Images(4)

French Officer's Fusil Bayonet

Dateca. 1720-1740

Maker Jean Baptiste Michel

OriginEurope, France, St. Etienne

MediumIron and steel

DimensionsOverall: 10 1/4" Blade: 6 1/8" x 1 3/16" Socket: 2 3/4" Bore: 3/4" (19 mm.)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2019-52

DescriptionFrench bayonet for an officer's fusil with a knopped and faceted shank and a knife blade with a false edge. Socket cut for a three-step mortise and engraved at either end with a single line. Its shank meets the socket with a filed and faceted "shield" shaped decoration which connects the muzzle and the second step of the mortice.
Label TextLike their British counterparts, the French officers who served in colonial America carried fine fusils as their primary arm. Rather than mounting miniature versions of the solder's bayonet, those made for French officer's longarms were patterned after civilian hunting bayonets with short, knife-shaped blades. This form typifies those used during the 1740s and 1750s, with its distinctive decoratively filed shank and a socket like those found on French Marine bayonets of the period.
MarkingsTop of blade struck with "IEAN.B." over "MICHEL" to the right of a large "M."