SO, I'm a Marine deal with it. What would have been the 18th and 19th Century equivalent of a 20th century KABAR? Its a Marine and his rifle, (and his KABAR) but what was the knife in the past?
Alright, so...,
18th century, since the KBAR is an issued knife for most of its history, what were the Continental Marines and then the Marine Corps "issued"...
The first thing would be a socket bayonet. Since formations were used instead of individual fighting holes (which are 20th century) there was no slashing. You thrust, or you parried, and you could butt-stroke or smash. A socket bayonet may be held in the hand when one is not armed with a musket at the time it is needed.
Although an officer would've been armed with a short sword, and a Sergeant might have had a "hangar sword"..., aboard ship, an enlisted Marine might also have been armed with sword, with a naval cutlass... or a boarding axe. (The Mameluke for officers was not adopted until 1825)
An actual battle knife, would not have been issued, and might not have been that common as most of the Corps' early history was as ship defenders and as raiding parties. Long expeditions on land needing a camp/utility knife were not carried out by Marines at that time. So as suggested, a simply butcher knife, which would also have been common among the sailors on the ships, was likely. In fact it has been argued by reenactors that Continental Marines should not be seen with packs of any sort, since they were used as hit-and-retire troops when they left ship.
So there isn't an issued knife...,
This would be true up through the first half of the 19th century. Until, in 1840 there was the "AG Hicks Knife".
Some sources say the above was the "first government adopted knife", but other sources say the "Ames" knife of 1849 is the first contract knife...,
So there you have it....of the two, the Hicks knife is more utilitarian and closer to what the KBAR was usually used for...
Semper Fi,
Loyalist Dave
3rd Bn 6th Marines
2nd Recon Bn
1985-1989