The Early American: Sword Defense, Fencing, and the Art of the Blade in Colonial America

Steel and Honor

Sword Defense, Fencing, and the Art of the Blade in Colonial America

and the American Revolutionary War Period (1620–1783)

Rick Laws

Introduction: The Forgotten Martial Heritage

When historians recount the story of Colonial America and the Revolutionary War, muskets, powder, and cannon dominate the narrative. Yet woven throughout that same era — in city taverns, fencing academies, military drills, and dueling fields at dawn — ran a vibrant and sometimes lethal tradition of swordsmanship. The sword in 18th-century America was simultaneously weapon, gentleman's accessory, military tool, symbol of honor, and competitive sport. Its story, long overlooked, is one of cultural transplant, social aspiration, battlefield necessity, and personal survival.

Much has been written about European fencing traditions. Far less attention has been paid to how those traditions took root — and sometimes flowered dramatically — in the American colonies. From the roughest frontier settlements of New England, where militiamen set aside their unreliable muskets and took up their swords, to the elegant academies of Philadelphia and Charleston where young gentlemen paid dearly for lessons in the 'noble science of defence,' the sword was a constant, if underappreciated, presence in colonial life.

This narrative explores that forgotten heritage: the schools and masters who brought European swordsmanship to America, the cultural codes that made blade proficiency a mark of social standing, and the remarkable — often forgotten — instances where swords determined the outcome of real conflict, right up to and during the American Revolution itself.

Part I: Swords Before Muskets — The Early Colonial Period

The Sword as First Weapon

It is easy to assume that firearms dominated colonial American combat from the earliest years of settlement. In fact, during much of the 17th century in New England, the sword was arguably a more reliable weapon. Firearms were scarce, expensive, and notoriously prone to misfire, especially in the damp weather of the Atlantic coast. According to period records, as late as 1666, one-third of New England militia still had no firearms at all.

A Massachusetts soldier's account from 1686 captures the attitude of the time plainly: one young soldier confessed he 'thought a pike was best for a young soldier, and so I carried a pike, and…knew not how to shoot off a musket.' In this environment, knowledge of the sword and pike was not an aristocratic luxury — it was survival.

The sword's role in early combat is vividly illustrated by the Pequot War of 1637. Colonial forces attacking an Indian fortress fired a single volley, then cast aside their guns and 'tooke their swords in their hands…fell upon the Indians where a hot fight continued about the space of an houre.' The enemies within were 'slain with the sword, some hewed to pieces, others run through with their rapiers.' This was not the ceremonial smallsword of the ballroom — it was desperate, close-quarters combat by men for whom bladed weapons were simply more functional than the uncertain firelock muskets of the day.

Source: Fencing in Colonial America — Association for Historical Fencing

Part II: The Rise of Fencing as Education and Art

Masters, Schools, and the Gentleman's Science

As the colonies grew in wealth and sophistication through the late 17th and early 18th centuries, a different relationship with swordsmanship began to develop alongside its practical martial dimension. Fencing schools began to appear in the cities of the Eastern Seaboard, run by itinerant masters from France, England, Ireland, and Italy who advertised their credentials and curriculum in colonial newspapers. These masters frequently doubled as dance instructors — a combination that made perfect cultural sense in an era when 'graceful carriage and ease of movement' were considered intertwined accomplishments.

The cultural significance of fencing is captured beautifully in a 1731 letter from Bostonian Jonathan Belcher to his son at school, in which he recommended walking, riding, bowling, and billiards as 'wholesome exercises' — and then added: 'to these I wou'd add fencing, which will extend all the parts and members of your body, open your breast, and make you more erect and give a greater advantage to your growth. I shall be pleas'd to hear you have put yourself under a good master of this gentlemanly science...'

