The Magnificent Sword Collection of William I. Koch

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH OCTOBER 30-31, 2018

Cover: Lot 306 Back Cover: Lot 451 Front Inside Cover: Lot 503 Back Inside Cover: Lot 327

The Magnificent Sword Collection of William I. Koch Cowan’s is delighted to bring the Magnificent Sword Collection of William I. Koch to market. Bill Koch has been a friend and customer of Cowan’s for almost 15 years and over that time, I’ve witnessed Bill’s passion for historical artifacts, and his keen eye for the extraordinary. His collection of 48 swords offered in this catalog is without a doubt the finest assemblage of British and American swords ever sold in America.

Koch’s collections are legendary. His collection of historical firearms, western art and artifacts, photographs, nautical memorabilia, America’s Cup ephemera, fine art, and wine have all been the subject of multiple books, television shows, and documentary films. This collection rivals any of those. Virtually every sword on offer is a unique work of the jeweler’s and swordsmith’s art. There simply aren’t duplicates of any of these.

The collection features a stunning array of ornate British and American ceremonial and presentation swords ranging from the Napoleonic Wars, the Mexican-American War and the Civil War. But these pieces are not simply historical artifacts, they are works of art meant to convey their original owner’s status within society and the military.

Considering their great rarity, it is unlikely any of these swords will come to market again in the near future. It was truly a great honor to study these spectacular pieces, however briefly, and to help Bill share his passion with the world.

-C. Wesley Cowan, October 2018 This catalog features the magnificent swords from the Koch Collection, which are being offered during Cowan’s Historic Firearms and Early Militaria and Treasures of the Civil War auctions on October 30 and 31, 2018. For a full listing of all lots offered in the two-day auction as well as more photographs of the Koch swords, visit cowans.com.

The Historic Firearms and Early Militaria session (Lots 1 – 483) on October 30 includes all European swords as well as the majority of the American presentation pieces. The Treasures of the Civil War session (Lots 501 – 837) on October 31 includes 13 swords from the American Civil War.

Cowan’s 6270 Este Ave. Cincinnati, OH 45232 513.871.1670 Fax 513.871.8670

Auction October 30, 2018 10:00 am October 31, 2018 10:00 am

cowans.com

Exhibition October 29, 2018 12:00 - 5:00 pm October 30, 2018 8:00 - 10:00 am October 31, 2018 8:00 - 10:00 am

Bid In person, by phone, absentee or live online.

COWAN’S live!

Detail Lot 450

Historic Firearms and Early Militaria October 30, 2018

281 Gilded Philadelphia Eagle Pommel Sword 29.75” curved, single-edged blade with wide, 24” stopped fuller. 5.5” gilt bras hilt with eagle head pommel, reverse-P knuckle guard and beaded “5-ball” counter-guard. Ribbed ivory grip with prominent palm swell. Blade partially blued with gold gilt enhanced decorations including floral and foliate motifs and a panoply of arms with a Liberty Cap on the obverse and similar foliate patterns on the reverse with WARRANTED in a ribbon and an American eagle with ribbon in its beak reading E Pluribus Unum. No scabbard present. Good. Retains some blue and much of the gold gilt on the blade, with scattered surface oxidation, discoloration, surface roughness and some lightly scattered pitting. Hilt good, retaining some gold with wear and loss. Grip, hilt and guard all somewhat loose, grip with a couple of minor chips missing and some tight grain cracking. $2,000 - $3,000

282 American Naval Officer Sword 32.5” spear point blade with full-length stopped median fuller. 15” of the blade is brightly blued with gold gilt decorations including floral designs, panoplies of arms, WARRANTED in a floral ribbon and with the American Eagle holding a ribbon in it beak with the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. 6” long gold gilt hilt with pillow pommel, reeded bone grip and 5-ball pattern knuckle bow and guard with a simple forward swept quillon terminating in a disc-shaped finial at the top. Grip with a gold gilt oval escutcheon with gilt cigar band depicting a stylized American eagle with a shield emblazoned with an anchor, all surrounded with thirteen stars and with a set of initials on the reverse of the band.

A small lanyard ring is present below the pommel cap. No scabbard present. A really lovely early American Naval Officer’s sword. Fine. Blade retains much of the bright blue and gold gilt with some fading and loss, with the remaining portion of the blade showing a steel gray patina with freckled splotches of minor surface oxidation and age discoloration. Blade with some small areas of more serious oxidation as well and some light pitting around the ricasso. Hilt very good with much of the gold gilt remaining, bone grip with wear and some discoloration and with a 1.5” piece missing from the top center of the grip, behind the escutcheon band, running all the way to the pommel. Blade to hilt junction with some minor play, pillow pommel with some looseness and wobble. $1,000 - $2,000

283 Early American Naval Officer Sword 32.625” spear point blade with full-length stopped median fuller. 16” of the blade is brightly blued with gold gilt decorations including floral and foliate designs, panoplies of arms and with the American eagle holding a ribbon in it beak with the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. 6” long gold gilt hilt with pillow pommel, reeded bone grip and 5-ball pattern knuckle bow and guard with a simple forward swept quillon terminating in a disc-shaped finial at the top. Guard with a fouled anchor set in it. Obverse face of guard with the touch mark FT, possibly for Francis Thurkle. Grip with a gold gilt oval escutcheon with gilt cigar band engraved with a fouled anchor, band and escutcheon with simple geometric boarder line engraving that is continued around the grip ferrule and the pillow pommel. Small lanyard ring at base of pommel cap. No scabbard present. A lovely early American Naval Officer’s sword. Fine. Blade retains much of the bright blue and gold gilt with some fading, flaking and loss, with the remaining portion of the blade showing a mostly bright steel gray patina with freckled splotches of minor surface oxidation and minor age discoloration. Blade with some small areas of more serious oxidation as well, most obviously around the ricasso. Hilt very good to near fine with much of the gold gilt remaining, bone grip with wear, some discoloration and some minor chipping. Blade to hilt junction very tight with no obvious looseness or wobble. $1,000 - $2,000 2

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

284 Gilt Eagle Pommel Officer’s Saber 27.25” curved, single-edged blade with 6.5” false edge. 21.5” unstopped median fuller, 21.5” narrow fuller near spine. 5.75” gold gilt brass eagle head pommel with reverse P-shaped knuckle bow, single forward swept upper quillon, terminating in a flat disk. Wood grip with moderate palm swell with 9 wraps of flat gilt brass wire. Includes original leather scabbard with gilt brass mounts. Upper mount with both suspension ring and oval frog stud, middle mount with suspension ring. All mounts with decorative scalloped edges.

Scabbard with incised border lines front and rear, scabbard seamed at center rear. Very good. Blade lightly cleaned to a dull gray color, showing some old sharpening and tool marks, some lightly scattered pitting and some small areas of surface oxidation. Hilt to blade junction is tight. Hilt with some traces of gold gilt remaining. Scabbard about very good as well, remaining mostly solid with some areas of moderate crazing and wear, particularly along the lower half of the body. Stitching remains tight, mounts retain some strong traces of gold gilt. $1,000 - $1,500

285 British Naval Officer’s Pillow Pommel Sword 25.75” curved single-edged blade with 8” false edge. 25” unstopped median fuller, 17” narrow fuller at spine. 5.5” gold gilt pillow pommel hilt single knuckle bow and flat disk forward swept quillon. Reeded bone grip with oval brass escutcheon secured by a brass cigar band is engraved with a fouled anchor surmounted by the Royal Crown. Knuckle bow with decorative ribbing along the edge, pommel cap with button finial. No scabbard present. A solid example of an early Napoleonic era Royal Naval Officer’s sword. Good.

Blade with a mottled gray and brown patina, showing scattered surface oxidation, some light pitting and likely shortened about .5”-1” in length. Grip good with wear and retaining some traces of gold gilt. $500 - $1,000

286 Early Naval Officer’s Sword 23” curved, single-edged blade with wide median fuller. 5.5” gilt brass pillow pommel hilt with 5-ball counter-guard. Reeded bone grip with cigar band and fouled anchor motif oval escutcheon. Rings for chain knuckle bow on bottom of guard and at pommel cap. Partially blued blade with etched gilt marital, classical and foliate motifs. Includes partial brass mounted leather scabbard with suspension rings on the middle mount and throat, which also has for stud. Scabbard missing the bottom portion and the drag. A well worn but scarce example of an early, pre-Ordnance Pattern British Naval Officer’s sword that could date as early as the late 18th century. Fair. Blade heavily rusted covering much of the finish and etched motifs. Hilt with traces of gild and a dark patina. Grip with wear. Scabbard fair, broken below middle mount, throat bent. Leather showing significant crazing and wear, missing lower portion and drag. $800 - $1,200 SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

3

287 American Eagle Pommel Officer’s Sword 31” straight, double-edged spear point blade with nearly full-length, stopped median fuller. 5.75” gilt brass eagle head hilt with single D-shaped knuckle bow and single branch counter-guard, with a forward swept upper quillon terminating in a flat disc finial. Reeded bone grip. Blade partially blued with gilt patriotic and martially themed decorations, worn and only partially visible. No scabbard present. Good. Blade with some blue remaining and traces of gold, showing an evenly oxidized patina with some surface roughness and a small bend in the blade about 2” from the tip. Hilt good, retaining some of the gilt finish, grip with some wear and tiny chips missing. $500 - $1,000

288 Early American Eagle Head Naval Officer’s Sword 27.75” curved, single-edged blade with 22.5” long, wide, stopped median fuller. 5.25” gilt brass eagle hHead hilt with variant slotted guard and open work knuckle bow cast with a fouled anchor as its central theme. Reeded bone grip. Blade decorated with etched marital and patriotic themes, well worn and difficult to see, but clear enough to know they are American themes. No scabbard present. Good. Blade with an evenly oxidized gray patina with traces of decoration visible. Blade shows some scattered pitting and numerous nicks along its edge. Hilt good with traces of gilding present and the grip showing wear and some minor chipping. $1,000 - $1,500

289 Francis Thurkle U.S Naval Officer’s Sword 25.25” curved, single-edged blade with 7.5” false edge, with a nearly full-length median fuller and a narrow, 17.5” long fuller along the spine. 6” gilt brass eagle head pommel with single knuckle bow and simple forward swept upper quillon, terminating in a flat disk finial. Reeded bone grip. Includes leather scabbard with gilt brass drag, no other mounts present. Scabbard seamed in center rear. Good. Blade with an oxidized gray patina, with freckled discoloration and some scattered light pitting. Hilt with traces of gold gilt, pommel loose, grip with wear and some grain cracks present. Scabbard good, with missing mounts and some stitching out of the rear near the throat. $1,500 - $2,500

4

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

290 Brass Eagle Head Pommel Sword 27” curved, single-edged blade with wide median fuller. 5.5” brass eagle head hilt with variant of the “5-ball” theme in the guard and knuckle bow. Reeded bone grip, brass mounted leather scabbard. Good. Blade cleaned to gray with scattered oxidation and discoloration. Blade loose in hilt, pommel cap loose. Grip with wear, brass with a pleasing patina.

Scabbard with significant crazing and finish loss, but stable. Mounts with an uncleaned patina. $600 - $1,000

291 US Naval Pillow Pommel Sword 30” single-edged spear-point blade with 9.5” false edge and nearly full-length median fuller. 5.5” gilt brass hilt with stirrup shaped guard, pillow pommel and forward swept quillon. Reeded wood grip with gilt brass cigar band and oval escutcheon with an American eagle and fouled anchor motif surrounded by stars. No scabbard present. Good. Metal deeply oxidized with evenly distributed light pitting, tip of blade slightly rounded. Hilt with some gilt remaining, pommel cap loose, grip with some cracks, marks and showing wear. $500 - $1,000

292 Philadelphia Made US Naval Officer’s Sword 25” curved single-edged blade with 21” long, wide median fuller. 5.375” gilt brass eagle head hilt with 5-ball guard and reeded bone grip. Blade etched with martial, patriotic and foliate themes. Spine of blade marked: WILHELM TESCHE PETERS SOHN IN SOLINGEN TESCHE. Grip with gilt cigar band and Eagle with fouled anchor motif escutcheon.

Includes leather scabbard with gilt brass mounts, missing the throat. Wilhelm Tesche, son of Peter was part of a long line of Tesche family cutlers based in Solingen who could trace their lineage back to Christopher Tesche in the mid-16th century. This Tesche worked circa 1765-1820 and was noted for selling light horse sabers to US retailers (Bezdek).

Good. Blade with wear and some pitting, showing a dull gray patina and large areas of darker oxidized discoloration. Hilt good with traces of gilt, grip with wear and some minor chips and crazing. Scabbard good, missing most of the stitching at the rear and the throat, remaining mounts with traces of gilt. Leather with significant crazing and some finish loss. $1,500 - $2,500 SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

5

293 Silver Hilted British Naval Officer’s Sword 31.5” straight, double-edged, spear point blade with nearly full-length stopped median fuller. 5.5” pillow pommel silver hilt with beaded “5-Ball” knuckle bow and counter guard with inset fouled anchor motif. Reeded ebony grip with oval silver escutcheon plate and cigar band engraved with fouled anchor motif as well. 14.75” of the blade is blued with gold gilt etched decorations depicting the British royal crown and cypher of King George III on the obverse, along with a panoply of arms and simple foliate themes. The reverse of the blade is similarly blued and decorated with foliate themes, the English coat of arms and with the maker’s names Wooley & Deakin in a ribbon. Wooley & Deakin worked in Birmingham ca 1798-1815 (Bezdek). Sword is accompanied by its leather scabbard with scalloped edge silver mounts, the throat with both a frog stud and a suspension ring and the middle with a suspension ring. Very good. Blade retains some bright blue and much of the gold gilt decoration, with the balance of the blade showing a pewter gray patina with scattered surface oxidation, some age discoloration and some lightly scattered pitting, most noticeably near the tip. Hilt very good, grip with some handing marks, silver with a medium pewter patina. Scabbard good, solid and stable with wear and much finish loss. $4,000 - $6,000

294 Silver Hilted Lion’s Head Naval Officer’s Sword 25.75” curved, single-edged blade with an 8.25” false edge, 24” median fuller and a 17.5” narrow fuller along the spine. 5.75” lion’s head silver hilt with an open work anchor motif in the face of the obverse slotted guard and an open work fouled anchor in the face of the knuckle bow. Grooved bone grip with 6 wraps of wide silver wire. Leather scabbard with embossed geometric designs and silver-plated brass mounts, with both a frog hook and a suspension ring on the throat and a suspension ring on the middle mount.

