The Last Cavalry Sword

Book excerpt: This book tells the story of the last sword ever designed by a major power for its army to use as a weapon, not as an article of a dress uniform. The sword was the U.S. Model 1913 Cavalry Saber; the designer was George S. Patton, then a lieutenant on the staff of the Army chief of staff. Patton participated in the modern pentathlon in Stockholm in 1912, which included fencing, coming fifth overall. No one in the U.S. Army could be better suited, therefore, to design its last major edged weapon. The Last Sword provides an illustrated overview of the history of cavalry swords and their employment on the battlefield from the end of the Renaissance, through the Napoleonic Era, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, culminating with the Patton cavalry saber, and includes descriptions of a number of the more famous cavalry charges. Patton’s unswerving belief in the value of horse-mounted cavalry, and in the value of those troopers and officers being equipped with the sword he designed, is described using his own words. He continued to advocate horse-mounted cavalry right up to the start of the Second World War. Though mechanized squadrons replaced the conventional cavalry, it was not quite the end of Patton’s sword as some Model 1913 Cavalry Sabers were converted to fighting knives carried by GIs during the war. The book is fully illustrated with images from the collections of the Smithsonian Institution Museum of American History, the Library of Congress, the General George S. Patton Museum, the National Museum of the U.S. Army, the Connecticut Historical Society, and from private collections, most of which have never been published before.