Artillery & Highlanders Carbine Bayonet

Dateca.1755-1760

MediumIron and steel

DimensionsSocket: 3 1/2" Blade: 12 1/2" x 1 3/16" Overall: 16 3/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2003-132

DescriptionClassic form of the British Ordnance carbine bayonet of the mid to late 1750s, with a wide blade and prominent guard.
Label TextWith the outbreak of the French & Indian War, the British expanded their line of specialized firearms for the different types of troops being raised. Certain soldiers were armed with smaller or smaller-bored firearms called carbines or fusils. Since these arms also required bayonets, scaled down versions of "Brown Bess" musket bayonets were made for use with them.

The two Scottish or "Highland" regiments raised in 1757 for service in North America were issued "Artillery & Highlanders" carbines. They were contemporarily described as being to "slight" for service, and weren't very popular with the soldiers carrying them. While no examples of the firearm survive, archaeologists working at period military sites have recovered remains of them, and a few Artillery & Highlanders carbine bayonets, like this example, are known.
MarkingsThe base of the blade is struck with what appears to be "XB," and the remains of an Ordnance inspector's mark is barely visible above it. The interior of the socket is struck with a deep "IR" at the shank junction.