By 1774, a Virginia tutor named Philip Vickers Fithian observed that any young gentleman traveling through the colony was presumed to be 'acquainted with Dancing, Boxing, playing the Fiddle, and Small-Sword, and Cards.' The smallsword — a light, narrow thrusting weapon descended from the rapier — had by the mid-18th century become the quintessential gentleman's sidearm and social signifier. Worn on the hip as part of formal dress, it announced at a glance that its wearer was a man of standing.

Edward Blackwell and America's First Fencing Treatise

The formalization of American fencing culture has a clear literary landmark. In 1734, Edward Blackwell published what is currently recognized as the oldest known fencing treatise written in the American colonies: a manual devoted to the use of the smallsword. Blackwell wrote that he had practiced 'in sundry Parts of America' and had 'met with much difficulty in Introducing this ART of the SMALL-SWORD,' eventually having succeeded in fostering 'general Admittance' of the art across the colonies.

The treatise was published in Williamsburg, Virginia, by printer William Parks — the same press that served the colonial government. Its contents are comprehensive and practical, covering the fundamentals of sword handling: how to hold the weapon, managing distance, advancing, retiring, lunging, and parrying, as well as more advanced techniques such as disarming an opponent and grappling at close quarters. Blackwell also included notably sober commentary on dueling, clearly aware that his pupils might one day need his lessons in earnest.

Blackwell dedicated his work 'to all Gentlemen, Promoters, and Lovers of the ART' — an elegant encapsulation of fencing's dual nature in colonial society as both martial skill and cultural accomplishment.

Source: Fencing in Colonial America (full text) — AHFI

The Influence of European Schools

The fencing practiced in colonial America was not invented here. It was directly imported from the great European schools, particularly the Italian and French traditions that had dominated sword culture since the Renaissance. The Italian school had pioneered the science of fencing — applying geometric principles, footwork theory, and a systematic approach to attack and defense. By the 17th century, the French school had refined and modified these techniques, developing the elegant smallsword system that would define genteel fencing across Europe and its colonies through the 18th century.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's publication 'The Academy of the Sword' situates this tradition beautifully: prior to about 1800, 'fencing referred to practical methods of self-defense. Early books on fencing were concerned with the proper handling of weapons, which was an integral part of the education of European noblemen. Formalized training in the use of arms was also widely practiced by sons of the middle class — burghers, merchants, and craftsmen.' In the American colonies, this democratization of martial skill found fertile ground among a society that prided itself on self-reliance.

Source: The Academy of the Sword — Colonial Freeport Reference

The shift toward modern sport fencing was gathering momentum in Europe during this same period. In 1763, Domenico Angelo established Angelo's School of Arms in London, helping to codify fencing as a disciplined sport with formal technique. The foil — a training weapon with a blunted or padded point — had been invented in France in the mid-18th century precisely to allow practice without injury. These innovations slowly made their way to American shores, influencing the more sophisticated academies of cities like Philadelphia, Boston, and Charleston.

Geography of Fencing Culture

The distribution of fencing culture across the colonies was uneven. Research into colonial records reveals a striking geographical pattern: throughout the entire 18th century, only seventeen fencing masters are recorded as having resided in the South (excluding New Orleans) — roughly one-third of those recorded in the North. Northern cities, particularly Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, 'literally abounded with fencing schools,' as one period source notes.

Yet fencing was hardly absent from the South. Virginia and South Carolina's planter aristocracy embraced swordsmanship as a marker of gentlemanly status, and the dueling culture of the region would eventually make the South more associated with personal combat than the North, even if its formal fencing academies were fewer. The aspiring young swordsmen of the South often traveled to European schools — as did Alexander Hamilton's close friend and fellow officer John Laurens — to receive instruction from the continent's finest masters.

