In 1835, a new punishment was added to the regulations, that a soldier would be stripped of his bayonet and
belt. In the 1830�s it was a regulation that a soldier was not to appear in
public without his bayonet. For the officer, he was never to he in uniform
without his sword. In many cases, to increase the effect that the sword had on
the public, many officers wore their swords low so as they would drag on the
ground. For the common soldier, his weapon was his bayonet. There were attempts
throughout the century to forbid the carrying of bayonets in public, but they
never had much effect on the practice. Since soldiers spent most of their free
time getting drunk, this caused a major problem, as there were frequent fights
between soldiers and the public. The army lost many men to injuries and prison
over the use of the bayonet in drunken brawls. But the practice was hard to
break, as the carrying of weapons in public was used as a recruitment practice
well into the latter part of the century.
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