Very good. Blade with a dull gray patina, showing scattered surface oxidation, discoloration and some light pitting, as well as some small nicks and minor chips along the edge. Hilt very good, grip with some wear and some tiny chips and dings, silver with a patina ranging from dull grey to moderately bright. Scabbard very good, leather mostly intact with some of the embossed decoration still visible. Mounts with some silver loss and discoloration. $4,000 - $6,000

297 Nathan Starr 1826 Contract US Naval Cutlass 25.25” curved, single-edged blade with 19.25” unstopped fuller along spine. 5” hilt with sheet iron basket guard with edges gently rolled outward and a simple rolled quillon.

Wood grip with iron ferrules front and rear and 10 grooves. Reverse ricasso marked N N. Contained in original black japaned sheet iron scabbard with a rudimentary soldered on drag. Throat with two riveted retention springs, scabbard body with soldered on round frog button with diamond shaped base. Only 2,000 of these 1826 contract cutlasses were delivered by Starr and they remain a very scarce and desirable addition to any advanced collection of early American Naval cutlasses. Very good. Blade lightly cleaned to near bright, with scattered light surface oxidation and discoloration. A 6” patch of the blade near the tip on the obverse, and about a 3” area on the reverse show an etching from a liquid, possibly corrosion from salt water, or possible from a caustic cleaner. Blade with only some scattered minor nicks along the edge of the blade. Hilt with scattered light to moderate surface oxidation, scattered pitting and some surface corrosion, primarily on the guard. Wood grip with an uncleaned patina and showing only some scattered minor dings and mars. Scabbard retains some traces of the blackened finish, along with scattered surface oxidation and scattered corrosion. Scabbard shows only some scattered light handling marks and minor dings, along with a thumb sized dent on the reverse, near the drag. $1,500 - $2,000 6

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

298 Nathan Starr 1826 Contract Naval Cutlass 25.25” curved, single-edged blade with 19” unstopped fuller along spine. 5” hilt with sheet iron basket guard with edges gently rolled outward and a simple froward swept flat quillon. Wood grip with iron ferrules front and rear and 10 grooves. Reverse ricasso marked with a partial “D”. Diamond-shaped copper plate attached to exterior of the guard bow is engraved with the rack and location information: 1 S / 1. Cutlass contained in original black japaned sheet iron scabbard with a rudimentary soldered on drag. Throat with two riveted retention springs, scabbard body with soldered on round frog button with diamond-shaped base. Only 2,000 of these 1826 contract cutlasses were delivered

by Starr and they remain a very scarce and desirable addition to any advanced collection of early American Naval cutlasses. Good. Blade with mottled oxidation and surface roughness over most of its surfaces, with the last couple of inches near the tip showing liquid etching of the metal. Blade with some scattered pitting as well. Hilt evenly oxidized with surface corrosion and a thick, untouched patina. Grip with a full-length crack along its spine, a second shorter crack on the reverse with a chip missing at the rear and a third crack on the obverse, running about three-quarters of the length of the wood. Wood is worn somewhat smooth with an uncleaned and untouched patina. Rack number plate with a thick, uncleaned patina. Scabbard heavily oxidized with surface roughness and pitting over most of the surfaces, several small dents and dings, a thumb sized ding on the obverse along the bottom third of the scabbard and a small crack along the spine at the throat. $2,000 - $3,000

299 American Naval Surgeon’s Sword with Gilt Eagle Pommel 25.75” straight, double-edged, spear-point blade with a nearly full-length median fuller. 4.25” gilt bird’s head pommel hilt with relief cast eagle as the pommel cap. Floral pattern reverse-P knuckle bow, simple forward swept quillon with flat disc finial. Gilt langets with fouled anchor motif, ivory grip with spiral grooves. Blade blued for approximately 16”, decorated with frosty etching and gilt highlights depicting martial themes, panoplies of arms, an American eagle and foliate scrolls and sprays. The central panel in the obverse is naval themed with a fouled anchor. Gilt brass scabbard is profusely engraved on the obverse with foliate themes and scrolls, a patriotic American eagle with Columbia’s shield and a naval themed panoply of arms, surmounted by an anchor. Mounts include two suspension rings. Fine. Retains much of the bright polish on the blade, as well as much of the bright blue, frosty etching and gold gilt highlights, with only some minor wear and loss, with some thinning of the blue along the edges and contact points and some minor flaking of the gold. Hilt fine, retaining most of the gilt finish with some wear and loss, ivory grip with a couple of tight grain cracks and a chip missing at the lower rear. Scabbard very good retaining some traces of gilding and showing only some light handing marks with all engraving remaining clear and sharp. $3,000 - $5,000

SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

7

Model 1834 Revenue Cutter Service Officer’s Sword Lyman E. Rumney

Left Side

302 Model 1834 Revenue Cutter Service Officer’s Sword Lyman E. Rumney A Model 1834 Revenue Cutter Service sword of the “old regulation” type, with gilded-brass hilt and a straight double-edged 29 inch blade. The blade is finished in white and has floral and scroll engravings that also include trident and marine items. A fouled anchor is etched into both sides. “Ames Mfg Co Chicopee/Mass” is found 1.5 inches from the reverse base. Both guards fold, and there is a friction latch with spring. The smaller rear guard is oval and has the name “Lyman W. Rumney” on it. The oval pommel has “Liberty” across the center with five lightning strokes under it. The reverse pommel has a shield. The grips are brass with diagonal lines. The leather scabbard has a wide, brass throat with a stud, which has a fouled anchor on it. There is a middle band engraved with the Treasury Seal and a grip with floral engraving. Very rare. Nothing including rank could be found on Lyman W. Rumney in the Revenue Cutter Service.

See Flayderman and Mowbray: American Swords from the Philip Medicus Collection, 1999 Figure 68b.

Very good. Blade with a dull pewter patina, with etching mostly present and evident and a few minor dings and mars along the edges. Hilt with some gilt remaining, silver grip dented.

Scabbard very good with some wear and crazing, mounts with much of the gilt finish. $6,000 - $9,000

8

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

US M1841 Naval Officer’s Sword Presented to Lt. LaFayette Maynard

Left Side

303 US M1841 Naval Officer’s Sword Presented to Lt. LaFayette Maynard 27.75” slightly curved, single-edged semi-quill-back blade with 5” false edge. 5.75” silver-plated brass eagle head hilt with double clam shell folding guard and counter-guard. 4.25” cross guard with acorn finials. Carved ivory grip with flowing leaf motifs. Obverse ricasso etched in three lines: N.P. Ames / Cutler / Springfield and with flowing foliate scrolls and sprays, a spread-winged eagle and patriotic naval motifs with a panoply of arms containing a fouled anchor, cross canons, a trident, a naval officer and a pennant. Reverse blade etched with foliate scrolls and sprays, a fouled anchor, United States Navy and a three-masted ship. Obverse counter-guard engraved in script, surrounded a laurel wreath Presented by his mother city Richmond to / Liet. LAFAYETTE MAYNARD of the U.S.N. / for his generous heroism in rescuing / many sufferers from the WRECK of the STEAMER ATLANTIC in Long Island / Sound on the 27th of Nov. / 1846. Sword is contained in a gold washed sheet brass scabbard with silver-plated mounts and two suspension rings as well as a frog stud. Scabbard engraved with patriotic nautically themed panoplies of arms and other patriotic motifs. Mounts with raised fleur-delis boarders and a fouled anchor on both the frog stud and the middle mount. Drag engraved with oak leaves and acorns, tying together the theme of the cross guard finials.

Born in Richmond, Virginia of modest means, from an early age Lafayette Maynard (1818-1876) had desired to join the navy. Unable to secure an appointment, the determined young man journeyed to Washington and sought an interview with Andrew Jackson. The President acceded to Maynard’s request and the boy was duly appointed a midshipman at the New York Navy Yard on February 4, 1832, advancing to Passed Midshipman on June 23. 1838. Maynard was promoted to Lieutenant on October 19, 1843. On November 26, 1846 while aboard the civilian passenger steamer Atlantic plying the New York to Boston route, a gale blew up seaward of Long Island Sound and forced the vessel on to uncharted rocks off Fisher’s Island. The unvarnished heroism that occurred next became the front page of newspapers - competing with war news from Mexico - up and down the populated eastern seaboard. With the assistance of two other naval officers that happened to be aboard, “Lieutenant Maynard busied himself in lashing the women and children to hastily improvised floats. After the calamity the brave young hero remained in the water for two long hours, in the dreary freezing storm, until every person floating had been dragged ashore.” Accounts vary but somewhere between 20 and 30 souls were saved by the redoubtable Maynard and his fellow officers. In 1847 the city fathers of Richmond presented their native son “with a handsome sword and belt as a token of their admiration and esteem.”

Lieutenant Maynard resigned from the navy on April 1, 1852 and spent much of the rest of his life a SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

world away in California. He died in San Francisco on December 29, 1876. Fine. Blade lightly cleaned with all etching remaining clear, showing some scattered light surface oxidation and minor pitting near the tip and some minor nicks in the blade along the edge. Hilt retains much of the thinning silver plate, with the inscription remaining clear and fully legible. Ivory grip with some cracking, minor chipping and loss. Scabbard with traces of gold gilt on the body and much of the silver plate remaining on the mounts.

All engraving remains clear and crisp. Scabbard shows only some light handing marks and scattered scuffs and minor marks. $25,000 - $50,000

Detail

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

9

Samuel Jackson Presentation Sword to Major Daniel H. McPhail

305 Samuel Jackson Presentation Sword to Major Daniel H. McPhail 31.25” tapered, double-edged spear-point blade with nearly full-length, narrow median fuller.

6.375” octagonal silver hilt with checkered angled flats and an elegantly executed bust of George Washington as the pommel cap. 3.75” wide cross guard terminating in exquisitely chiseled Chinese dragons. Chain knuckle bow secured to loop through a small loop secured to Washington’s jaw line and another loop in the mouth of the lower dragon. Both ricassos stamped in three lines: SAMUEL / JACKSON / BALTIMORE. Blade decorated on both sides with 6 narrow acid etched lines, about 12” long, half on either side of the fuller, terminating in three angled chevron-style lines. Silver-plated metal scabbed with silver mounts with the frog button in the form of Zeus’ head. The obverse middle mount is engraved with a six-line presentation that reads: Presented to BVt MAJ. DANIEL H. McPHAIL, 5th Infantry U.S. Army / by Citizen of Baltimore as a / testimonial of their esteem for / his services as Soldier in the / War with Mexico as a Citizen of Baltimore / Feb. 22, 1849. The reverse of the upper mount is engraved with a series of battle honors that reads from top to bottom: Monterey, Vera Cruz, San Antonio, Churubusco, Molina del Rey, Chapultepec, Garita de Belin, Garita de San Cosme, City of Mexico.

The lower portion of the mount reads: Col. D.H. McPhail / to / G.H. Coutts / January 30, 1884. This fabulous sword was previously in the famed Philip Medicus collection, and is published in American Swords from the Collection of Philip Medicus by Norm Flayderman and Stuart C. Mowbray. This sword is described on page 14 and pictured on page 15 as Figure 3a in Plate 3. An incredible sword in fantastic condition with impeccable provenance.

Something of an anomaly for the time Baltimore native Daniel H. McPhail (1813-1884) was appointed 2nd lieutenant in the 5th U.S. Infantry on march 8, 1837 without formal Military Academy training.

During this time the regiment served in the upper Midwest engaged in isolated garrison duty while building a number of military posts to monitor British presence along the Canadian border. The 5th Infantry played only a minor role in the Black Hawk War in 1832 and was not called upon for active service during he Seminole War. After years of enduring frontier monotony McPhail was promoted to 1st lieutenant in May 1840. The 5th United States Infantry would see considerable combat during the Mexican War as evidenced by the nine battle honors engraved on McPhail’s sword. The Mexican War had been precipitated by President John Tyler’s annexation of Texas, increasingly populated by American settlers, in March 1845. President Polk committed US regular troops to Texas to counter any Mexican attempt to alter the course of Manifest Destiny. General Zachary Taylor had orders to assemble a force in the contested territory that divided the two counties, the area between the Nueces River (the Mexican delineation) and the Rio Grande (United States delineation). Five companies of the 5th Infantry reported to Taylor at Corpus Christi on October 11, 1845. Taylor’s Army of Occupation as it was called, numbered about 2300 men, all regulars that included parts of five infantry regiments, three light batteries and a battalion of foot artillery, plus the 2nd Dragoons begin to concentrate on the Rio Grande opposite Matamoras. Volunteers regiments from the United States were still making their way to Texas. Taylor’s main supply depot was at Point Isabel and upon receiving word from his scouts that a body of Mexicans were threatening his line of supply, Taylor immediately marched to Point Isabel but met with no opposition. After securing the camp Taylor formed up and started the march back to Matamoros. On May 8 the American Army ran into a large body of Mexican regulars under the command of General Mariano Arista at Palto Alto. The 10

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

action begin in the heat of the afternoon with American artillery bearing the brunt of the fighting.

Later in the afternoon a “large body of Mexican cavalry” bore down on the 5th Infantry “with a view toward cutting off out wagon train.” The 5th reformed to meet the massed cavalry charge “with the most perfect tranquility, and a discharge of musketry told us their fate. They fled precipitately, leaving men, horses and guidons on the field.” The action ended around 7pm when the entirety of the enemy retreated. The next day Taylor fought the Mexicans at Resaca de la Palma. Mexican entrenchments fortified with artillery and flanked by concealed infantry ran obliquely along a natural ravine nearly parallel to road on which Americans advanced. Mexican artillery fire was heavy enough so that Taylor ordered a squadron of Dragoons under Charles E. May to capture the guns. The momentum of the charge was such that May’s dragoons overran the Mexican battery and captured a Mexican general. Concentrated Mexican infantry forced the outnumbered dragoons back, but the 5th and 7th Infantry quickly formed up and charged the ravine at the point of the bayonet driving the Mexicans east of the road “in utter route before them.”

West of the road the 4th Infantry flanked a Mexican Battery and held off a major counterattack by infantry putting flight to Arista’s now demoralized remnants who surged back across the Rio Grande with many soldiers drowned. Eight Mexican artillery pieces were captured as trophies along with several hundred prisoners.

American looses during the two battles amounted to 38 men killed and 113 wounded. On July 10, 1846 McPhail was promoted to captain of Company B. Taylor’s army occupied Matamoras and by September was concentrated in Monterey taking in reinforcements into camp, fresh regiments of volunteers from the United States, that immediately began drilling with the regulars. Assigned to Worth’s Division, the 5th Infantry fought at Monterey in the second line and was not actively engaged until coming up to support the tenuous American hold on Federation Hill. The 5th Infantry commanded

by Major Martin Scott went into action and the lead company led by Captain C. F. Smith “drove the enemy from a battery and breastworks nearest to us, but he then discovered another work called Fort Soldado, several hundred yards further on, and there was great emulation among the regiments to see which should reach it first. The 5th Infantry won the race and went in over the parapet at one end as the Mexicans went out the other.” A lull in the fighting then commenced as Taylor’s army occupied Monterey, having granted Ampudia’s defenders exceedingly favorable terms.

In January 1847 the veteran 5th Infantry numbering 410 all ranks was transferred to Winfield Scott’s Army for further operations in the South. The regiment did not participate in the siege of Vera Detail

Samuel Jackson Presentation Sword to Major Daniel H. McPhail

Left Side

Cruz and played only a minor role in the battle of Cerro Gordo in which the elite topographical engineers first reconnoitered and then supervised construction a narrow path that allowed Scott to flank strong Mexican positions, and then attack from behind forcing the surrender of a large portion of Santa Anna’s army. Worth’s division including the 5th Infantry came up just as the battle ended and was not engaged. On August 22, the Worth’s fresh division took the point and on April 22, 1847 captured the San Carlos fortress at Jalapa including artillery and supplies. Scott’s army then occupied Puebla on May 15 where it reorganized and accumulated supplies before continuing the advance toward Mexico City on August 7.

On August 20, 1847 numbering about 385 men the 5th Infantry fought at the battle of Churubusco.

The 2nd Brigade of Worth’s division effected a flanking movement which forced the Mexicans to evacuate their works at San Antonio. The brigade kept close at the heels of the fleeing enemy along the causeway to Churubusco. Colonel Clarke commanding the regiment went down while Captain McPhail also sustained a wound, “his uniform being pierced with bullet holes in the front and across the shoulders.” Advancing before the tete de pont Lt Colonel Scott ordered the regiment to move to the right around the strongpoint where the regiment attacked and “was among the first to storm (the position) and drive the enemy’s troops toward the city.” The American army then went into camp until September 8 while General Scott sought to negotiate surrender terms with the Mexicans. On September 8 American troops moved up to Molino del Rey where a canon foundry was though to be in production. At dawn a picked assault force of some 500 men including a 100 man detachment of the 5th Infantry attacked the outlying buildings over level ground and were met by concentrated Mexican artillery fire. As the American force were driven back with heavy casualties, Mexican infantry joined the attack before American reinforcements and artillery blunted the determined enemy foray. Meantime, General Worth fed more troops into the assault and finally forced the gates of the foundry while fending off two determined Mexican counterattacks followed by two hours of bloody room to room fighting before the Mexicans were finally expelled. The Americans found no cannon at the foundry and by early afternoon had return to their own lines. The 5th Infantry had suffered 30 killed and 111 wounded at Molino del Rey, nearly 40% of those engaged.

Within hailing distance of the Molino del Rey stood the fortress of Chapultepec on a key promontory defending the gates to Mexico City from the west. General Scott quickly regrouped and on September 12 put the whole of his artillery to work bombarding the citadel. The Mexican defenders including those positioned outside in walled redoubts amounted to about 1,000 men including some 200 young military cadets. The next day Scott had assembled three assault columns composed mostly of regular troops with some 250 men picked from Worth’s division. American artillery fire ceased and all along the front the infantry attacked. Worth later reported that, “The moment had now arrived for the final and combined attack upon the last stronghold of the enemy in my quarter; it was made by our men springing as if by magic, to the tops of the houses into which they had patiently and quietly made their way with bar and pick, and to the utter surprise and consternation of the enemy, opening upon him, with easy range, a destructive fire of musketry.

A single discharge, in which many of his gunners were killed at their pieces, was sufficient to drive him in confusion from his breastworks, when a prolonged shout from out brave fellows announced that we were in possession of the Garita of San Cosine, and already in the city of Mexico. In fact, SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

American volunteer troops had also played a prominent role in the battle - regiments from New York and Pennsylvania - and it was the New Yorker’s who raised their flag after taking the surrender of General Bravo at 9am in the morning. On September 14, 1847 Mexico City surrendered bringing major combat operations to a close. Of the 5th Infantry 30 officers had served in Mexico with half being killed or wounded. Seven officers were twice brevetted for “gallantry and meritorious conduct” while eleven received a single brevet. McPhail’s brevet promotion to major was awarded for the battles of Contreras and Churubusco along with a slight wound. A year and a half later Brevet Major Daniel H. McPhail resigned from the army on April 30, 1849 after twelve years of service and a lifetime of campaigning.

In addition to this fine presentation sword presented by “the Citizens of Baltimore” to an esteemed combat officer, the Maryland Legislature by Resolution No. 17, Acts of 1849, recognized their native son “for his bravery and gallantry in eleven battles during the recent conflict of arms with the Republic of Mexico.”

With the advent of the Civil War, Daniel McPhail’s former commander in Mexico, General Winfield Scott, offered a commission which the fifty-eight year old McPhail duly accepted. Major McPhail was then commissioned on June 1, 1861 into the US Volunteer Paymaster’s Department. During the war the major, at various times, served on staffs of Generals Rosecrans, Garfield, and Hayes seeing the end of hostilities while acting as paymaster at Wheeling, West Virginia. McPhail was brevetted to lieutenant colonel on March 13, 1865 for “gallant and distinguished service” and remained in the army for nearly four more years posted to New Orleans and Charleston before finally mustering out January 1, 1869.

Little is known of McPhail later life other than at some point he settled in New York City and was said to travel extensively. He never married. At seventy one years old, the soldier in two wars died in Brooklyn on January 30, 1884 “at the residence of his sister” and was buried in the local Green-Wood Cemetery (Lot 4049, Sec. 23). Exceptional. Blade retains nearly all of its original bright polish and lightly etched geometric decoration. Hilt with similar bright polish. Grip with some very minute wobble on the tang. Scabbard very fine, with some minor scuffs and light scratches on the mounts, mostly noticeably some scratches over the end of the last line of the presentation on the middle mount. Also showing some thinning and tarnishing of the body plating. Overall all a really spectacular, one of a kind Mexican War presentation sword whose elegance lies in its overstated simplicity. $20,000 - $40,000

Detail

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

11

Presentation Sword to Major Luther Giddings

306 Presentation Sword to Major Luther Giddings 31.75” curved single-edged blade with 25.5” stopped central fuller. 5.5” brass hilt with three branch guard and knuckle bow that has a cast spread-winged eagle surmounting an American shield with the name of the battle CERALVO on it. The base of the basket where it connects to the guard is set with two yellow-green cushion cut stones measuring approximately 5mm that appear to be Chrysoberyl. Silver hilt delicately engraved with flowing foliate scrolls and a spread-winged eagle on the obverse and the Gothic initials LG on the reverse. Pommel cap set with a clear emerald cut quartz stone measuring approximately 18mm x 13mm. Blade with frosted etching over slightly more than half of its length, showing flowing foliate scrolls, panoplies of arms and martial themes. Obverse blade etched with the three-line legend Ames Mfg. Co / Cabotville / Mass. Presentation grade silver plated scabbard with gilt brass mounts and decorative applied plaques showing martial themes and panoplies of arms. Obverse scabbard throat engraved with panoplies of arms and Battle / of / Monterey / Mexico / Sept. 21, 22, 23 / 1846. Reverse of throat engraved Ames Mfg. Co / Cabotville / MASS. Obverse of scabbard additionally engraved between the middle mount and drag with large flowing foliate scrolls, and American Eagle and Battle / of / CERALVO / MEXICO / March 7th / 1847. Reverser of scabbard engraved between the upper and middle mount: Presented / to MAJOR LUTHER GIDDINGS / by the Non Commissioned Officers and / Privates of the 1st Ohio Volunteer / Regiment as a Token of Respect. Sword is contained in a black painted wooded case with a form-fit, salmon colored velvet lining and two brass closure clasps. This sword is published in The Ames Sword Company by John D. Hamilton on page 118.

Born May 29, 1823 in Cornwall, England, Luther Giddings immigrated with his father and brothers to the United States in 1829 and settled in the Baltimore area where his father, a civil engineer by trade, and older half-brother found employment with the expanding B & O Railroad. Young Luther graduated from St.John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland in 1841 and then commenced the study of law in Charleston, Virginia as an apprentice under the esteemed Judge Andrew Hunter who would later prosecute the virulent abolitionist John Brown in 1859. In 1844 the hub of Giddings’ life was to shift westward to frontier Dayton, Ohio where he joined his prosperous half-brother who had gone there a decade earlier as a contractor overseeing construction of St. Mary’s Reservoir on the Miami Canal completed in 1845. Luther soon was admitted to the Ohio bar and began practicing law in the growing city. He also displayed interest in military matters by joining the local militia company and, as popularity was paramount, was ultimately elected captain of the Dayton Dragoons.

Simmering tensions with Mexico along the disputed Rio Grande exploded in April 1846 when a patrol of American regulars were attacked and defeated by a superior force of Mexican Cavalry north of the river demarcation with 16 men killed. Initially, the country had been at odds politically - along sectional lines - over Polk’s annexation of Texas in 1845. On May 15, 1846 Polk pressed Congress to declare war with Mexico with a lopsided vote in the Senate of 40-2 even though the President’s justification was largely contrived in the interest of Manifest Destiny, for which he would later be formally censured. Sympathetic newspaper accounts of the brazen attack “on American soil” (that 12

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

Detail

nuance was still being debated) gave tinder to a national uproar and quickly unified the country behind the (legally) unprecedented military undertaking that the President advocated. Congress followed suite and authorized a call for 50,000 volunteers while appropriating the unheard of sum of ten million dollars to pursue the salient aim of redressing the slight to the nation’s honor. The Ohio quota was for 3,000 men or 30 companies for one year. The outpouring of patriotic recruits significantly outnumbered the quota, so much so that so priority was given to the state’s standing militia companies. The Dayton Dragoons tried to enlist en mass but learned that the government’s call did not include any cavalry. Captain Giddings’ quickly reorganized 77 men as the Dayton Riflemen and with much fanfare the volunteers marched off to Camp Washington near Cincinnati on June 4, 1846. Here recruits and other companies from all over southern Ohio were organized as the 1st Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry and mustered into United Sates service on June 23, 1846 under the command of Colonel Alexander M. Mitchell (see presentation sword elsewhere in catalog), formerly 4th United States Infantry. Armed and equipped but given only rudimentary training at Camp Washington, the regiment elected company officers and Captain Giddings’ retained the captaincy. A short time later Giddings’ was promoted to major to fill the vacancy created when Thomas L. Hamer, the popular and politically well respected former major, was appointed Brigadier General on July 1 to command a volunteer brigade. On the nation’s birthday the Ohio regiments broke camp and with great martial reverie proceeded to board transports that would take them down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, the waypoint to Zachary Taylor’s army stationed on the Rio Grande.

The 1st Ohio joined Taylor’s regulars - recently victorious at Palto Alto and Resaca de Palma - on the river in the brutal heat of late July and did not have to wait long to see action. The influx of

Presentation Sword to Major Luther Giddings

Left Side

volunteers had given Taylor enough reinforcements - along with the superb American horse artillery - to start his planned advance on the strongly fortified citadel of Monterey about 120 miles distance over relatively barren, undulating terrain. The American army numbered just over 6,000 of all arms, half of them volunteers who would soon benefit immensely from the brief weeks of drill afforded by the regulars. Taylor moved south organized into three divisions comprising two of regulars and the volunteer division, each of two brigades. The 2nd Volunteer Division remained behind to guard the main depot at Camargo. The 1st Ohio and 1st Kentucky served together as the 1st Brigade of Major General William O. Butler’s volunteer division. The Army of Occupation marched on September 11 reaching the town of Marin less than 25 miles from Monterrey on the 15th and went into camp for three days. On September 18 the advance resumed with the two regiments of Texas Mounted Rifles - called the Texas Division - scouting and leading the way. The Texan’s reached the outskirts of Monterey during the morning of September 19 and quickly drew desultory Mexican artillery fire.

The Monterey garrison, nearly all Mexican regulars along with the renegade San Patricios Battalion of disaffected Irish-American Catholics, was commanded by General de division Pedro de Ampudia.

The Army of the North numbered over 7,300 men arrayed defensively in four infantry brigades and two cavalry brigades plus 30 pieces of artillery, concentrated in a series of fortifications and redoubts with ample supplies. Still, Ampedia had been ordered by Generalissimo Santa Anna to fall back to Saltillo and reform, but disobeyed. Ampudia chose to hold his ground believing that while he could not hope to outmaneuver the American army in the field, he might still beat Taylor outright if the Americans attacked his defenses - perhaps buoyed by some calculated political advantage to be gained by a victory that could end the war.

The American Army went into camp at nearby Bosque de San Domingo. Elite West Point engineers went forward to survey the terrain and defenses, reconnoitering Mexican positions while calculating distances for the artillery and gauging avenues of assault for the infantry. Ampudia held a small city with a commanding citadel and key strong points throughout, had more infantry and a force of cavalry to harass, flank or cut behind the anticipated American assault. Some form of direct attack relying on speed and shock was Taylor’s most direct option. He planned a feint against the western part of Monterey using Worth’s Division of regulars who moved out midday on September 20 on a grand “hook” marching generally southwest and then turning east. The main body of infantry - two divisions including the volunteer’s - would then go in from the eastern side striking the northeastern edge of the city. Worth had the farthest to go and bivouacked his force for the night before cautiously moving out at dawn with Texas Mounted Rifles screening. Just after first light a sudden attack by Mexican lancers was repulsed. The regulars pressed into the void meeting the vanguard of a Mexican infantry brigade and scattered it. In so doing the regulars surged across the Saltillo Road and severed it from Monterey overrunning two key Mexican positions. Taylor’s two other divisions put in an attack on the eastern side of Monterey led by Garland’s brigade of regulars supported by a battalion of Baltimore and District of Columbia volunteers.The momentum of advance intensified SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

quickly developing into a full-fledged assault. The 1st Ohio and 1st Kentucky came up and formed the center line “and at one point endured a destructive cross fire” from Fort Teneria that resulted in large number of casualties.