Source: Schuyler Mansion Historic Site: Martial Arts in Colonial America

Part III: Swords, Honor, and the Duel

The Code of Honor

No discussion of colonial swordsmanship is complete without confronting the duel. In 17th- and 18th-century America, as in Europe, personal honor was a social currency of enormous consequence. An insult unaddressed could ruin a man's reputation, his business, his standing in society. The duel — at its core a regulated, ritual single combat between social equals — was the ultimate mechanism for restoring honor by demonstrating one's willingness to risk one's life for it.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, duels were fought predominantly with swords: first the rapier, then the more refined smallsword. The format varied: a duel might be fought 'to first blood' — ending at the first wound — or until one man was physically unable to continue, or, in the most extreme cases, to the death. The choice belonged to the offended party. The time of day was equally ritualized: duels traditionally took place at dawn, when poor light reduced the chance of detection by authorities, and the overnight interval allowed both parties a chance for sober reconsideration.

One fascinating footnote to the dawn duel: swordsmen fighting in the dark before mid-18th century often carried lanterns. This practice became so common that fencing manuals of the period integrated lanterns into their instruction — how to use the lantern to parry blows, how to blind an opponent with it, and how to carry it behind the back in the non-sword hand. That carrying position, incidentally, is preserved in the traditional 'off-hand' stance used in modern fencing to this day.

Source: History of the Duel — Wikipedia

Washington, Franklin, and the Fight Against Dueling

Not everyone embraced the culture of the duel. Benjamin Franklin publicly denounced the practice as 'uselessly violent,' and George Washington actively discouraged dueling among his officers during the Revolutionary War. Washington's reasoning was pragmatic: the death of a skilled officer in a private quarrel was an intolerable waste of military talent that could threaten the war effort itself. That officers continued to duel despite Washington's wishes is a testament to how deeply the code of honor was embedded in the officer class of the Continental Army.

Washington himself had a complex relationship with the sword. His battle sword — a practical hanger with a slightly curved steel blade, made in Fishkill, New York, by English-trained cutler John Bailey — was a working weapon, not a ceremonial piece. In his will, Washington instructed his nephew Samuel to draw the blade only 'in self-defense or in the defense of [the] country and its rights.' The sword is now preserved at the Smithsonian Institution.

Source: George Washington's Battle Sword — Smithsonian Institution

Part IV: Sword in Battle — The Revolutionary War

The Sword's Battlefield Role

By the time the Revolutionary War erupted in 1775, firearms had become the dominant battlefield weapon. Yet swords were far from obsolete. Officers of both the Continental Army and the British forces carried swords as standard equipment — not merely as symbols of rank but as practical weapons for close combat, command, and the direction of troops. The smallsword remained the most common sword carried by American officers, though cavalry officers favored curved sabers better suited to mounted slashing attacks.

The Continental Congress itself recognized the sword's importance and prestige. Throughout the war, Congress voted to present ceremonial swords to officers who performed acts of exceptional valor — ten such presentations are documented in detail by historians. These were not ordinary swords; many were elegant French dress weapons with gold-gilt hilts, reflecting both the alliance with France and the cultural status that a fine sword conveyed. Colonel Marinus Willett's sword, for instance, is now displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Source: Presentation Swords for Revolutionary War Heroes — Journal of the American Revolution

A Revolution in Arms

Supplying the Continental Army with adequate weapons of all kinds — including swords — was a persistent challenge throughout the war. At the height of the conflict, some 50,000 men served in the Continental Army, with an additional 30,000 state and militia troops. The American colonies had few factories capable of producing swords in quantity, and officials scrambled to gather weapons from every available source: seized British stores, French shipments, private collections, and the few domestic smiths capable of producing serviceable blades.

Among the officers who carried swords through the war were some of the Revolution's most consequential figures. Alexander Hamilton, Nathaniel Greene, Anthony Wayne, John Paul Jones (in naval combat) — all carried swords as a matter of course. The smallsword worn as part of formal dress had evolved, in the hands of these men, into an instrument of revolution.

