I'll take your word about the pic.

However, remember that this was taken during WWI, when the exigencies of *massively* increasing the size of the US Army in a short period of time meant that not every unit could be up-to-date.
Consider the  famous .45 automatic. It was the standard sidearm but there were not near enough of them avail to equip everyone.

What I would really like to find is a pic of the old sabre & one of the new one.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Mon, 5/1/17, Fred Kiesche <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: Patton's sword & belaying pin, was Re: [TML] What if the cutlass is not a cutlass?
 To: xxxxxx@simplelists.com
 Date: Monday, May 1, 2017, 2:23 PM

 Well, it appears
 that my attempt at showing history with a picture dud not
 work, so here's my text:
 "My
 mother has my (paternal) grandfather's US Cav sword,
 which we can see him holding (from the front) in a 1918
 picture of his unit. It is curved, not straight. I'll
 try embedding the image below (not sure if the list will
 accept that?) (He is fourth from the
 left)."

 On Mon, May 1, 2017 at
 15:36 Phil Pugliese (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>
 wrote:

 --------------------------------------------

 On Mon, 5/1/17, Bruce Johnson <xxxxxx@Pharmacy.Arizona.EDU>
 wrote:

  Subject: Re: [TML] What if the cutlass is not a
 cutlass?

  To: "xxxxxx@simplelists.com"
 <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>

  Date: Monday, May 1, 2017, 9:50 AM

  [Lot's of good stuff snipped]

  Swords designed to be used

  from horseback, for example, tend to all look alike:
 curved

  blades designed for slashing in an arc without the tip

  hanging up to dislodge the rider,  long enough to reach
 a

  foot soldier alongside a horse, short enough to be easy
 to

  wield from the saddle one handed.

  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 I recall reading somewhere that Patton, while still a jr
 officer & after he competed in the Olympics, managed to
 get himself assigned to the project to design a new cavalry
 sword for the US Army. I also recall it was before WWI.

 Anyway, I remember the new sword was described as "a
 straight sword intended for chopping instead of
 slashing"<sic> which surprised me as I was
 accustomed to the sort of saber seen on most old westerns.
 Now that I'm thinking about it, I also recall reading an
 article about the army that Gustavus Adolphus brought into
 the Thirty-Years War. As I remember his cavalry was
 distinguished by using a straight 'chopping'
 sword.

 -------------------------

 [More snipping]

  --------------------------

  Famously the cutlass was

  designed to be used by inexperienced sailors in close

  quarters; in truth, hatchets and short axes were used
 almost

  as frequently, as those were very common tools aboard a

  wooden ship (thus multiple use devices), and are as easy
 to

  wield (probably easier, since they get used a lot, so

  there’s muscle memory.)

 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 Heck even the good ol' belaying pin would come in handy
 during a boarding melee"

 As my (retired vet) Dad used to say;

 "hit'em on top of his head so hard he'll have
 three tongues in his shoes!"

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  There isn’t ‘one true sword design’.

  Frankly the imperial

  'cutlass’ probably looks as much like this <http://www.leevalley.com/us/garden/page.aspx?p=65248&cat=2,45794>
 as anything else.

 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 Hey! You've just discovered the KTLSS (commonly referred
 to as a 'cutlass').

 The standard boarding weapon of the Imperial
 Marines.

 =====================================================================

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 http://archives.simplelists.com--
 F.P. Kiesche
 III Husband, Father, Good Cook.
 Reader. Keeper of abandoned dogs. Catholic Liberal
 Conservative Militarist. Does not fit into a neat box or
 category. "Ah Mr. Gibbon, another damned, fat, square
 book. Always, scribble, scribble, scribble, eh?" (The
 Duke of Gloucester, on being presented with Volume 2 of The
 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.) Blogging at Bernal
 Alpha. On Twitter as @FredKiesche

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