Colonel Mitchell went down severely wounded in the chaos and Lt. Colonel Weller assumed command. Sensing that momentum was spent, Weller quickly ordered a retreat as the Buckeyes maintained cohesion in the face of Mexican lancers charging down on them. Several well-executed volley’s put the Jalisco Lancers to flight. The attack in the center had faltered but elsewhere American troops had stormed and captured two other eastern strong points in the Mexican defenses by 8 o’clock in the morning. Taylor spend the next day, September 22, reorganizing and planning his next move. Well before dawn on September 23 General Worth sent a reinforced brigade to take the outlying Fort Libertad which was accomplished by daybreak. The last remaining Mexican bastion, the Obispado, was soon abandoned after being subjected to intense artillery fire. The Mexicans fell back leaving Worth’s men in control of the western part of Monterey. On the eastern side of the city Mexican morale started to crumble as the outer defenses were abandoned and troops hurried back to the interior Plaza Mayor. By 11am General John A. Quitman’s brigade of Tennessee and Mississippi volunteers were firmly in control of the eastern side of the city. The Mexicans were slowly squeezed into the center of Monterey where brutal house to house and rooftop fighting stalled the advance. The noose was tightening but then in the mid afternoon Taylor ordered his spent brigades to withdraw and re-supply. Meantime, General Ampudia had decided to negotiate terms for the surrender of Monterey on September 24. General Taylor obliged and quickly granted generous conditions. In exchange for the city, a two month armistice was declared and lines of demarcation were drawn.The Mexican army was allowed to march out under arms with a single battery of artillery, the rest of the

Detail OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

13

Presentation Sword to Major Luther Giddings

guns being claimed at trophies. The lenient terms were almost immediately repudiated in the United States and Taylor castigated by many including the President but that is another subject.

Monterey was now occupied by American troops but the aftermath was inflamed by incidents of brutality against Mexican civilians. Rape and arbitrary executions occurred while one outright massacre of fifty civilians was reported by the Houston Telegraph and Register on January 4, 1847.

Much of the terror was blamed on unruly Texas volunteers, specifically Texas Rangers, bent on reprisal after years of harsh Mexican rule. The unlawfulness spilled over to surrounding town and villages and gave rise to bands of Mexican guerillas (and bandits) that harassed the American occupiers for the duration of the war. Within a few weeks of the surrender sickness swept the idle American camps. Lieutenant Colonel Weller of the 1st Ohio became ill and was forced to step down with Major Luther Giddings’ assuming temporary command. When the main army pulled out of Monterey and marched toward Buena Vista, the 1st Ohio was left behind as the garrison force. Major Giddings was appointed commandant and, as an experienced jurist, Chief Justice of Monterey. Giddings’ command at Monterey was never called into question and while General Taylor later admitted to the atrocities committed by his troops, no punishment was undertaken. The 1st Ohio’s role in the battle of Monterey also came under scrutiny with public accusations of cowardice leveled by the Baltimore and Washington D.C. volunteers. Major Giddings’ responded with a “vigorous defense, suggesting that if anything, the reverse was true.” The major’s war was not yet over.

Dispatches destined for Washington arrived at Monterey on March 3, 1847 from General Taylor. Major Giddings was ordered to escort the couriers back to the depot at Camargo, a distance of about 120 miles. A large empty train under the charge of the quartermaster comprising 150 wagons and teamsters, and some 700 animals would accompany to bring back supplies. As the barren country was not firmly under American control a substantial escort was paramount, and Giddings selected three companies of his 1st Ohio and two companies from the 1st Kentucky taking along two pieces of artillery. On March 7 Giddings’ column encountered a large force of mounted Mexicans including regular cavalry at Cerralvo. A contemporary newspaper account recorded: We are indebted to a friend of Major Giddings’ for a copy of his official report to Colonel Mitchell, detailing the particulars of the fight with the Mexicans at Seralvo. Major G. with his brief experience in the field was more than a match in tactics, for three Mexican Generals, having a force six times greater than his own! These men behaved nobly through all the discouragements under which they fought, and the fact that they were ultimately successful, proves the skill and presight of the commander, as well as their own.” The train reached Camargo and loaded with supplies for the return trip to Monterey while both Colonel Mitchell and Lieutenant Colonel Weller rejoined the regiment. The 1st Ohio’s one year term of enlistment was 14

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

set to expire and the regiment mustered out without further incident making the trek home during June 1847. Major Giddings returned home to Dayton and several years later in 1853 would write a “chatty amount” about his wartime experiences entitled, Sketches of the Campaign in Northern Mexico in 1846 and 47, By an Officer of the First Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, still cited in the bibliography of the Mexican War today. He vehemently defended Zachary Taylor’s conduct during and after the fall of Monterey, particularly the lenient surrender terms, but was silent regarding the atrocities committed against Mexican civilians during his tenure as commandant and chief justice. With a couple of battles behind him Major Giddings’ reception in Dayton was that of a war hero codified in the inscription of his presentation sword “from the Non Commissioned Officers and Privates...as a Token of Respect.”

Following the public presentation of the sword the major offered a “scathing denunciation of those who in his view, after the fact, slandered the performance and patriotism of the volunteer army.”

Major Giddings’ applied to return to service during the war but was turned down. He was elected to the Ohio Legislature in 1848 and actively campaigned for his former commander, Zachary Taylor, the Whig candidate in the 1848 Presidential election. Giddings’ engaged in the swirling political debate leading up to the sectional crisis and publicly endorsed the controversial Fugitive Slave Act as part of the Compromise of 1850. He returned to the practice of law in Dayton for a decade and then in 1860 purchased 225 acres near Annapolis, Maryland signaling a return to the state where he grew to manhood. Luther Giddings did not publicly take sides during the Civil War although members of his immediate family supported the Southern cause. Following the war in 1867 he became a delegate to the Maryland Constitutional Convention and in 1869 purchased at auction “vast acreage of land” known today as West Annapolis and Wardour. He planted a vineyard along the Severn River and became the publisher of the local Anne Arundel Advertiser. Luther Giddings died at age 61 of typhoid fever on January 5, 1884 and was buried in St. Anne’s Cemetery, Annapolis. A fashionable granite crypt and towering obelisk enshrines the spot of his grave signaling his social status with intended permanence. In 2015 the West Annapolis Heritage Partnership published a local biography of Giddings entitled, An Interesting Career: The Life and Work of Luther Giddings (1823-1884). The cover of the publication features a fine oil portrait of a youthful looking Giddings in Mexican War uniform with shoulder straps bearing the gold oak leaves of a major. Fine. Blade retains most of the frosty etching and brilliant polish with some minor freckled loss and flecks of oxidation present here and there on the blade, mostly on the reverse near the ricasso. Hilt fine with guard polished to bright. Scabbard fine, with crisp engraving and polished mounts. Case very good with wear and paint loss and fading to the interior lining $50,000 - $75,000

Presentation Sword to Major Luther Giddings

Details

SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

15

Presentation Sword to Colonel A.M. Mitchell by the Citizens of Cincinnati

307 Presentation Sword to Colonel A.M. Mitchell by the Citizens of Cincinnati 30.25” double-edged straight blade with narrow, 20” median fuller. 6” gilt brass hilt with a large spread-winged eagle with crystal eyes as the pommel cap and a pair of dogs heads that form the quillons of the 5.25” straight guard. A gilt chain knuckle guard is secured to a ring in the eagle’s beak and to the upper neck of the lower dog. Mother-of-pearl grip scales set with three rubies on the obverse, measuring 8mm x 7mm, 5mm x 5mm and 4mm x 4mm and a small gilt plate on the reverse. Dog’s eyes of matching dark red stones, possibly garnets. Folding counter-guard, relief cast with a kneeling angel surmounting a panoply of arms, presenting a tablet that says “MONTEREY”.

Reverse of blade etched with frosty foliate patterns and scrolls, panoplies of arms and a spread winged Eagle with the motto E Pluribus Unum in a ribbon in its beak. Obverse of blade etched with similar foliate and martial themes with the central panel reading: MONTEREY, SEPT 21st 22nd 23rd in a horizontal line, with the year 1846 in a vertical arc, below an American Eagle with 11 stars over its head. The obverse ricasso is also etched with the retailer information: A.E. WARNER BAL in an arc. The sword is accompanied by its profusely engraved brass scabbard with nearly full coverage, including panels with an American eagle with a snake in its mouth, a reference to the Mexican eagle and snake symbol, numerous martial images, including panoplies of arms, crossed cannons and flags and banners. Foliate themes abound as well. The central panel on the obverse of the scabbard appears to show American troops marching into the walled city of Chapultepec, with a smaller panel showing the sunrise over distant hills with the flotsam of battle scattered on the field. The frog button on the scabbard is in the form of Columbia’s shield and an engraved American eagle appears to perch upon the hook. The reverse of the scabbard is engraved with the following presentation in five lines: Citizens of Cincinnati / to / COL. A. M. MITCHELL / 1st Regt. Ohio Volunteers / MONTEREY - Sept 21, 22, 23, 1846. A truly stunning Mexican War presentation sword, comemmorating one of the key battles of that conflict.

Alexander M. Mitchell (18??-1861) was born in North Carolina and entered the Military Academy at West Point on July 1, 1830. Due to a bout of sickness he graduated on July 1, 1835 (29th) whereupon he was commissioned brevet 2nd Lieutenant, 4th United States Infantry. The Class of 1835 included a few notables including George Gordon Meade (19th) and Herman Haupt (31st), the supremely talented Superintendent of the United States Military Railroad during the Civil War. Lt. Mitchell first served in garrison at Baton Rouge and New Orleans during 1835-36 and moved with General Gaines and the 4th Infantry to Florida with the outbreak of the second Seminole War. While marching with inconclusive Gaines’ Expedition the remains of the Dade massacre victims were found and buried.

During this time Lt. Mitchell was engaged in skirmishes against Indians at Camp Izard, February 2729, 1836, and March 5, and the actions at Oloklikaha on March 31 and Thlouotosassa a year later on April 27, 1836. Mitchell resigned from the army on March 25, 1837 and was employed a government contract civil engineer during 1837-38. Mitchell had married in Indiana in1837 and is listed as Chief

16

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

Engineer of the Milwaukee and Rock River Canal in 1838, and Chief Engineer for the Territory of Wisconsin in 1839-40. Mitchell then removed to Cincinnati where he practiced law in the city from 1841 to 1846.

With the outbreak of the Mexican War and with the benefit of some prior military experience, Mitchell was appointed Colonel of the 1st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry on June 23, 1846. He led the regiment to Mexico and fought under Zachary Taylor at Monterey where he was wounded during General Butler’s assault on the city’s eastern fortifications at Fort Teneria on September 22, 1846 (see Major Luther Giddings’ Presentation Sword elsewhere in catalog). During the attack Colonel Mitchell and Adjutant Armstrong were both wounded severely and Lieutenant Matthew killed.

Shortly afterwards brigade commander General Thomas L. Hamer reported to Ohio Governor Bartley, writing in part, “I wish you could have been present and seen your First Regiment in the battle of Monterey.

I am sure you would have been proud of them. They walked into the most galling and murderous cross-fire of the enemy with coolness of old regular soldiers - not a man nor an officer flinching. They formed and fired upon the enemy with steadiness and obeyed every order promptly. They received great credit from every officer of the Army who saw them.” Mitchell recovered sufficiently to return to Monterey in April 1847 as Military Governor. He remained in that position until the regiment mustered out on June 23, 1847 having suffered 24 men killed, mostly at Monterey. Mitchell returned to Cincinnati and resumed his law career until 1849 when he was appointed US. Marshall of the Minnesota Territory, a position held through 1851. Just 48 years old, Alexander M. Mitchell died on February 28, 1861 at St. Joseph’s Missouri. The location of his grave is unknown.

A rather sad reference to Mitchell’s presentation sword (also serving as early provenance) is found in a January 9, 1878 entry in the Journal of the House of Representatives, State of Ohio in which Mitchell’s widow then living in Chicago implored the State to reinstitute the expired disability pension that her husband had received up until his death. Wrote Mrs. Mary A. Mitchell, “I am the widow...He died leaving me without means, with a son - Alexander M. Mitchell (Jr.) three years of age, and a magnificent sword, which was presented to Colonel Mitchell on his return from the Mexican War, by the citizens of Cincinnati, at a cost to them of $800 or more, a testimonial of their appreciation of his valiant services rendered his country, in the victory gained at the battle of Monterey, in which he was wounded. For the benefit of my son, who is a minor, at last I have been compelled to imperil this precious, last family relic of Colonel Mitchell for the sum of $150, in this city (Chicago). It appears that Mary’s petition was declined by members of the State Legislature. Very fine. Blade retains most of its polish and frosty etching with all panels and scene intact, showing only the most minor thinning and wear at the ricasso. Some very small scattered flecks of surface oxidation are present here and there as well. Hilt fine, with some thinning and minor loss of the gilding here and there. Scabbard fine with some scattered light handling marks, but with engraving remaining clear and crisp. $50,000 - $75,000

Presentation Sword to Colonel A.M. Mitchell by the Citizens of Cincinnati

Left Side

Details SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

17

Ames Naval Officer’s Sword Presented to Lt. James Lawrence Parker of the USN by the City of Philadelphia

308 Ames Naval Officer’s Sword Presented to Lt. James Lawrence Parker of the USN by the City of Philadelphia 27.75” slightly curved, single-edged, semi-quill-backed blade. 5.75” eagle head hilt with folding guard and counterguard. Blade deeply etched with flowing foliate scrolls, panoplies of arms, martial, nautical and American themes including the American eagle. The obverse of the blade is etched with the Latin motto: confide recite agent (doing rightly be confident) with the reverse etched: Thou God seest me. The reverse is also etched NP Ames / Cutler / Springfield at the ricasso. The hilt features acorn finials at the upper and lower quillons. The grip is mother-of-pearl, set with a foil backed modified emerald cut piece of quartz measuring approximately 16mm x 10mm. The two small stones in the eyes of the eagle head test as garnets. The obverse counter guard is surrounded with a laurel wreath and is inscribed: Presented by / the Citizens of PHILADELPHIA to Lieut James Lawrence Parker U.S.N. for his heroic conduct in Boarding and destroying the MEXICAN BRIG CREOLE on the night of the 21 of Nov. 1846 while that vessel was moored to the castle of San Juan D’ULLOA. The reverse counter-guard is unadorned.

The gilt brass scabbard is engraved with floral, nautical and martial motifs with two suspension rings and a frog stud with a fouled anchor motif. A gold sword knot accompanies the sword.

A native of New Hampshire, James Lawrence Parker had joined the navy as midshipman in June 1831 and was promoted to lieutenant in in September 1841. With the advent of the Mexican War, Lieutenant Parker was serving as executive officer of the brig Somers, a ship vexed by the stigma of mutiny. The ill-fated Somers was captained by future Confederate luminary Raphael Semmes and Lieutenant Parker is mentioned in a familiar tone in “Service 18

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

Afloat and Ashore During the Mexican War” published by Semmes in 1851. While Semmes did not participate in the daring foray, his report reflects approvingly, “...Lieutenant Parker, accompanied by Passed Midshipman Rodgers and Hynson, with five seamen, performed the clever exploit of burning the Mexican Merchant brig Creole, under the wall of San Juan de Ulloa. They pulled in, under the cover of night, and boarding the vessel without opposition, fired her in several places, and departed unmolested; although within pistol range of the castle. Some little noise having been made aboard the brig, when they were in the act of boarding, they were hailed by one of the sentinels; Lieutenant Parker speaking the language like a native, gave some satisfactory reply, and they were not further noticed.” A few weeks later, on December 8, 1846, the unlucky Somers capsized in a sudden gale “while endeavoring to cut off a vessel, which was apparently intending to run the blockade.”

The brig went down quickly with the loss of 39 crewmen drowned. Semmes’ official report to Secretary of the Navy John Y. Mason specifically mentioned the composure of Lieutenant Parker as he oversaw one of the doomed ship’s boats being filled with men who could not swim. Parker managed to survive the violent ordeal, was advanced to flag lieutenant and assigned as aide to Commodore Matthew Perry, recently promoted to command of the Home Squadron. The intrepid small boat action at San Juan de Ulloa occurred during the joint army-navy investment of Vera Cruz and was widely reported along the eastern seaboard by the popular press. The January 12, 1847 edition of the Richmond Whig and Advertiser proclaimed, “The citizens of Philadelphia have determined to present Lieut. James Lawrence Parker a handsome Naval Sword, a pair of Epaulettes and a full suit Uniform, for his daring exploit in burning the Mexican Brig Creole, while moored to the Castle of San Juan de Ulloa, and for Detail

Ames Naval Officer’s Sword Presented to Lt. James Lawrence Parker of the USN by the City of Philadelphia

Left Side

his noble conduct in refusing to leave the unfortunate brig Somers, until she had sunk into the depths of the ocean.” The whereabouts’ of Parker’s epaulettes and uniform are unknown, if they survive, as only the sword was found. Similarly, on January 14, 1847 the South Carolina Patriot reported details of the “gallant exploit” and the presentation of a “splendid sword.” As well, several of the Manifest Destiny charged populist histories published shortly after the end of the war mention Lieutenant Parker, one of the few bona fide naval heroes to emerge from the conflict. Hutchinson’s composite Illustrated American History appeared in 1849 and described the deed in plain terms, as “very daring and brave” (p.51), while John Frost’s substantive The Mexican War and its Warriors characterized the act as “one of the most daring achievements of the war.” (p.214). In April 1847 the recently elevated Commodore Perry planned to capture the fortified town of Tuxpan, the last remai9ning Mexican bastion on the Gulf coast. Perry’s combined naval and marine flotilla - the Mosquito Fleet - consisting of five warships with barges of sailors and marines in tow ascended the Tuxpan River on April 18, 18547 and quickly stormed the town complex routing the 650 man Mexican garrison commanded by General Martin de Cos, a veteran of the Alamo and brother-in-law of Santa Anna. Lieutenant Parker, serving as aide to Commodore Perry, was one of fourteen American casualties, reported as “wounded” in Perry’s official report. The extent of Parker’s injury is unknown, however the heroic officer died in hospital at Vera Cruz on July 12, 1847. Parker likely had accompanied Perry on his June expedition against Tabasco and died after contracting yellow fever “that struck many sailors and marines.” News of Lieutenant Parker’s death was widely circulate. The first report appeared in the Philadelphia Enquirer on August 2, 1847 via a New Orleans Times correspondent, followed later in the week by a second story in the hometown New Hampshire Patriot. The August 10, 1847 edition of the New Hampshire Gazette reported Lieutenant Parker “recently deceased of fever at Vera Cruz.” The August 17, 1847 Richmond Enquirer carried Perry’s own somber report verbatim, “with sincere regret that I announce to the department the death, last evening, at a minute past 11 o’ clock, of Lieutenant James L. Parker, my aide and Flag Lieutenant. Mr. Parker has been with me on all my latest expeditions...” It is unknown what became of remains of the celebrated national hero. Decorations for heroism had not yet come into use in the American military at the time of the Mexican War. This rare heirloom sword given to a regular officer in recognition of gallant service was in lieu of any official navy or government award reflecting the norm of the 19th century. The paper “Certificate of Merit” was authorized only in 1847 for enlisted men while the Medal of Honor (navy version) was not instituted until 1861. Typically, brevet rank was awarded to army officers while reserved for a handful of extraordinary individuals was the “Joint Resolution of Congress” - the most esteemed form of recognition - conveyed to the nation’s highest ranking recipients. One Hundred seventy one years ago Lieutenant James SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

Detail

Lawrence Parker burst on to the national scene for a fleeting moment, his daring exploits at Vera Cruz enshrined for posterity by a pair of incredible companion presentation swords reflecting the appreciation of the citizenry of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Very good. Blade with a slightly dulled, aged steel appearance, showing some scattered light surface oxidation, minor staining and some scattered pinpricking and light pitting. Etching clear, with some very light wear. Hilt very good with the backstrap slightly proud of the grip. Scabbard fine. $50,000 - $100,000

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

19

Tiffany Presentation Sword to Schuyler Hamilton by the Citizens of New York

309 Tiffany Presentation Sword to Schuyler Hamilton by the Citizens of New York 30.25” spear point, double-edged blade with 20.5” stopped median fuller. 8.25” hilt, including the massive spread-winged eagle pommel cap. Blade blued with gilt decorations including panoplies of arms, as well as foliate and geometric scrolls with the battle names MONTEREY in the obverse fuller and MIRAFLORES in the reverse fuller. Exquisitely cast silver washed hilt with martial, classical and foliate themes, including the face of Medusa on the top of the upper quillon, Mercury wearing his winged helm as the upper quillon at the rear of the hilt, and a large spread-winged American eagle as the pommel cap. The two-branch knuckle bow is further decorated with a serpent entwined in the guard. Additional decorations of blue enamel are present on the guard and knuckle bow.

Oval grip with alternating bands of white and red enamel. Obverse grip with oval plaque showing stacked arms, surrounded by a blue enamel oval with gold gilt stars. Sword is accompanied by its original blue-baize covered wood scabbard with open work brass mounts and drag with the middle mount in the form of panoplies of arms. Sword is contained in its original semi-coffin-shaped wood case with a silver washed presentation plaque on the lid that reads: Excelsior Presented to Schuyler Hamilton, Brevet Captain of the United States Army and Aid de Camp of GENL. SCOTT, as a slight Testimony of the admiration and respect of his fellow citizens and friends of New York for his distinguished gallantry and conduct throughout the Mexican War, particularly at Monterey and Mira Flores for which he twice received the honours of promotion, and was appointed AID to his Commander in Chief; that veteran Judge of Military merit and Soul of Honour, WINFIELD SCOTT, General in Chief of the Army of the United States and Conquerer of Mexico. New York, November 1848. Case with a blue fabric covering and satin and velvet lining.

Schuyler Hamilton (1822-1903), a grandson of Alexander Hamilton, remains an relatively obscure regular officer wounded twice and twice brevetted for gallantry during the Mexican War, later serving competently for a short time during the Civil War as brigadier general of volunteers. Born in New York City on July 25, 1822, Hamilton was just 15 when he entered West Point in 1837 graduating 24th in the Class of 1841 and duly commissioned as second lieutenant, 1st Infantry on July 1 1841.

His early service included routine frontier duty at Fort Atkinson, Fort Crawford, and Jefferson Barracks before returning to the Military Academy as assistant instructor of infantry tactics for six months over 1844-45. An unreported illness then compelled Hamilton to take a leave of absence in 1845-46 prior to rejoining his regiment on the eve of the Mexican War. The 1st Infantry, formerly commanded by Zachary Taylor, was assigned to the general’s Army of Occupation in Texas that advanced across the Rio Grande, taking a prominent role in the storming of Monterey where Lieutenant Hamilton was severely wounded with a skull fracture and a gunshot to the abdomen on September 21 during brutal house to house fighting. Two days later Hamilton was brevetted first lieutenant for “gallant and meritorious conduct” at Monterey. Hamilton’s wound necessitated a lengthy recovery and the officer did not return to duty as regimental quartermaster for nearly a year during which time he was sidelined from duty by intermittent sick leave. He was fortuitously assigned as aide-de-camp to General Winfield Scott on April 30, 1847 and served in this special capacity for the rest of the war. Within the year Lieutenant Scott would received another dangerous wound, this time pierced by a Mexican lance at a little known skirmish on the road to Mexico City known as Mil Flores. On 20

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

August 13, 1847, Lieutenant Hamilton was accompanying a detachment of dragoons assigned as General Scott’s escort when “they attacked a superior force of Mexican cavalry and routed it.” During the brief fight Hamilton was attacked and the lance “entered between the should blades and came out under the left breast” leaving the lance point fixed in Hamilton’s upper body, detached from the broken shaft. It is documented that the lance was “pried out breaking two ribs.” Hamilton was brevetted captain for “gallantry” at Mil Flores on August 13, 1847 and hospitalized. He did not see any further duty before the fall of Mexico City in September 1847 ended hostilities. In November 1848, Captain Hamilton receive this singular if not ostentatious presentation sword “as a slight Testimony of the admiration and respect of his fellow citizens and friends of New York.” Similarly, the finely etched inscription also composed lavish praise for General Scott, lionizing him as “that veteran Judge of Military merit and Soul of Honour... and Conqueror of Mexico.” After the war Captain Hamilton served as secretary to the Board of Commissioners of the Soldiers’ Home in Washington, D.C. during 185254, while retaining his intimate position as aide-de-camp to the “Conqueror of Mexico” for more than six years until September 1, 1854. Hamilton found time to author a book in 1854 titled “History of the American Flag.” Captain Hamilton resigned from the army on March 31, 1855 while posted to San Francisco and, rather surprisingly in light of his health, took up the position of Administrator of the new Almaden Quicksilver Mine. Like many who had preceded him, the lure of a quick fortune in faraway California would elude Hamilton. At some point during 1858 he purchased land in Branford, Connecticut and took up the pastoral work of a Detail

Tiffany Presentation Sword to Schuyler Hamilton by the Citizens of New York

Left Side

gentleman-farmer, a decision perhaps influenced by a lifetime of poor heath compounded by the lingering effect of two wounds.

When the Civil War broke out farmer Hamilton volunteered for service as a private in the 7th Regiment New York National Guard, a socially prominent militia unit that double-timed to Washington, D.C. in defense of the Capitol. He served only long enough to rejoin General Scott in Washington in the rank of lieutenant colonel of staff with the lofty appointment as Military Secretary to the General-in-Chief, from May 9, 1861. Hamilton undoubtedly acted as the general’s confidant in this highly sensitive role leading up to Bull Run, conveying the General-in-Chief’s thoughts to the Secretary of War, while being party to Scott’s personal discussions and correspondence with President Lincoln. Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton became an insider among the President’s ‘war council’ and gate-keeper of Scott’s daily schedule, and in so doing he undoubtedly was party to the details of the Generalissimo’s Anaconda Plan, broadly to strangle and cut the South in half thought blockade and control of the Mississippi River. Hamilton was advanced to staff colonel with the rather less grandiose title of aide-de-camp to General Scott on August 7, 1861. The cataclysmic events of the Civil War ruined many a military career, and the Generalissimo of the United States Army drilled into fighting shape during the War of 1812 -”Those are regulars, by God” - with fifty-three years in uniform, was not exempt. “Old Fuss and Feathers” at 75 years of age, proud and irascible”, shouldered the ultimate blame for the disaster at Bull Run and graciously requested retirement on October 31, 1861 following the President’s decision to put McClellan in command of the army.

Colonel Hamilton fared well, accepting a commission to brigadier general November 12, 1861. If army nepotism was rampant, then Hamilton capitalized, and soon joined the staff of his brotherin-law Henry Halleck, then commanding the Department of Missouri in St. Louis. In January 1862, Brigadier General Hamilton took the field in command a division under Major General John Pope and successfully engaged in operations on the upper Mississippi against New Madrid and Island No. 10 resulting in its capture on April 7, 1862. Hamilton then led the left wing of the Army of the Mississippi during Halleck’s much criticized “sluggish” advance and siege of Corinth during the spring of 1862. The general apparently had contracted malaria and took seriously ill during operations on May 9, and relied on his staff officers while quietly staying on duty. Hamilton finally requested sick leave on June 12. In July 1862 his surgeon “reported that General Hamilton had been suffering from typhoid fever that resulted in chronic diarrhea,” among other disorders. While on sick leave in New York City throughout the summer and fall, Hamilton received word that he had been appointed major general of volunteers to rank from September 17, 1862 in recognition of his service at Island No. 10. Compelled by the promotion, Hamilton finally return to duty at Nashville in November 1862 and reported to General Rosecrans for assignment. His health clearly having incapacitated him from field service, Rosecrans had to order Hamilton home for medical care on December 14. Treated in New York City during January-February 1863 the attending surgeon later stated that “Hamilton had chronic dysentery, chronic enteritis, and impeded circulation of the liver...” In light of the unfavorable diagnosis, Hamilton - with no chance of being cleared for command - was forced to resign from the army on February 27, 1863. President Lincoln had graciously published in orders a message SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

Detail

expressing “much regret.” Hamilton’s nomination as major general was never officially confirmed by the senate. In later years, he “felt that he had been dealt an injustice” and pressed for the rank in regards to his status on the retired list. Hamilton returned to farming in Branford, Connecticut until 1866, when, in spite of ongoing health issues, he found employments as a Hydrographic Engineer in New York City throughout the 1870’s. Schuyler Hamilton’s longevity - he lived in Connecticut and New York for another 30 years - belie the many documented reports of his chronic poor health.

