Packing a Bowie Knife in the War of Northern Aggression

The following observation on arms carried by Union troops in the War of Northern Aggression (as my Southern friends admonish me to call it) is from Hardtack and Coffee; Or, The Unwritten Story of Army Life (1887) by John Davis Billing.

I have spoken of the rapid improvements made in arms [during the war]. This improvement extended to all classes of fire-arms alike. Revolvers were no exception, and Colt's revolver, which monopolized the field for some time, was soon crowded in the race by Smith and Wesson, Remington, arid others. Thousands of them were sold monthly, and the newly fledged soldier who did not possess a revolver, either by his own purchase, or as a present from solicitous relatives, or admiring friends, or enthusiastic business associates, was something of a curiosity. Of course a present of this kind necessitated an outfit of special ammunition, and such was at once procured. But the personal armory of many heroes was not even then complete, and a dirk knife -- a real "Arkansaw toothpick" -- was no unusual sight to be seen hanging from the belt of some of the incipient but blood-thirsty warriors. The little town of Ashby in Massachusetts, at one of its earliest war-meetings, voted "that each volunteer shall be provided with a revolver, a bowie-knife, and a Bible, and shall also receive ten dollars in money." The thought did not appear to find lodgement in the brain of the average soldier or his friends that by the time the government had provided him with what arms, ammunition, and equipments it was thought necessary for him to have, he would then be loaded with about all he could bear, without adding a personal armory and magazine. Nor did he realize that which afterwards in his experience must have come upon him with convincing force, that by the time he had done his duty faithfully and well with the arms which the government had placed in his hands there would be little opportunity or need, even if his ambition still held out, to fall back on his personal arsenal for further supplies. Members of the later regiments got their eyes open to this fact either through correspondence with men at the front, or by having been associated with others who had seen service. But the troops of '61 and '62 took out hundreds of revolvers only to lose them, give them away, or throw them away; and as many regiments were forbidden by their colonels to wear them, a large number were sent back to the North. Revolvers were probably cheaper in Virginia, in those years, than in any other state in the Union.

The Western Man, as Observed by a Lady

An Englishwoman, Mrs. Matilda C. Houstoun, tut-tutted her way through America during the early 1840s and wrote about it in Hesperos (1850). Here are her comments on the locals she observed from the steamboat as she traveled down the Mississippi:

As we descended the river, the state of Arkansas was on our right hand for several hundred miles. The general character of its inhabitants is none of the best, and it is acknowledged to be the refuge and head-quarters of loafers and lawless characters of all kinds. In Arkansaw (as it is pronounced here) are also to be found the most numerous and accomplished professors in the art of using the bowie knife, and also of the ingenious one of gouging. We saw some curious specimens of the 'western men' at several of the wooding places; they are generally tall, lanky, unwashed men, with clay-coloured faces, looking for all the world as though they had been made out of the same mud that dyes the Mississippi waters. Their hair is commonly of a reddish flaxen hue, and hangs in uncombed masses over the coat collars; add to this, an old broad brimmed hat, with the crown half out, and boots of untanned leather, with the pantaloons tucked down in the inside of them, and a 'western man' is before you. These curious and original beings were generally accompanied by two or three dogs, and they are never known to move without a rifle and a bowie knife. 

Here is a subsequent comment on some of the ruffians with whom she shared her boat:

Such characters as these, men essentially 'rowdy,' and 'loafers' by profession, are . .  found in great numbers on the smaller river steamers, particularly on those which are bound for the Red River. These men are looked upon with great suspicion, and are always avoided as much as possible by the respectable portion of the community who happen to be on board; they are to be found (at least I am told so) always in the fore part of the vessel, and are loud and violent in their discourse, never without their cigars or quids in their mouths, and around them is an atmosphere of vice, dirt, and degradation. Another distinguishing mark of these men is, that when not engaged in swearing, boasting, and blaspheming, they are sure to be either whittling on their chair, or picking their teeth with a bowie knife.

The "gouging" that Houston refers to was an unarmed fighting style on the frontier. It was utterly without rules, and featured eye-gouging, scrotum tearing, and the biting off of fingers, noses, and ears; the disfigurement of one's opponent was the object. A less brutal type of fight was called "rough and tumble," and proscribed those techniques. The prevalence of gouging is subject to some academic skepticism; it may have been greatly exaggerated to épater les bourgeois (French for "bug the squares").
There's an excellent article on the subject here: "Gouge and Bite, Pull Hair and Scratch: The Social Significance of Fighting in the Southern Backcountry".