The knives may have been props, but many of the men of South Mississippi and Louisiana carried Bowie knives or something similar and at the time had not had any photos made since joining in May-August of 1861. In his post war narrative Pvt. William J. Bass of Company G 7th Mississippi described a march from Pass Christian, Mississippi to Shieldsboro, Mississippi from one training camp to another in September of 1861:

"ordered to a small village called Shieldsboro Miss I think a distance of about 9 miles around the Bay of St. Louis and went into camp near Shieldsboro about the 1st of Oct I think that march was one of the hardest of the war as each one of us carried for any Pack-horse besides knapsacks we had enough rashions cooked and in our haversacks to have lasted us five days and more than we ever had on the Ga campaign in ten days. In addition to this we had bed quilts Blankets Spreads rolled in very conceivable shape. Some had great knives hanging to their sides large enough to cut a man’s head off with one stroke..."

Notice that he mentions the Ga campaign of 1864 as a way of determining that the narrative was written post war. We know that he kept a day journal from his enlistment until his surrender in Mississippi in 1865 and that he used it to complete the narrative. Bass survived the war after being wounded at Ezra Church, GA. He was one of only 4 men alive in his company in that battle. His best friend and Lt. John D. Cooper was wounded a few days later at the Battle of Jonesboro and later died from gangrene in Macon, GA leaving only two men in his company. Cooper's diary is posted on the 7th Mississippi memorial page.

Ron Skellie
"Lest We Forget-The Immortal Seventh Mississippi"
rskellie@mindspring.com
7miss.org