He finally died on March 18, 1903 in New York City and was buried with little public acclamation in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn. Fine. Blade retains much of the blued and gilt finish, with some minor wear and freckled loss. Hilt with strong traces of thinned silver. Blue enamel with some wear and loss, grip with some repairs to the enamel as well, most obviously on the reverse. Eagle pommel cap slightly loose.

Scabbard with some wear and fabric loss, particularly along the edges. Case fair to good with significant wear, some cracks and structural issued. Covering with loss to the fabric, which has mostly faded to gray.

Much of the lower lining is missing on the interior. $200,000 - $300,000 OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

21

Mexican War Presentation Sword of Lt. William H. French by Hyde & Goodrich

325 Mexican War Presentation Sword of Lt. William H. French by Hyde & Goodrich 31.25” double-edged, straight spear-point blade with nearly full-length, narrow median fuller. 6.25” gilt brass hilt with knight’s head pommel and 5.625” cross guard cast in the form of flowing feathery sprays with a pair of similarly theme languets. Octagonal grip alternates mother of pearl scales and engraved silver strips with flowing foliate sprays, with silver studs in the mother-of-pearl and a single 6mm x 8mm garnet in the center of the obverse grip panel. A matching emerald cut garnet measuring 13mm x 10mm is present in the center of the obverse languet. A double chain knuckle guard is secured to a ring below the visor of the knight’s helmet and the end of the lower quillon.

Frostily etched blade with flowing foliate scrolls and martial themes including panoplies of arms on both sides and with an American eagle on the reverse. Obverse ricasso is etched in three lines: N.P. Ames / Cutler / Springfield. The gilt brass scabbard is profusely engraved on the obverse with martial and foliate themes, while the reverse throat is engraved: Hyde & Goodrich / New Orleans / BY / N.P. AMES / Cabotville / MASS. Between the upper mounts on the obverse of the scabbard, the following inscription is engraved: Presented to / LIEUT. W.H. FRENCH 1st. ARTILLERY U.S.A. / ASSISTANT COMMISSARY of SUBSISTANCE / at BRAZOS ISLAND DEPOT. By his CLERKS / FEB. 7, 1847. Mounts are profusely detailed oak leaf clusters, with a frog button and two suspension rings on the upper mount and a single ring on the middle mount. A very attractive Mexican War presentation sword that was actually presented at the height of the war, almost exactly a year before its conclusion.

Born in Baltimore January 13, 1815, William H. French graduated West Point ranking twenty-two of fifty in the Class of 1837 that boasted a number of future Civil War notables including Hooker and Sedgwick and with the South, Bragg, Early and Pemberton. French was duly commissioned 2nd lieutenant in the elite 1st Artillery having chosen a military career amidst the austerity of the Jacksonian era. Nine companies of the 1st Artillery would serve in Florida during the Seminole War in 1837-38, best described as “a barren warfare, marches without battles, scouting by day, alarms at night”...boredom. Detached and scattered among various temporary enclosures by company, the regiment collectively saw only moderate action in fewer than a dozen or so smaller skirmishes with an illusive enemy. On July 1, 1838, French was promoted to 1st lieutenant and joined a detachment in the forcible removal of the Cherokee people along the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma.

It is not recorded what French thought of this onerous duty. Later in 1838 Lieutenant French was posted to Ft. Covington, NY, and then between 1840-1843 to the frontier separating Maine and New Brunswick during the unresolved border disturbances with Crown authorities in Canada. A crisis with Britain adverted, nonetheless the regiment remained concentrated in upper New England until the Northeastern Bounty Survey rectified the boundary dispute. With the advent of war with Mexico the 1st Artillery sent 4 companies directly to Zachary Taylor’s Army of Occupation in Texas with six more going to Florida. Many regular officers bound for the front found themselves temporarily detached from their units and assigned to support functions. The unprecedented buildup of Taylor’s 22

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

army required dedicated staff to manage and stage the wealth of supplies and equipment that would catapult the advance into Mexico. Credit is due the army Quartermaster General (Jessup) for quickly realizing that it would be impossible to sustain an invading army with the old Napoleonic maxim of living off the land. Mexico was too poor with little in the way of infrastructure. Before General Taylor marched southward to Fort Texas he had to secure a base of logistics necessary for sustained operations beyond the Rio Grande. The importance of this was underscored when General Taylor took leave of the army and traveled back to Point Isabel to discuss procedures for processing incoming goods, materials, supplies, and troops with naval authorities who would convey these commodities from the main supply hub at New Orleans. It was agreed that, henceforward, men and cargo would bypass Point Isabel entirely. Instead, everything required by the army would be delivered to the Brazos Island already secured by the navy. From the main depot on Brazos Island stores could be easily transported to camps along the Rio Grande and then to Matamoras for transshipment to the army in the field. Lieutenant French was put “in charge of the Commissary Depot at Brazos Island”(according to Cullum’s Register) in 1846 without which further operations in Northern Mexico would have been untenable. The array of anonymous “clerks” on the presentation were likely civilian storekeepers employed by the army who evidently held the commanding officer in high esteem. Lieutenant French served in the same capacity at the depot at Point Isabel early in 1847 and may have alternated between both supply points.

Shortly after receiving this presentation sword in February 1847 Lieutenant French was relieved from temporary duty and returned to field operations with Winfield Scott’s Army of Invasion. French’s’ regiment was serving as infantry in General David Twiggs’ regular division while French himself was assigned to the staff - as Scott’s eyes and ears - of Major General Robert Patterson, a former regular officer now commanding the volunteer division as Acting Assistant Adjutant General. French was engaged in Scott’s month long siege of Vera Cruz which finally fell on March 29, 1847 Scott advanced toward Mexico City and reached Cerro Gordo on April 12 where Santa Anna had roughly12,000 men arrayed in extensive defensive fortifications supported by artillery. American engineers quickly surveyed the terrain and determined possession of the Atalaya Hill would allow the army to flank the Mexican extended positions. The engineers went to work and for five days literally excavated a circuitous route for the assaulting troops. Twiggs’ regulars attacked and took the hill late on the 17th advancing up the slopes to a redoubt called the El Telegrafo. Early the next day one of Twiggs’ brigades resumed the attack up the front while another brigade attacked from the rear. By 10:00am El Telegrafo was in American hands as was the Mexican camp on the Jalapa Road. Mexican troops either surrendered (about 3,000) or fled precipitously with Santa Anna leaving his wooden leg to be captured by Illinois volunteers. Lieutenant French was brevetted to captain on April 18 for “gallant and meritorious conduct” during the fight. Captain French would receive another brevet to major for gallantry at the battles of Contreras and Churubusco on August 19-20, 1847. Santa Anna defended

Mexican War Presentation Sword of Lt. William H. French by Hyde & Goodrich

Left Side

the approaches to Mexico City with upwards of 30,000 men including 7,000 under General Gabriel Valencia with 22 guns located near Contreras. At first, the American brigades deployed planning to flank Valencia’s position, but maneuvering caused the avenue of attack to spread out as the various units sought, at several points, to pin the Mexican’s in place. Santa Anna sent reinforcements but nightfall and rain put an end to the day’s fighting. A chance discovery that night of a hidden ravine than ran into the rear of Valencia’s camp dictated the American plan for the morning. The American’s put in a two pronged attack before dawn, front and back, that quickly put Valencia to flight. The Mexicans fell back to Churubusco less than five miles from Mexico City where the fighting would continue the next day. Santa Anna concentrated fewer than 4,000 defenders around the Franciscan Convent at Churubusco and a subsidiary defensive feature known as the tete-de-pont. For once the American army of 8,500 outnumbered the Mexicans defenders. Scott sought to outflank the position and the lead American brigade ventured an attack than captured a number of Mexican guns causing the supporting troops to withdraw. Seizing upon the moment Scott then ordered a general attack.

Twiggs’ division would the convent directly while Worth’s division would envelop the tet-de-pont.

Despite heroic Mexican resistance the American victory was complete. More than 1,800 Mexicans were captured together with ten pieces of artillery. Among the captured were 72 men of San Patricios Battalion, a unit of former American soldiers, Irish born Catholics, who had deserted. Fifty of the men were court-martialed and summarily hung in retribution while the remainder were given fifty lashes. Winfield Scott then demonstrated a measure of magnanimity refusing to pursue the beaten Santa Anna into the capital, “willing to leave something to this republic...I halted our victorious corps at the gates of the city.” At the secession of hostilities Major French remained in Mexico until the end of the year as Aide-de-Camp to volunteer Brigadier General (and future President) Franklin Pierce.

Two rings further up the promotion ladder, Major French returned to garrison duty at Fort McHenry later in 1848. His service in the decade before the Civil War was fairly routine by army standards. He spent another two years in Florida subduing the last of the Creek-Seminole holdouts and authored a treatise on Light Artillery Tactics that would be adopted by the army. The later exploits of William Henry French are certainly known to students of the Army of the Potomac. French was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers in September 1861 and led a brigade in the 2nd Corps during the Peninsula Campaign and then a division at bloody Antietam. French’s’ conduct, if not entirely exemplary, did not go unnoticed as he added two more regular brevets - lieutenant colonel for Fair Oaks and colonel for Antietam - to his record. All of this was capped by a second star to major general on November 29, 1862. French fought at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville and would be brevetted again (to brigadier general) for the latter in March 1865. Major General French sat out Gettysburg being sidelined at Harper’s Ferry, but Sickles’ wound at Gettysburg created a vacancy at the top of the broken 3rd Corps which French stepped in to. General French’s otherwise impressive SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

army career was to be completely unhinged by the tardiness of his 3rd Corps during the Mine Run Campaign in November 1863. Perhaps to mitigate the sting of public rebuke, French was advanced to lieutenant colonel, regular army, on February 8, 1864. Not availing of coincidence, when the Army of the Potomac was reorganized for Grant’s Overland Campaign in the spring of 1864, the 3rd Corps was dissolved, and Major General French mustered out of volunteer service on May 6, 1864.

French retained his seniority in the regular army and added a sixth career brevet promotion to major general, this in the multitude of promotions given in March 1865. The intrepid French remained in the army for another fifteen years being promoted to regular colonel, 4th Artillery on July 2, 1877 before retiring at his own request on July 1, 1880. The idle officer did not last long in retirement.

General French died on May 20, 1881 in Washington, D.C. and is buried in the Rock Creek Cemetery there. Having achieved the rank of volunteer major general interspersed with six brevet promotions, French was held in higher regard in his own day than by modern historians, to whom he remains largely unheralded. Fine. Blade retains nearly all of its bright polish and frosty etching, with a few scattered flecks of surface oxidation and pinpricking, along with a thumb sized area of minor pitting on the obverse near the tip. Hilt fine, retaining some traces of gilt finish, with a couple of the silver strips in the grip slightly loose and some minor light handling marks. Scabbard fine, with traces of gilt in protected areas, with a deep butterscotch patina. All engraving and the inscription remain clear and fully visible. Scabbard shows some scattered light handling marks and a couple of very tiny dings. $15,000 - $25,000

Detail OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

23

Tiffany Presentation Sword to General James Forsyth

326 Tiffany Presentation Sword to General James Forsyth 33” double-edged spear point blade with a wide, pronounced median ridge. 7.5” massive gold gilt and sterling silver hilt with 6” cross guard formed by the spread wings of a pair of three-dimensional American Eagles that clutch the striped shield of the goddess Columbia in their talons, forming the languets of the sword. The sterling silver grip depicts a classical solider with a Macedonian helmet, surmounting a panoply of arms topped by a plumed Renaissance helm on the obverse. While the reverse grip is cast with an winged angel with up-stretched arms holding a wreath, standing on a pair of trumpets with a trumpet, wings and a halo of stars above. The oversized gilt brass urn shaped pommel is decorated with spears and arrows around its edge and topped with a silver Medusa’s mask as a pommel cap. A heavy, double strand, silver chain serves as the hand guard, connecting the base of the pommel the lower wing of the eagle. The blade is exquisitely acid etched and highlighted with gold gilt over the majority of its length, with the three line retailer mark: TIFFANY / & Co / NEW YORK on the reverse ricasso, concealed by the reverse languet. The reverse of the blade shows flowing foliate sprays and scrolls with the central figure that of a Renaissance era foot soldier with a swallow tail banner on a pike and a broad bladed axe at his belt. The letters US are also present on the reverse, joined by a waving ribbon with stars on it. The obverse is etched with similar foliate motifs and features a Civil War period soldier in frock coat with bayonet-fixed rifle musket in full field dress with pack, forage cap and gaiters, as well as an extensive panoply of arms featuring classical arms and banners. The silver washed and gold gilt metal scabbard has exquisitely cast gilt mounts with oak leaves, laurel leaves and with Columbia’s shield of stars and stripes serving as the drag. The upper mount has two suspension rings, while the middle mount has a single ring. Below the throat on the obverse is a ribbon marked TIFFANY & CO over the letter M, indicating the work is that of Tiffany silversmith John C. Moore. The central panel of the scabbard, between the upper mounts is engraved in five script lines: Bvt. Brig. Gen. J.W. Forsyth / U.S.A. / from his sincere Friend / L. Dexter Bradford / Oct. 10th, 1867. This sword is published in John Thillman’s Civil War Army Swords (pages 518-519) and in Thillman’s Civil War Cavalry & Artillery Swords (pp446-448). A really outstanding presentation sword that truly shows off the skills and creativity of the Tiffany crafstmen.

