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Dutch Long-Shanked Bayonet with Repairs

Dateca. 1710-1730

OriginEurope, Low Countries

MediumIron and steel

DimensionsOverall: 16 1/2" Socket: 2 13/16" Blade: 12 1/4" x 1 1/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, Mitchell Arms and Military Accoutrements Fund

Object number2018-196

DescriptionSocket bayonet with a hexagonal-sectioned flat blade, square blade shoulders, a long rounded shank and an open-ended socket cut with a two-step mortise for a top-of-the-barrel bayonet lug. Socket with extensive repairs.
Label TextDuring the French and Indian War, Britain supplied American soldiers with varied “Dutch” muskets and bayonets, which were considered perfectly suited for colonial use, though inferior to the Brown Bess. More than 10,000 were shipped here, including 2,000 sent to Virginia in 1754.

These "Dutch" arms were originally purchased between 1715 and 1741 in what is today Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, to make up for a shortfall in British arms production. Most were used and worn, and this early long-shanked type is thought to have been included in the 1715 purchase. An example was found during the excavation of Fort William Henry in New York State, the scene of the horrific massacre in August of 1757 fictionalized in “Last of the Mohicans.”

This example was heavily repaired by an American owner long ago.

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