Elgin Patent Cutlass Pistol
date: label: date made
content: ca 1838
name: label: associated
content: Wilkes, Charles
label: maker
content: Allen, C. B.
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description:
label: Description
content: This .54 caliber U.S. Navy Elgin patent percussion cutlass pistol was made by C.B. Allen of Springfield, Massachusetts. It still has its original scabbard. It is a boxlock type frame with a five inch octagonal barrel. There is an 11” Bowie type blade underneath.
label: Description
content: On the left side of the pistol, “C B ALLEN/SPRINGFIELD/MASS” is stamped. The barrel is stamped “ELGINS/PATENT”.
label: Description
content: History:
label: Description
content: C. B Allen was the other manufacturer besides Morrill, Mossman and Blair that created cutlass pistols because of the spreading popularity of the Bowie Knife.
label: Description
content: James Bowie became a folk hero because of his reckless nature, contribution to the Texas Revolution and his death at the Alamo, but it was the Sandbar Fight in 1827 that made Bowie famous. After being shot and stabbed, Bowie killed Norris Wright, the Sheriff of Rapides Parish with a large knife that came to be known as the Bowie Knife.
label: Description
content: The knife became legend and George Elgin patented the Bowie Knife on July 5, 1837. With this patent, Allen produced this type of pistol. It was the first percussion handgun officially used by the U.S. military and the only knife pistol used by an U.S. military service. There were only 150 produced on Navy Contract – some being used by the Wilkes-South Sea Expedition.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Flayderman, Norm. Flayderman’s Guide to Antique American Firearms…and their Values, Gun Digest Books, Iola, 2007. 9th edition.
label: Description
content: Gardner, Robert E. Col. Small Arms Makers: A Directory of Fabricators of Firearms, Edged Weapons, Crossbows and Polearms, Crown Publishers Inc, New York: 1963, p. 2.
label: Description
content: Texas State Historical Society. “Bowie, James,” The Texas State Historical Association. < www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbo45>.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Springfield
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: The Bitter Collection of Firearms
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: The Adriana and Edwin W. Bitter Family Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1985.0783.17
label: accession number
content: 1985.0783
label: catalog number
content: 1985.0783.17
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cutlass-pistol
label: Object Name
content: pistol-cutlass, percussion
label: Other Terms
content: pistol-cutlass; cutlass-pistol; Firearms; Navy; Center Fire; .54 In; Smooth Bore; Muzzle Load; Sa
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 17 1/4 in; 43.815 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, pistol: 1 1/4 in x 17 1/4 in x 5 in; 3.175 cm x 43.815 cm x 12.7 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, scabbard: 1 3/8 in x 11 1/2 in x 3 3/8 in; 3.4925 cm x 29.21 cm x 8.5725 cm