The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-07-19
STORY OF THE BAYONET,
ORIGINALLY IT HAD NOTHING TO
90 WITH GUNS.

IL is rather curious tnat the weapon
first called bayonet had nothing to
do with musket or rifle, but was sim
ply a short, fat dagger. Three hun
dred years ago 1t was described as a
great knife to hang at the glrdle like
dagger. Lingard, the historian, writ
ing of battle fought in France In
1853, says that the English commander
was slain, as he lay on the field, with
mountaineering. no doubt, the
kind of weapon we have Just de-
scribed. British soldiers did not carry
a bayonet of the modern kind as part
of their equipment till the time of
Charles II. That not very warllke
monarch ordered by royal warrant
that the soldiers were "to have and to
carry one bayonet or great knife" In
those days the great knife" was II
kind of last resource. The bayonet in
its first form could only be used by
having its handle screwed solidly into
the musket barrel, thereby completely
blocking the muzzle so IL was not un-
til the ammunition was exhausted. or
until the enemy were so close that
lntIt was nOl Nllllt lOI lnt
somewhat lengthy and complicated
process of recharging the clumsy old
muzZle- loading muskets-it was not till
then that the buyOnet was brought
into play.
Our friends the enemy, however, be-
fore long taught us how to turn the
weapon to better account. While the
q n, H..
in May, 170G some keen-eyed observer
on the British side noticed that the
French infantry were able to charge
with the bayonet Immediately they
had fired their volley, not waiting to
screw their "knives" into the muzzles
of their muskets. When the battle
was over and Marlboros victorious
troops held the field, some of the fire
locks abandoned by the foe in their
fight We're picked up and examined,
and it was found that the bayonet was
secured by circular band of metal
clasplng the barrel, simple arrange
ment, which left the muzzle perfectly
clear. The wonder Is that such
clumsy process as stufting the solid
handle of the bayonet into the mouth
of the musket was ever adopted at all.
Our military authorities, however. were
not above taking hint from the en-
emy, and the English bayonets were
soon fitted after the French manner.
There has been some discussion as
to the origin of the word "bayonet"
The commonly received explanation is
that the weapon takes it's name from
the city of Bayonne, in Southern
France, where the bayonet Is supposed
to have been first made or first used
This is likely enough, although there
is no direct evidence on the point. but
it is also possible that the word is de-
rived, as dimlnutive, from an old
French word, "bayon," which meant
the arrow or shaft of II crossbow. The
transfer of the name. with the added
diminutive termination Of 'ette," from
the long-pOinted arrow to the short
stabbing dagger, would be natural and
easy, but the matter is Of no great i'm
portance, and it Is certainly not worth
dogmatizing about.
1t may be noted. by the way. that
the vulgar pronunciation of "bayonet,'
or "bagnet"- gen'rmen, fall
on as the English said to the French
when they fixed bagonets," remarked
Mr.. Weller at the picnic-is of very
long standing, and was originally of
the highest respectability. A diction-
ary maker of 1851, Benjamin Martin,
after defining the word as meaning "a
Sh 10 Ia 4 A. mn
a hollow iron handle to fix it to the
muzzle of n musquet, now used instead
of pike goes on TO say: I'VE speak
the word bagOnet." Another lexico-
grapher of few ye;Gs later. remarks
somewhat naively. that the bayonet,
when ammunition is spent, is no bad
resource" A very early example of
the now vulgar pronunciation may be
found in the Loudon Gazette of 1892,
where, in No, 2T42, "bagonets and all
other arms are mentioned in an off
clal notice. And Il little later, in "A
book published about 1900 the author
ship OF which has been attributed to
Defoe. some peaceful person plaintive-
ly pleads: II came not into the world
TO be cannonaded or bagnoetted out of
it," The weapon, however, has pushed
great many peaceful folk, as well rs
its more Legitimate prey. out of the
world.
No army, OF course, can claim mo-
nopoly OF the use of the bayonet, but
1t has been peculiarly associated with
the heroic deeds of British infantry on
many hard-fought field aud in many
n struggle in the imminent deadly
hEeach. At Waterloo it was.the brist-
ling lines of bayOnets girdling the in
vincible squares of infantry that the
French found II vain to attack. Again
and again the French cavalry surged
against those seemingly solid islands
OF men and steel, but could make no
impression on them. More recently,
mt Abu Klea, and on other Egyptian
battlehelds, the gallant dervishes who
survived the fire of rifles and Maxlms
found the line OF bayonets a last and
impregnable line of defense. As
weapon of Offensc, too, as well as of
defense, the bayOnet has proved of
wonderful effect in British hands.
Other enemies than Beers have found
1t difficult to face the "cold steel" at
close quarters. Sir Henry Hayelock.
describing small action during the
mutiny struggle In India, when three