N. Crown & Co. Canvas Bayonet Scabbard

This beautiful “N. CROWN & Co. COLUMBUS GEO.” marked, painted canvas bayonet scabbard is the only known surviving example. It is fortunate that since there is only one, it has survived in excellent condition, and with a clear maker’s mark.

All known maker marked examples of Confederate painted cloth accoutrements were made in Columbus, Georgia, the home of the South’s large painted canvas manufacturing concerns of Brands & Korner and the Eagle Manufacturing Company.

Painted canvas was a workable substitute for leather, which the Confederacy was in short supply.  It served the purpose, but the belts, bayonet scabbards, cartridge and cap boxes that N. Crown supplied did not last nearly so well as leather would have, making each and every one of their products extremely rare.

For example, there are surviving records of 6,050 complete sets of infantry accoutrements including cartridge boxes, cap pouches, bayonet scabbards and waist belts delivered[i] to the Confederate Government. Yet, there are less than 5 surviving marked cartridge boxes, less than 5 marked cap boxes, there are no known surviving marked waist belts and this is the only known surviving marked bayonet scabbard.

Crown & Co were initially paid $12.00 for each of these accoutrement sets, eventually increasing to $12.50 per set by the end of 1863. Recorded deliveries[ii] took place between late June 1863 and the end of February 1864.

The scabbard is 19.25″ long and having a 5″ long and 2.5″ wide belt frog. The finial is made from turned wood; the company’s canvas cap box also uses a turned wooden finial.  The scabbard is nominally a copy of the US Pattern of 1857 bayonet scabbard. It was manufactured with a sewn leather body, a sewn painted canvas belt frog and a turned wooden finial is sewn into the base of the scabbard body.

When found the end of the scabbard was badly bent, but by painstaking care over a long period it has been reset to its original splendor.   There has been no restoration whatsoever only conservation.

[i] Confederate Citizen Files records groups at the National Archives

[ii] There were certainly more, but the records do not survive.