http://read.gov/books/sword-exercise.html
http://books.google.com/books?id=N3oDAAAAYAAJ&ots=1OxbK2qGl1&dq=sword%20exercise&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=sword%20exercise&f=false
If the work by Julius Frontinus were the Roman equivalent of Sun Tzu's Art of War, then this text is the 19th century American version of a training manual. Some of the text speaks of the same sort of readiness I feel we often discuss on this forum:
A New System of Sword Exercise
Introductory
Some gentlemen may find it convenient to say that no opportunity occurs when an officer can use his sword; apparently unmindful of the fact that an officer who is unacquainted with the use of his sword will not be disposed to seek such an opportunity, and that, if the opportunity did occur, he would be unable to defend himself.
I also found the author's comments on theatrics versus effectiveness to be interesting:
A New System of Sword Exercise
Observations of Thrusting
While fencing may be justly regarded as a healthy and elegant exercise, for civilians, the use of the foil is calculated to engender the most erroneous impressions on the minds of officers, who may be called upon at any time to defend their lives with their swords. The flexibility of the foil will enable an expert fencer to produce effects that may dazzle the uninitiated while they are well understood, and known to be mere sleight-of-hand tricks by those familiar with the exercise.