Operating out of New Orleans, Thomas, Griswold & Company manufactured and imported military material for the Confederacy from August 1861, when the firm of Hyde & Goodrich was reorganized to make Henry Thomas Jr. and A.B. Griswold the senior partners, to April of 1862, when the Union Occupation of New Orleans went into effect. Like most Confederate makers, the firm got a lot of mileage out of antebellum U.S. Army regulation patterns, and the basic form of the 1841 Foot Artillery sword served as the starting point for this cutlass. Measuring 26 inches in overall length, with a 20 3/4 inch spear tipped leaf profile blade, marked on the left side "THOMAS, GRISWOLD, & Co" in an arc over "NEW-ORLEANS". A solid brass knuckle guard is mounted to the 1841 pattern cast brass hilt, with a hand-rolled and beaded edge along the guard, a perforation near the pommel, and a set of cast-in eagles on the pommel. The pattern is illustrated on page 95 and photographed on pages 167 and 168 of William Albaugh's "Confederate Edged Weapons" and "A Photographic Supplement of Confederate Swords", respectively, which note the rarity of the full address marking on T.G.&C. cutlasses and call out the presence of a hand-rolled guard edge and absence of grip rivets as indicators that the sword is not just a messed-with 1841 Artillery.

Good. The blade shows much of an old, multi-layered finish, with the exposed steel showing a mix of gray and brown patina, mild spotting and a few edge nicks and handling marks. The guard shows some bending and dents, with some wear on the grip and a mixed aged patina.