Source: A Revolution in Arms — American Revolution Institute

Part V: Known Conflicts — When Swords Drew Blood

Thomas Brown and the August 1775 Sword Affray

One of the most vivid and historically documented instances of Revolutionary-era sword combat involves Thomas Brown, a Loyalist planter in Georgia who encountered Patriot agitators in August 1775. According to his own narrative, Brown was confronted by an aggressive crowd; when he warned that the first man to touch him must 'be ready to abide by the consequences,' six or eight men drew their swords and rushed at him.

Brown drew his pistols first, shooting one attacker through the foot when the pistol connected, but the crowd disarmed him. Brown then drew his sword: 'I parried off their repeated lunges and kept them at bay for some time,' he wrote, before a man behind him struck him in the head with a rifle butt, fracturing his skull. The account is remarkable for its detail — Brown explicitly describes parrying multiple sword attacks, demonstrating that formal fencing technique had real-world application in the chaos of the colonial political crisis.

Source: Revolutionary War 1775: Battles, Skirmishes, and Affrays

Donald McAlpine and the Boston Swordsmanship School

During the war itself, sword instruction continued even in the occupied city of Boston. One of the most extraordinary figures in this story is Donald McAlpine, a soldier from Inverness and officer in the Queen's Rangers — an elite light infantry unit. McAlpine taught the use of the backsword to students in Boston during the British occupation. One of his students sketched what is now recognized as the earliest known illustration of fencing technique made in the American colonies. This illustration, long lost to mainstream historians, has been reproduced in modern scholarship on Scottish fencing.

McAlpine's presence in Boston illustrates a little-known dimension of Revolutionary-era martial culture: sword instruction did not stop because a war was underway. Both sides trained, practiced, and refined their swordsmanship even as muskets and cannon roared across the countryside.

Source: Scottish Fencing — Historical Fighting Guide

Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge — The Last Broadsword Charge in American History

Of all the sword-related engagements of the American Revolutionary period, none is more dramatic — or more historically significant — than the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, fought on February 27, 1776, in Pender County, North Carolina, about 18 miles north of Wilmington. This brief, violent engagement holds a unique distinction: it is considered the last broadsword charge made by Scottish Highlanders in the history of warfare.

The background: North Carolina's royal governor, Josiah Martin, had promised British commanders that he could raise a large force of Loyalist militia — primarily Scottish Highland immigrants — to link up with a British naval expedition under Major General Henry Clinton. Some 1,600 Loyalists assembled under Brigadier General Donald MacDonald at Cross Creek (modern Fayetteville) in February 1776. Of these, only about 500 had firearms. The rest were armed with Highland broadswords — claymores, the double-edged blades of their ancestors — and dirks.

Patriot forces under Colonels James Moore, Richard Caswell, and Alexander Lillington anticipated the Loyalist movement. They raced to Moore's Creek Bridge ahead of the Highlanders and spent the night before the battle removing the bridge planks and greasing the remaining log stringers with a mixture of soft soap and animal fat — bear's grease in one account, tallow in others. They then constructed earthworks on the east bank and positioned their artillery and riflemen behind them.

In the predawn fog of February 27, MacDonald's force reached the bridge. The commander had fallen gravely ill and command transferred to the younger Captain Donald McLeod. Loyalist Captain John Campbell urged attack, believing the Patriot force was smaller than it was. At 1:00 a.m. the Loyalists broke camp and slogged six miles through swamps and darkness. When they arrived at the bridge and found it half-dismantled, McLeod had little time to reconsider.

What followed was both heroic and catastrophic. McLeod and Campbell assembled 80 hand-picked swordsmen — kilted Highlanders armed with 35-inch claymores and dirks — and with bagpipes wailing and drums beating, launched their charge across the greased, planked bridge with the battle cry: 'King George and Broadswords!'

The Patriot militia waited in silence until the Highlanders were within 30 paces of the earthworks. Then they opened fire with rifles and artillery simultaneously. The effect was devastating. McLeod went down with 20 musket balls in his body. Campbell fell beside him. The Highlanders, armed with swords and charging into rifle and cannon fire, had no chance. The engagement lasted minutes. More than 30 Loyalists were killed, dozens wounded, and hundreds captured in the days following. The Patriots lost one man.

