Dangling Swords

Attached the generously donated Cold Steel 1860 Heavy [sic] Cavalry Saber to my reproduction M1904 saber hanger...

It's clearly a light saber...

Clips to the saber chape just like expected.

This is the angle I expected it to hang at:

Notice all that slack in the rear strap?

It never does get taught before the scabbard hangs vertically.

By this time, the tip of the scabbard is dragging on the ground and the hilt is WAY too low to grab quickly anyways.

To keep the sword off the ground you take the upper loop and hang it from the hook on the hanger's clip.

This lets it hang alongside your leg and keeps the tip just barely off the ground for me.

At first I though that the reason for the odd hanging angles was because it's a cavalry hanger.

Then I started finding period pictures...

Let it hang down low with the scabbard dragging is how it's supposed to be worn!  This is also a massive tripping hazard, so I expect a lot of troops controlled the thing with their off hand.

This is the most "in the way" system of carrying a sword I've ever encountered.

From what I am reading, though, this thing was only rarely attached to the cartridge belt.  Normally it attached to the saddle and was carried almost vertically in front of the left knee.  From there, it's actually handy.

There's also a garrison tab so you can wear the sword on your uniform belt for ceremonial and guard purposes: