According to something I picked up lately, the basic design of cavalry sabers (variously spelled sabre) has not changed significantly since the late 16th Century when a Prussian nobleman designed the basis for what was still being used well into the twentieth century. The blade is about 36" long, gracefully but lightly curved, and is quite slow to move and handle, especially one handed from the back of a horse. Cavalry (caballo, cavallo, cheval, etc.) means horse soldiers, so that's the kind of kid it was designed to serve. It is longer than a naval or pirate cutlass, long enough for a full body lunge, and heavy enough to make a well placed sweeping blow either severely disabling or deadly if it is not successfully parried. I seem to recall stories of fellows having to pause in order to unwedge (is there such a word, Jake?) the blade from another fellows head.
The one in these pictures was given to me by an old friend and student, Jed Lewis. Because it came from Jed, because I knew that it must have been a sacrifice for him to get it, and because it was such a faithful copy of the 1860 US Cavalry Sabre, I have cherished it for many years now. Last year I finally succeeded in getting a pretty decent cutting edge on it. The brass basket weave hand guard lends itself pretty well to being polished. The wire wrap is holding down a padding on the grip which is definitely NOT leather, but if it were, I would be unwilling to get it out and play or work with it.
Not only does my body not produce insulin, it also does not produce testosterone, adrenaline, and something else that won't come to mind right now. Probably it's the thing that let's you remember the last word. Anyway, my muscle tone is almost non-existent, even when I've done lots of yard work or cleaned up the church for hours. So I started working with the saber in the back yard lately. I think it's actually helping. I bought a special pair of soft leather gloves to go with it, because that wire wrap will remove layers of skin with surprising ease.
I do figure eights with it, whirls around my head, level slashes to right and left, and downward slashes, also to right and left. I do thrusts and full body lunges. They're harder to do than with the straight bladed foil from college days. I trade off hands regularly so that the left hand will not be weak and useless and so there will be more balance to my rickety old frame. Having taken some fencing as a Freshman in college (foil, not epee' or sabre) I will toss in some footwork with the blade work. As I describe this, I can tell that it's giving you the impression that it's about a 30 minute workout. Ha! If it were, I'd be a corpse with its arms lying separately by it on the ground. I can last about 5 to 8 minutes, every other day. And even that isn't exact. I just do it as well and as often as I can. But when I picked it up today, it felt lighter than it ever has. And believe me, this is not a light sword. Civil War troops didn't call it "Old Wrist Breaker" for nothing.
I am a greatly blessed defrocked History Teacher. I own a rifle chambered for a cartridge that was first produced in 1869, I have a 1918 Trench Knife replica from The Great War, I have two actual bayonets from WW I, I have a Confederate battle flag, a huge Soviet flag, and I have some knowledge of when, where, and how each of these artifacts have been used. That's hard to beat.
6 comments:
That is hard to beat, Jim! You've been counting your blessings again, haven't you? I think that sounds like a great workout. We got a new little exercise machine and I've gotten to 5 minutes three times now, but haven't found the strength to go any longer. Maybe today.
I wonder whether the Prussian who designed my "exercise machine" had any idea that a fat old American would be using it to get into shape about 400 years later. :)
Probably no idea that an American would be using it but likely enough thought that someone with the good German name Haeberle would.
I thank Johanna and Clark for their comments. I just edited it again and made some important changes. Scrooged starred Bill Murray, not Eddie Murphey, although Eddie might have made an interesting latter-day Scrooge. I also changed James Caine to Michael Caine, a mistake for which I apologize to all the female readers.
Sorry for my bad english. Thank you so much for your good post. Your post helped me in my college assignment, If you can provide me more details please email me.
Anonymous,
I am gratified to have been able to help yu even a little bit in your assignment. I'm trying to think of something else I could tell you about the 1860 Sabre. It certainly is heavy! That fact, together with its length, cause it to be clumsy for some uses and perfect for others!
I know that European and American cavalry troops would hold it to the side of their bodies while charging on horseback. The reins of the horse were controlled with the weak hand, the sword pointed forward and horizontally with the strong hand. I have been given to understand that the sight of several hundred young men charging down on one's position was enough to cause many infantrymen to retire from the field in disorder and at great speed. Of course, it had its limitations as the famous "Charge of the Light Brigade" during the Crimean War proved so conclusively.
At the end of the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, part of the American Civil War, a cavalry officer from Tennessee named Nathan Bedford Forrest was tasked with the job of slowing down the pursuing Union troops so that his fellow Confederates could safely reach Corinth, Mississippi. Gathering together his cavalry, he quickly glanced right and left and then started swinging his sword in a huge circle from the back of his horse, dashing forward and shouting "Charge, charge, charge!" over and over. In his quick glance he had not noticed that not everyone was ready for the order or even aware that the order was about to be given. So he made the charge by himself! He and his heavy mount imbedded themselves 6 or 7 ranks deep into the Union infantry! He kept trying to turn his horse around while constantly slashing down around him at all the boys in blue. One of them finally managed to stick a rifle-musket in his side and touch it off. It lifted him clear of the saddle and lodged the Minie'-ball against his spine, but he dragged himself back into the saddle and continued slashing faces and spurring the horse until he got clear of the enemy infantry and could begin a dash back to his own lines.
The enemy continued to fire after him, so, being a very large fellow, he reached down with ONE HAND and picked up a Union infantryman and threw him on the crup of his saddle to use as a bullet-stop until he got back to his own lines. When he got there, he threw the man off.
In the Seventies there was a mini-series produced for TV called Centennial, based on the Michener novel of the same title. It covers about 200 years of the history of a certain spot in eastern Colorado. When the narrative reaches 1864, the famous Sand Creek Massacre is re-enacted. The villain, Colonel Chivington, is called Schemerhorn in this one. When he wipes out some peaceful natives and is condemned for his actions by a U.S. Court Martial, he walks away free, because he is a Colorado militiaman, not a regular Army officer. But a character named Major Mercy, probably entirely fictional, catches up to Chivington (Schemerhorn)at his camp, confronts him, and then fights him on foot - - with cavalry sabers! It was wonderful! They cut down trees in their zest to get at one another.
I hope I've said something that will help you.
Jim H.
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