James W. Forsyth (1834-1894) was a career soldier whose life of dedicated army service, primarily in staff positions, is barely remembered and then only because of his (adj?) association with the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. Born in frontier Maumee, Ohio August 8, 1835, Forsyth entered West Point taking five years to graduate with the Class of 1856. Forsyth was commissioned 2nd lieutenant, 9th Infantry, July 1, 1856 and was posted to the Pacific Northwest at Fort Bellingham, Washington and environs between 1856 and 1859, the army presence serving as a deterrent to British claims tied to an ongoing boundary dispute. Just before the start of the war Forsyth was advanced to first lieutenant in March 1861 returning to Ohio as an instructor to a brigade of Ohio volunteer regiments then organizing and drilling and Mansfield. He was advanced to captain, 18th Infantry on October 24, 1861 and took temporary command of the 64th OVI when the regiment was posted to garrison duty at Danville, Kentucky until February 1862. Forsyth was then assigned to staff duty serving in several different positions over the next two years. Initially, he went to the Army of the Potomac as 24

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

Acting Assistant Adjutant General to the Provost Marshal General while also attached to the staff of General McClellan during the Peninsula and Maryland Campaigns, followed by a very brief stint on the staff of General Mansfield. Captain Forsyth returned to the Headquarters of the Provost Marshall General, Army of the Potomac, serving in that capacity through April 1863. He then transferred to the army of The Cumberland as Acting Assistant Adjutant general of the Regular Brigade during the masterful Tullahoma Campaign and during the epic battle of Chickamauga. For “gallant and meritorious” service at Chickamauga he received his first brevet promotion to major on September 20, 1863. Major Forsyth returned to the east where he took up the assignment as Inspector-General of the Cavalry Corps, AOP, and, significantly, as Chief of Staff to Major general Sheridan from April 10, 1864 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. While serving under General Sheridan, Forsyth participated in the Richmond and Shenandoah Campaigns earning a brevet to lieutenant colonel for the battle of Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864, and same day, brevet brigadier general, US Volunteers. His star hitched to Sheridan, Forsyth amassed a bevy of additional wartime accolades in 1865: colonel, April 4 for “gallantry” at Five Forks; brigadier general, April 9 “for gallant and meritorious service in the field during the war, and another to brigadier general of volunteers same day for “gallantry” at the battles of Opequan, Fisher’s Hill and Middleton, culminating with brigadier general, US. Volunteers, May 19, 1865.

Having received a knot of brevets - three to brigadier general - General Forsyth was mustered out of volunteer service on January 15, 1866 and in July 1866 was promoted to regular army major in the 10th Cavalry. His field service resumed in the position of Acting Assistant Inspector- General of the Military Department of the Gulf from September to December 1866 at which point Forsyth - after fours years of uninterrupted campaigned - took two months of leave before returning to duty at the St. Louis headquarters, Department of the Missouri in October 1867, the time of this presentation sword by the unknown L. Dexter Bradford. The volunteer armies demobilized and scattered to their homes after the threat of French intervention in Texas dissipated and the small regular army took over to police the vast expense of Indian territory now teaming with migrants heading west. Forsyth was reappointed aide-de-camp to Lieutenant General Sheridan at headquarters of the Division of the Missouri and later accompanied the General on his junket to Europe as observer in the FrancoPrussian War of 1870-71. The European excursion lasted until March 1873 at which time Forsyth was appointed lieutenant colonel, with the formal title of Military Secretary to Lieutenant General Sheridan from March 17, 1873 through April 1878. During this time Forsyth was engaged in the Sioux Expedition of 1875 as Sheridan’s aide-de-camp and was promoted to bird colonel of the 1st Cavalry on April 4, 1878. Colonel Forsyth took the field in command of the 1st Cavalry during the Bannock War from July to September 1878, later serving in command of Fort Walla Walla, Washington Territory until April 1880. He then personally commanded the escort of the territorial governor during the late summer/early fall of 1880. Two summons to duty on the Warren Court of Inquiry had him traveling to New York City twice during 1880. On November 30, 1880, Colonel Forsyth was once more assigned to the Military Division of the Missouri as Inspector of Cavalry for an extended five year period. In July 1885, He took command of Fort Maginnis in the Montana Territory, one of chain of five forts

Tiffany Presentation Sword to General James Forsyth

Left Side

that had been build after the Custer debacle to exercise control in the Department of Dakota.

Forsyth then applied for and was granted a leave of absence lasting until July 1886. He had been promoted to the command of the 7th Cavalry on June 11, 1886 and subsequently was commandant at the cavalry post at Fort Riley from September 1887 to November 1890. Here, Colonel Forsyth “developed, organized and authored a system of practical instruction for light artillery and cavalry” than existed through the Great War until horse cavalry was finally rendered obsolete, overtaken by the mechanization of World War Two. Colonel Forsyth took to the saddle one last time during the brutal winter of 1890-91 for what was then euphemistically described as a “campaign against the Sioux,” then encamped in winter quarters on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Several armed Lakota bands had left the reservation - looking for food or a fight - raising alarm that, in retrospect, was uncalled for given the overriding disparity between the starving, if not completely compliant Indians and superior numbers of 7th Cavalry troopers backed by battery of modern Hotchkiss guns. Colonel Forsyth led the 7th Cavalry and promptly surrounded the Indian camp. On December 29 he ordered his troopers to disarm the Lakota malcontents, at which point (reports vary) gunfire erupted causing the cavalrymen to began indiscriminately shooting unarmed Indians regarding of age and gender. Some of the Lakota men took back confiscated weapons and fired back at the troopers. Some Indians tried to escape the camp by running away but were methodically shot down When it was over “more than 150 men, women, and children of the Lakota had been killed and 51 wounded” while General Nelson Miles believed the death toll to be as high as 300. Once the shooting started the Indians resisted causing 25 soldiers to die with another 39 wounded, some of whom were certainly victims of friendly fire from the Hotchkiss guns. After a raging blizzard General Nelson Miles toured the site and concluded that innocent women and children had been slaughter. He quickly relieved Colonel Forsyth and ordered a Court of Inquiry. The Court found fault with Colonel Forsyth’s tactical dispositions at Wounded Knee but the sympathetic board of fellow officers glossed over, whitewashed, he alleged massacre, refusing to render any adverse conclusion that might be detrimental to Forsyth’s lengthy career. There was no public outcry over the incident while in some quarters quite the opposite was true. The Secretary of War concurred with the Court and obliged by reinstating Colonel Forsyth to command of the 7th Cavalry. Personal recrimination between Colonel Forsyth and General Miles ensued. From a lasting perspective the massacre of the Lakota at Wounded Knee - the final grisly act of the Plains Indian Wars - still reverberates today much as the divisive My Lai massacre of 1968.

James Forsyth was promoted to brigadier general, US Army, in 1894 and having witnessed the inexorable crush of Manifest Destiny to the Pacific, was assigned to command the Department of California with headquarters at the Presidio in San Francisco, a post he held until May 1897. He was obliged with an honorary end-of-career promotion to major general on May 11,1897, retiring on May 13 after reaching the statutory age requirement with over 40 years of continuous service. Forsyth quietly spent his last few years in Columbus, Ohio and died there on October 24, 1906, aged 72. The general was buried in the local Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio. Outstanding. Retains most

SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

of the original bright polish on the blade as well as the majority of the gold gilt, which is thinning and shows some minor loss. All engraving remains clear and crisp. Hilt very fine with some thinning and loss to the gilding on the eagle’s wings. Silver grip and pommel cap with a medium pewter patina. Scabbard fine as well, with strong traces of the silver wash still present and much of the gilding on the mounts. The engraved presentation remains clear and crisp and scabbard shows only some minor surface dings and a small ripple in the metal along the upper edge, a few inches above the drag. A truly spectacular Tiffany presentation sword. $15,000 - $25,000

Detail

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

25

Tiffany Sterling Silver Presentation Sword to Captain W.A. Treadwell - 14th NY Heavy Artillery

327 Tiffany Sterling Silver Presentation Sword to Captain W.A. Treadwell - 14th NY Heavy Artillery 35” curved, single-edged blade with 25.5” stopped median fuller and a narrow 19” fuller along the spine.

5.5” sterling silver hilt with sterling grip. Open-work English-style full-basket guard with flowing foliate scrolls and a spread-winged American eagle in the face of the knuckle bow with Columbia’s shield on its chest and a ribbon of stars in its beak. The interior of the guard has a silver boarder soldered around the inner edge, terminating in a pair of opposed flat disk finials at the top. The guard is surmounted by a silver gargoyle head quillon with a silver relief-cast face of Medusa as the pommel cap. Cast sterling silver grip mimics the pattern of grooved wood on lesser grade sabers with the appearance of 7 wraps of wire cast into the grip. Blade is stamped COLLINS & CO in an arc over HARTFORD / CONN on the reverse ricasso, above which is etched on the blade TIFFANY / & Co / NY in a panel. Reverse of blade etched over more than half its length with flowing foliate scrolls and sprays with a US as the central panel and the full-length image of a staff officer in a double-breasted frock coat with saber and forage cap. The obverse of the blade is similarly etched with flowing scrolls of foliage with a panoply of arms as the central image and a full-length standing cavalryman with short jacket, tall boots, plumed hat and saber. The obverse ricasso is dated 1861.

The sterling silver scabbard has a bannered plaque attached to the reverse at the throat that reads TIFFANY & Co / Quality / 925-1000 over an Old English “M”, the mark of Tiffany master silversmith John C. Moore.

Mounts are heavy oak leaf and acorn clusters with a pair of suspension rings. On the reverse, between the upper mounts the following inscription is found: Presented in behalf of / Company “G” 14th Reg. N.Y.V.A. / TO / Capt. W.A. Treadwell / “Vera amicitia est-sempiterna”, the final line being the Latin motto: True Friendship is Eternal. A truly stunning Tiffany sterling silver presentation sword from the American Civil War. William Augustus Treadwell (1834-1908) was born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 12, 1834 and entered the local Andover Academy in 1855, withdrawing after two years of study. Treadwell then moved to New York City with some acquired military skill and began drilling “several companies of militia,” perhaps inspired by Colonel Elmer’s Ellsworth’s Chicago Zouave Cadets during their celebrated summer 1860 tour on the east coast. With the advent of The Civil War, Treadwell continued to drill volunteers and applied to the Governor of New York for a commission. Having been rebuffed, Treadwell made his way to the seat of war and acted as a civilian volunteer in the commissary department at Acquia Creek, Virginia.

In the summer of 1862 he attached himself to the 95th New York during the Maryland campaign and, temporarily, found his way to the staff of General Abner Doubleday acting as a volunteer aide-de-camp while awaiting word of a commission. Treadwell was back in New York City In September when he received a captaincy in the 3rd Regiment, Corcoran Legion, a brigade of Irishmen - many of them recent Detail 26

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

Tiffany Sterling Silver Presentation Sword to Captain W.A. Treadwell - 14th NY Heavy Artillery

Left Side

immigrants - then forming in the Empire State. For reasons not entirely clear he was soon discharged on October 14 before the Corcoran Brigade was reorganized as the 164th New York Infantry in November 1862, although he may have still been with the regiment at late as November acting as drill master at Norfolk.

During the early part of 1863 Treadwell located to Washington, D.C., where, once more, he engaged in the instruction of new regiments. He may have also leveraged his contacts and returned to the Boston area in pursuit of an illusive commission as during this time the first African-American Regiment, the famed 54th Massachusetts was then being recruited. As it were, “owing to some misunderstanding between Senator Sumner and Governor Andrews of Massachusetts Treadwell failed to receive his commission.”

During June 1863 back in Rochester, New York Treadwell was actively raising a new company recruits and some two year veterans whose term had expired - and, at last, six months later on December 5, 1863 thirty-one year old William Treadwell was commissioned their Captain, the men mustering in as Company G., 14th New York Heavy Artillery. The large regiment was initially deployed in detachments with Company G and H assigned in December 1864 to Fort Hamilton in New York Harbor. The heavy artillery regiment destined to fight more like infantry remained unassigned to corps until April 1864 when the 14th NYHA became part of the Provisional Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Corps. U.S. Grant needed more infantry for his summer Overland Campaign before Richmond, planning to outflank Lee, forcing him to stretch and thin his lines in a war of attrition he could not win. The “heavies” would go down in history as the infantry fodder at the spear point of the plan. The 14th NYHA engaged in unrelenting combat during the bloody summer fighting at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor and before Petersburg suffering at least 129 killed and 223 badly wounded, nearly a third of the casualties going down on June 17 alone - a black day marked by a series of uncoordinated Federal attacks against prepared earthworks along the Petersburg line. Even Grant could not sustain this kind of casualties indefinitely and after September the tempo of the fighting settled into the Siege of Petersburg. Captain Treadwell did not see the end of the war with the regiment being discharged on December 14, 1864 supernumerary. His Andover biography suggests that he had some subsequent association with Hancock’s 1st Veteran Corps, and “was also tendered a commission in the regular army, but declined the appointment.” Post-war, Treadwell became a newspaper man and from 1882 until 1898 was military editor of the New York Press. He later moved to San Francisco in 1900 and was briefly engaged in the mining business as Director of the Oriental SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

Detail

& Masbate Golding Mining Company. Following the cataclysmic San Francisco earth quake in April 1906, Treadwell returned to New Orleans where he died on April 27, 1908. He had been a Mason, member of the Loyal legion, and GAR. Very fine. Blade lightly cleaned to bright with some scattered light pitting along the edge with all etching and decorations remaining clear and fully visible. Hilt fine with a lovely silvery tone, showing a small separation of the silver internal edge liner of the guard on the reverse, near the top, where the solder has failed. Scalloped red wool throat washer remains intact. Scabbard fine as well with some minor handling marks and scuffs an some scattered tarnish. $40,000 - $60,000

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

27

Cased Presentation Boyle and Gamble Sword to Major General Mahone

328 Cased Presentation Boyle and Gamble Sword to Major General Mahone 33.5” slightly curved single-edged blade with 26” stopped central fuller. 5.75” gilt brass hilt with open-work guard having the letters CS cast into it. Blade with frosty etching that features flowing martial and foliate themes with a billowing Confederate pennant on the reverse featuring the “Stars and Bars” and with a variation of Virtus, from the state seal of Virginia on the obverse in full war regalia with a Confederate battle flag and curved short sword surmounting the letters CS. The central panel on the reverse is etched in a variety of banners and ribbons: PRESENTED TO MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM MAHONE BY THE CITIZENS OF PETERSBURG VA IN APPRECIATION OF HIS ENERGY AND GALLANTRY IN DEFENCE OF THEIR CITY DURING THE CAMPAIGN OF 1864. The reverse ricasso is etched BOYLE & GAMBLE / RICHMOND. Grooved wood grip with leather cover and 14 wraps of gilt triple-strand wire, with the center of the three twisted. Metal scabbard with gilt brass mounts engraved with a variation of the Virginia State Seal, showing Vitus astride the tyrant and sword through a laurel wreath on the upper mount, a St. Andrews Cross surrounded by a wreath a drum/bugle/bayonet on the middle mount and panoply of arms featuring spears and armor on the lower mount. Sword is contained in a period wood case with blue baize lining, brass hinges and brass hook closures. Additionally a bag for the sword, made from sky blue kersey is included. This bag appears to have been made from the leg from a pair of Federal infantry trousers. Overall a simply stunning and eminently historical Confederate presentation saber that is a wonderful example of the quality of work that could be done by firms like Boyle & Gamble even during the death throes of the Confederacy in late 1864.

