Were sabres used effectively in U.S. Civil War?

[Dmitry]

Originally Posted by Lee

A most interesting thread. Early on in my sword collecting, I was told that many of the US military swords had been deliberately blunted before being sold as surplus. Is this just an unfounded speculation?

Not true, imho. Few were sharpened to begin with.
In fact, the only sabers to retain their razor-sharp edge en masse are the Indian tulwars.