British dragoon sword

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by E.B. Erickson

Found some photos of a dragoon in my collection that fits this thread.

Brass hilt, slotted guard, the knucklebow engraved with a rack(?) number. Original sharkskin grip bound with a single wire rope. Some damage to the grip right above the lower ferrule.

In the overall photo this looks proportioned like a hanger, but it's no hanger! The blade is 34" long, about 1.5" wide, and the hilt is 8" from grip base to capstan.

Thanks Eljay,
This is useful info as to the clear disparities with hanger hilts or their types found with obviously much larger dragoon blades. Blades were a highly trafficked commodity, while hilts with favored designs were not as readily handy. Clearly there are cases of either heirloom or presently owned swords which were either exchanged or times when someone entered another unit where type of sword might be different.
As in when a cavalryman went to infantry or flank unit or vise versa.

Also, while the colonists were 'American' colonists, they were still British. Hilt components were often a commodity produced by vendors abroad as much as in the colonies, and especially pommels were often acquired in lots by cutlers. It seems reasonable that cutlers would also mount either hanger blades or dragoon blades as specified by clients.