curved Sabers to Straight Cavalry Swords, or One Type of Sword for All Cavalry
• Chapter 5 A Survey of Swords in Colonial America and the US Army
• Chapter 6 The Model 1860 Cavalry Saber and the American Civil War
• Chapter 7 American Empire
• Chapter 8 Patton
• Chapter 9 Patton’s Report on the Olympic Games and the Birth of the Model 1913
• Chapter 10 The Patton Cavalry Saber in War and Peace
• Chapter 11 The End of the Saber
• Chapter 12 Sword Production
• Appendix 1:1913 Springfield Armory Technical Drawing, Model 1913 Cavalry Saber
• Appendix 2: Comparison of the Model 1902 Saber for All Officers with the Model 1913 Cavalry Saber
• Appendix 3: Examples of Swords that are not Weapons but Articles of a Dress Uniform
• Glossary
• Notes
• Bibliography