M1873 SOCKET TROWEL BAYONET W/ NO SCABBARD

Socket bayonet for use on the .45?70 Caliber U.S. Rifle M1873 (Trapdoor Springfield). used aged condition. The trowel bayonet was conceived to provide soldiers with a dual-purpose bayonet and entrenching tool. Following the U.S. Civil War, the conventional wisdom in the Army was that the bayonet was largely unnecessary and that soldiers should be individually-equipped to rapidly entrench without the need to bring entrenching tools forward by wagon.