In previous post, the sword cane was noted, and it would seem that this convention was likely popularized from the exposure in India of certain innovative combination or concealed blades. While the enclosed blade in certain cases in canes did not begin there and is recorded earlier in numerous other instances, it seems officers in India began the popularized fashion from seeing them there.
The thing with this is that in the highly coded matters of nobility, status, and honor within the ranks of officers and civilian gentry, the notion of a concealed weapon was considered 'dastardly' and ungentlemanly, and profoundly looked down upon.
This was the reason for the restriction with these, and the sword stick was considered perfectly acceptable. While not bladed, fencing skills were taught using these as a weapon of self defense, using similar movements and attacks. With these seen in that sense, not just as an element of fashion, but a genuine weapon deadly in use as required....it is not surprising they became known as 'swagger sticks'.
As discussed, one of the distinct characteristics of officers, is the 'swagger' which represents not only their authority, but formidability.
Getting to the presence and use of the sword in other ranks, especially later into the 19th century. It must be remembered that officers were typically, if not invariably, of high echelon in their status. As such, much of their training as a gentleman involved the arts of fencing, as the primary martial art of these times. It was not just the act of sword combat, but confidence and skills in combative self defense circumstances.
It was these skills which were in accord with officers and their choice of weapons as well as key features in their use. While in command, though officers were intended to direct their troops, and were not expected to participate in the fray, it was difficult for many, if not most, to restrain themselves.
With other ranks however , the use of the sword was virtually a mechanical, rote exercise, using predescribed movements and positions. These men were unfamiliar with the sword itself, let alone the philosophies and skills that were inherent in the study of fence.
Anecdotally, in America during the Civil War, the M1840 dragoon saber, a heavy sword designed after French model, was derisively called by other ranks, 'the old wristbreaker'. This was because of its heft, and if used improperly, could cause injuries to ones wrist among other issues. These raw recruits, had no inclinations toward the formidable use of a weapon that required up close use rather than the less contact oriented gun.
Returning to the use of the sword by other ranks, these men were more adequately trained from the 18th well into the 19th as their lives depended on it. With the advent and concentration on firearms, these skills waned with cavalry, while the infantry had given up use of the sword in favor of the bayonet by the 1780s.
Still, the primary issue with the sword, even more than design in many respects, was not lack of training, but poor maintenance and care.
In India, the British cavalry were in awe of the deadly skills with the saber exhibited by Sikh horsemen in campaigns in 19th c. They were more than horrified when they realized that the inadequacy of their own regulation swords acquiesced to deadly Sikh sabers, which were in fact old M1796 sabers now obsolete, honed to razor sharpness and kept in wood lined scabbards.
Their own standard care was lacking, blades inadequately sharpened, and dulled further by the iron scabbards.
Even in America, once again, the blades of sabers were seldom sharpened, theoretically done only prior to battle (we know even then they werent).
In reading through medical records of the Civil War, only several instances of wounds from swords were accounted. These were invariably caused by blunt force trauma.
While the struggle with sword blade design raged through the 19th century, it seems one of the key factors which may have been at hand as the many accounts and complaints which were examined, may have been excluded, was the poor maintenance of swords, and poor training.
Although troopers were indeed 'trained' in the rote manner preciously noted, the strict and numbered actions followed without common sense or situational judgement also played a part.
In an anecdote from the Crimea, one trooper complained that a Russian horseman as they exhanged, responded to his 'cut so and so' in accord with numbered sword exercise... to which he responded accordingly with again 'cut so and so'. THEN, he exclaimed, the fool gave me a cut 'so and so'....completely out of the 'rules'....and knocked him off his horse!!!!
How dastardly!! not 'according to Hoyle!'.
In the photo, example of Victorian sword cane, often termed 'malacca' for the source of the cane used enclosing the blade. The blade is a Solingen epee blade, used on dueling swords of the period, again adding to the mystique and swagger of these gemtlemans defensive yet fashionable accoutrements.