The first distinctive West Point cadet sword appeared in the late 1840s. A small sword with a straight cross, shield-shaped threads, wire-wrapped hilts and an urn head. This sword was made by the Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts. The cadet swords were believed to have been purchased by the Military Department of the United States Military Academy and the V.M.I. In each case, the cadet swords were inspected and stamped with the inspector's initials, the initials "USA" and the year of approval. Hickox notes that V.M.I ordered the sword before the US Military Academy did, and requested that V.M.I. the sword is duly marked leaving the option N.P. Ames. Ames gave the cadet swords to the academy only in April 1840. The original order of 100 Swords was not recorded. Hickox can only show 2 delivery dates for cadet swords to the academy: 100 on November 30, 1849 for $11.00 and another 100 on July 25, 1856 for $10.00. Both orders were apparently of the same model.
The cadet sword
is last mentioned in the regulations of 1839, when it was written that cadets
must carry the sword of the paid section, a gilded sword with a black tassel.
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