The lines as Baez sang them were

"I strepped up to my rival, my dagger in my hand
I seized him by the collar, and boldly made him stand..."

In Baez' version the impession I always had was that we were talking about the U.S. West, especially since it starts with the narrator coming to Louisville.

In this context the use of a rapier, especially in a formal Continental style, is much less likely.