The Model 1860 Staff and Field Officer sword

The M1860 Staff Officer’s Sword by design was not intended to be battlefield weapon. By the Civil War, the firearm and bayonet had made the sword all but obsolete as a functional weapon. However, the sword was still mandated by regulation and was a symbol of rank.

Typically, the 1860 Staff and Field Officer’s sword was more a badge of rank than a weapon. In 1872 the M-1860 sword was expanded for use by all Army officers except medical officers, paymasters, and mounted officers.  The Model 1860 Staff and Field officer sword was eventually replaced by the Model 1902 Officers Saber.

This sword is a giant move away from it’s predecessor the Model 1850. It is light and somewhat fragile in appearance. Although it was adopted in 1860, it did not become standard until the early 1870’s.
As with most of the patterns which existed prior to the Civil War, it was carried by officers on both sides (with obvious differences in markings).
There are several variations, and I have owned a few of these.
This sword is based on a French pattern of the same era (as are most US Models). It has a brass hilt with a dark leather grip bound by twisted brass wire (there is a variation with brass hilt, shagreen grip, and gilt wire).
The most notable characteristic of the hilt are the ornately decorated “clamshells” on the guard.
When found, these swords tend to be in good condition. This is probably due to their owners knowing that the sword would not be very effective in actual combat; so they stayed in their scabbards, and later, above the fireplace.

Civil War-era examples generally conform to the following dimensions:
Overall length in scabbard = ~34.5″ (although this can vary according to officer height);
Overall length out of scabbard = ~33.5″;
Brass hilt ~5-3/8″ in length from cross-guard/blade intersection to pommel (where tang is peened); winged eagle on a single non-folding outside clamshell-guard (some are known to have double-clamshell guards) with chevron in center of eagle on a background array of flags (a similar scene appears on the pommel);
Black leather-wrapped grip with 13 wraps of double-strand twisted-brass wire;
Blade length is ~28″ and is decorated with a draped-flag motif, winged eagle, with US in a panel on the opposite side of the eagle