'The explosive volley cut down the screaming Scots like a scythe blade through a hayfield.' — Revolutionary War Journal

The strategic consequences were profound. The Loyalist infrastructure in North Carolina was shattered. Clinton's naval force arrived weeks later to find no army waiting for it. The British were forced to abandon their plans for a southern offensive, a delay that held for nearly four years. And on April 12, 1776 — just six weeks after Moore's Creek — the North Carolina Provincial Congress adopted the Halifax Resolves, becoming the first colony to officially call for independence from Great Britain.

Source: Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge — American Battlefield Trust

Source: Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge — Revolutionary War Journal

Source: Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge — Wikipedia

Source: Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge — Journal of the American Revolution

Part VI: The Sword as Symbol and Status

Washington's Swords

George Washington owned and carried multiple swords across his military career — each reflecting a different dimension of the sword's meaning in 18th-century America. His battle sword, made by John Bailey in Fishkill, New York, was a practical working weapon. But other swords he owned were elaborate ceremonial pieces, gifts from foreign officers or crafted by master silversmiths, their hilts decorated according to the prevailing artistic fashions of the day — the rococo and neoclassical styles that characterized European luxury metalwork.

The relationship between sword hilt design and the fine arts of the period was not incidental. As the Metropolitan Museum of Art's scholarship on fencing culture notes, sword hilts were 'designed by well-known engravers such as Hans Sebald Beham, leading goldsmiths including Wenzel Jamnitzer, and major artists from Hans Holbein to Jacques Louis David.' In the hands of Washington, a French presentation sword or an English silversmith's dress sword was as much a work of art as it was a weapon.

Source: For George Washington, a Sword Was Much More Than an Accessory — The Daily Beast

The Saber and American Cavalry

While the smallsword dominated civilian fencing culture, the war gave prominence to a different kind of blade: the saber. Cavalry officers on both sides carried curved, single-edged sabers descended from the Central and Eastern European hussar tradition. The American method of saber use drew heavily on the British Highland broadsword tradition, which had its own fencing manuals and schools.

After the Revolutionary War, the new American nation would formalize military swordsmanship through institutions like West Point, whose first systematic saber curriculum drew on the French method of La Boëssière. The saber that colonial cavalry officers had wielded instinctively in the chaos of Trenton or Cowpens would, in time, become the subject of formal military treatises — notably Brevet Major Henry C. Wayne's 1850 Sword Exercise — tracing a direct lineage from the improvised martial culture of the Revolution to the disciplined military science of the 19th century.

Source: American Swordsmanship — Baltimore Academy of Defense

Conclusion: The Hidden Blade in American History

The story of swords in colonial America and the Revolutionary War era is, finally, a story about what a society values and how it expresses those values through objects, rituals, and skills. The sword in 18th-century America was never just a weapon. It was a statement of social aspiration, a tool of personal honor, a mark of martial readiness, a work of art, and, in certain extraordinary moments — Moore's Creek Bridge at dawn on February 27, 1776; Thomas Brown's backyard in Georgia in 1775; the streets of Boston where a Scottish officer taught blade craft to colonial students — a matter of life and death.

The European fencing traditions that crossed the Atlantic with colonial settlers were not simply transplanted intact. They were adapted, democratized, and given new meaning by a society that was itself in the process of becoming something new. By the time the Revolution ended, the sword had served its last great military chapter in American history. Pistols would dominate the dueling grounds of the 19th century. Rifles and cannon would dominate its battlefields. But the tradition of swordsmanship would survive — in the sport fencing academies of the 19th century, in the cavalry saber schools of West Point, and eventually in the Olympic fencing programs of the modern era, all of which trace their lineage back, ultimately, to that 'gentlemanly science' that Jonathan Belcher urged upon his son in Boston in 1731.

The sword has been sheathed for two centuries. But its history in colonial America is still sharp.