William Mahone (1826-1895) was the plebeian son of a Southampton County, Virginia tavern keeper who aspired to the Virginia Military Institute and graduated from VMI in 1847. Mahone did not seek out military service, instead taking up the study of civil engineering while teaching at the Rappahannock Military Academy. Mahone’s interests were mechanical, meaning the railroads and he soon excelled at challenging engineering tasks for several of the smaller Virginia lines before becoming President and Superintendent of the Norfolk & Petersburg line on the eve of war in 1861.

Mahone received accolades for his engineering work and had started the planning phase for an extension of the Norfolk & Petersburg to Bristol, Tennessee with “ultimate objective of extending connections to the Mississippi and to the Pacific coast.” With the advent of war, Mahone was appointed colonel of the 6th Virginia Infantry in May 1861and assisted in the capture of the Norfolk Navy Yard which provided the nascent Confederate Navy with a hoard of naval stores. He would command the Norfolk District until being forced to evacuate during the Peninsula Campaign.

Mahone was then called upon to put his engineering skills to work supervising the layout of the defenses at Drewey’s Bluff and constructing the shore based artillery redoubts that would control access to the James River approach to Richmond. He was duly promoted to brigadier general on October 10, 1861 (dates vary) and put in command of the critical defenses at Drewey’s Bluff. Thereafter, Mahone would serve continuously in the field while amassing (compiling) a spectacular record with the Army of Northern Virginia.

Following the war, General Lee observed, “that of the surviving younger men in the army Mahone made the Detail 28

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

largest contribution to organization and command.” Mahone led his brigade assigned to Huger’s division at Seven Pines where his and Armistead’s brigade “struck the enemy a telling blow on the second day.” At 2nd Manassas Mahone’s brigade, part of Richard Anderson’s division in Longstreeet’s Corps, conducted themselves “brilliantly” and with “conspicuous gallantry” although General Mahone was seriously wounded, “shot in the chest while leading his brigade in a charge across Chinn Ridge.”

The wound was serious but thankfully not life threatening preventing him from participating in the Maryland Campaign where his brigade once more distinguished itself “in the valorous defense of the South Mountain passes.” Mahone’s convalescence lasted a couple of months whereupon he returned to full duty leading his brigade at Fredericksburg but not seeing any action. During the winter of 1862-63 Mahone began pressing the War Department for a major general’s commission supported by a body of fellow officers. While tacitly acknowledging the general’s exemplary service with the Army of Northern Virginia to date, Lee demurred on Mahone’s request, later explaining to him that he would have to wait for a billet to open up. Mahone got on with the war and saw some action at Chancellorville under Longstreet’s command. When the Army of Northern Virginia was reorganized in May 1863, into three corps, Mahone’s brigade was assigned to A.P. Hills’. Mahone did not participate in any serious fighting at Gettysburg. On July 2, 1863, Mahone had supposedly been instructed by General Hill to join in the attack on Cemetery Ridge but defying the order, held his brigade back claiming that General Anderson had told him to do so. In the aftermath of Gettysburg retreat the alleged act of disobedience was glossed over and Mahone, in part due to his seniority, avoided any long lasting consequences resulting from the “miscommunication.” With the strategic situation of the Confederacy becoming perilous, Longstreet’s Corps was detached and sent west as reinforcements for the army of Tennessee. The weakened ANV was forced into a temporary defensive posture, Lee’s brigades spread thin, his men hunkered down in a line of ever lengthening entrenchments pending a favorable strategic outcome of events in the west. Longstreet’s tenure of semi-independent command was cut short as he fortuitously rejoined the Army of Northern Virginia just in the nick of time to counter the Grant’s initial attack in the Wilderness on May 6, with a powerful flanking attack along the Orange pike road that nearly enveloped and destroyed the Federal 2nd corps. During the fighting Mahone’s men accidentally wounded Longstreet - “a bullet passed through his shoulder causing nerve damage” - and he would not rejoin the army until October with his right arm paralyzed. With Longstreet gone indefinitely, Lee appointed Richard Anderson to take over the corps of his trusted subordinate. This finally opened up a major-general’s billet, in Anderson’s division, in which Brigadier General William Mahone succeeded to command as temporary major general (a

Cased Presentation Boyle and Gamble Sword to Major General Mahone

Left Side

commission he rejected). Mahone led the division at Spotsylvania Court House and became an overnight hero at the battle of the Crater on July 30 1864. Several waves of Union infantry assaults having been already repulsed with heavy casualties, Union miners were enlisted to dig a tunnel beneath the Confederate strongpoint, planting “320 kegs of powder” that would be ignited to blow it up and, this time, allow another coordinated union infantry assault to penetrate and overwhelm the stunned Confederate defenders. The massive explosion went off according to plan killing and wounding a number Confederates mostly in two regiments, the blast and concussion causing the hoped for confusion and disorder. However, the follow-on Union attack was a complete disaster.

Grant later wrote that the assault was “the saddest affair I have ever witnessed in this war.” Following the explosion the first troops into the crater, men of the 9th Corps commanded by General Hooker, milled about, all cohesion and momentum lost. The tables quickly turned as the Federals were then forced to take refuge in the Crater as a determined counterattack led by Mahone’s division rallied the dazed confederate defenders. Mahone brought up artillery in support to the very edge of the Crater as every Southern musket tore into the huddled mass of Yankees below. Burnside compounded the slaughter by ordering General Ferraro’s division of black troops into the Crater where, completely outflanked, many were subsequently murdered after surrendering, adding the taint of war crimes to the calamity. The battle of the Crater ended after more of Mahone’s troops “conducted a sweep out of a sunken gully area about 200 yards from the right side of the Union advance into the Crater.”

Mahone’s charge reclaimed the badly damaged earthworks and drove the disorganized Federals out of the depression at the point of the bayonet back towards the east. Mahone had demonstrated his mettle - the quick and decisive action was a rare cause for celebration by the occupants of Petersburg and its embattled citizens - and on June 30, 1864 (another source cites July 20) Mahone was advanced to major general. Of tremendous significance to General Mahone later in the war would be award of this singular “work of art” sword “presented by the grateful citizens of Petersburg, his wife and children were residing there. In “Appreciation of “HIS SKILL ENERGY AND GALLANTRY IN DEFENSE OF THIER CITY...” on Wednesday March 22, 1865, the Richmond Daily Dispatch reported the presentation of a “sword, belt, and sash to Major General William Mahone by the citizens of Petersburg.” The presentation, the paper reported, “took place in the presence of a large assemblage of officers, soldiers, citizens and ladies, who gathered together to witness the pleasant event.” Author Donald Tharpe in a speech before the American Arms Collector’s Society wrote, “Those embattled witnesses of Petersburg, a city, under siege for ten months, would likely see little else that was pleasing in the next several weeks.” On March 25, 1865, just two days later, the final campaign of the Army of the Northern Virginia began when Gen. Lee attempted to break Gen. Grant’s tightening death grip on Petersburg by taking the Federal-held Fort Stedman, just east of the city. They initially met with success, but the relentless Federals retook the fort. The Confederates ultimately lost the strategic position as well as the lives of 3,500 of their already tragically depleted troops.” Petersburg and Richmond would fall on April 2, and a week later on April 9 the remnants of the Army of Northern Virginia would finally surrender at Appomattox. Major General Mahone surrendered his division with the last of the butternut ghost-army at Appomattox and years later composed a concise remembrance of the events - “what I saw and heard” - during the last few days of the war in company with General Lee. Lee had intoned to “those survivors of so many hard fought battles” to now go home and rebuild in his brilliantly worded farewell address to the army. Mahone did as ordered, setting about the task of rebuilding the devastated railroads of war-torn Virginia and by 1867 had SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

become president of three, and weighing grand plans for future linkage and expansion. The Mahones moved back to Petersburg in 1872. The Financial Panic of 1873 put a halt to Mahone’s successes when he was ousted from the role of receiver for the A M & O Railroad, although he fought to regain control.

In 1881, a consortium of Philadelphia based businessmen purchased the line at auction, outbidding Mahone’s backers and renaming it the Norfolk and Western. Mahone then delved into politics and thanks to his military notoriety quickly mobilized a strong base of support. He was beaten in his first try for governor in 1877, but was elected to the US Senate in 1880 on the “Readjuster ticket, a re-branded coalition of the Republican Party whose broad platform including restructuring the state’s pre-war debt while improving infrastructure and increased funding for schooling, particularly for blacks. Mahone held off challenges from the opposition Conservative Party, the Democrats, but after Grover Cleveland, a democrat, became President in 1884, Virginia fell in line with the national directive of the party. Mahone was a presidential elector at both the 1884 and 1888 National Republican convention, but had lost his senate seat to a democrat in 1886. Virginia politics slipped away. He made one last try for the governorship in 1889 but lost the election. Mahone still remained active in state politics until suffering a debilitating stroke in early October 1895 while in Washington, D.C. The aging fighter lingered for a week before finally dying on October 8, 1895, age 68. Major General William Mahone was buried in the family mausoleum marked with a simple “M” in Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg Virginia, where the pinnacle of his service to the South was once recognized on a presentation sword from grateful citizens thirty-one years before. Very fine. Blade with most of the original frosty etching and bright polish, showing only the most minor thinning and loss and some minute surface freckling. Hilt with traces of gilt and a lovely rich patina, wrap fine with some light handling marks.

Scabbard about fine with traces of finish on the metal and mounts. Scabbard body with some scattered oxidation, freckling and light pinpricking. Case very good. Wool bag worn with loss. $100,000 - $150,000

Detail

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

29

Presentation Sword Given by the State of Georgia to Flag Lt. Thomas M. Brumby for Manila Bay

346 Presentation Sword Given by the State of Georgia to Flag Lt. Thomas M. Brumby for Manila Bay 32” curved, single-edged, semi-quill backed blade with prominently rounded spine. 5.75” silver washed hilt with half basket guard, the seal of the State of Georgia in the face of the guard, with both a sea serpent quillon and knuckle bow. Pommel cap with an American eagle surrounded by an oval blue enamel border with the following inscription in silver: MANILA MAY 1st - 1898.

White shagreen covered grooved wood grip with 11 wraps of three-strand gilt wire, the middle wire being twisted. Blade is retailer marked on the reverse ricasso, HENRY V. / ALLEN / & Co / NEW YORK. Blade is profusely etched and highlighted in gold gilt with floral, patriotic and nautical martial themes, with a full inscription on both sides of the blade, taking up about three-quarters of its length. The obverse inspection reads: Presented by the Citizens of Georgia to Lieut. Thomas M. Brumby USN in recognition of his distinguished Services to his Country at Manila Bay May 1st, 1898. The reverse of the blade is further inscribed: Born at Marietta Georgia 1855, Appointed to Annapolis from Atlanta Georgia 1873 Graduated 1877. The silver-plated scabbard is profusely engraved and features highly decorated chiseled German silver mounts. The upper mount with Brumby’s monogram executed in rhinestones surmounting an anchor and surrounded by a rope boarder, the middle mount with the monogram USN in silver, again with a rope boarder and surmounted by an eagle.

The highly ornate bottom mount consists of Poseidon atop his trident, with a mermaid arching her back forming the actual drag. The scabbard body is engraved AUG 13TH 1898, and depicts Brumby’s raising of the American flag at Manila, Brumby on the deck of his warship USS Olympia and Columbia’s shield with the word OLYMPIA surmounting it. Even the suspension rings are engraved to match the balance of the scabbard. A truly impressive presentation sword from the State of Georgia to one of the central characters in the Battle of Manila Bay. Thomas Mason Brumby (1855-1899) was career naval officer who served in combat aboard the USS Olympia as Admiral George Dewey’s Flag Lieutenant during the momentous Battle of Manila Bay, a signal victory over a decrepit Spanish fleet that unlocked the door to American occupation of the Philippines thrusting it on to the world stage as an colonial power. Lieutenant Brumby also made a significance contribution in negotiating with Spanish authorities leading up to the surrender of Manila. Born November 20, 1855 in Marietta, Georgia into a Cobb County planter family, Brumby’s father, Arnolus Brumby, had graduated West Point with the Class of 1835, was a former Superintendent of the Georgia Military Institute before the war, and had briefly served as colonel of the 14th Georgia Infantry before resigning in November 1861. Young Brumby lived in war-torn Atlanta before entering University of Georgia where he was not an exceptional student. He transferred to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis as Cadet Midshipman on September 27, 1873 but did not graduate until June 1879. It took nearly a year before Midshipman Brumby secured a position in the run-down peacetime navy. Brumby was promoted to ensign in November 1880 and put in routine duty both at sea - training cruises along with 30

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

Detail

Presentation Sword Given by the State of Georgia to Flag Lt. Thomas M. Brumby for Manila Bay

Left Side

showing the flag on foreign stations - and at various shore installations as the navy entered a sustained period of resurrection (rebirth) driven by a new breed of forward-thinking admirals bent on finally constructing and experimenting with technologically advanced sea-going steel warships. Brumby was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade on April 21, 1887 and was involved in the devastating cyclone that struck a force of mildly agonistic American and German warships riding at anchor in Apia Harbor, in Samoa on March 15, 1889. Both the American and German squadrons suffered the lost three warships each while the only survivor was the modern steel warship HMS Calliope. Lieutenant Brumby was fortunate to survive the storm managing “to fight the waves after his ship was wrecked, and land on the Samoan shore.”

At the start of the Spanish-American War the American west coast was virtually undefended by Navy warships and the government feared that the Spanish might bombard the unprotected coast. Commodore George Dewey was put in command of the Asiatic Squadron and ordered to take the fight to the Spanish in the Philippines. Lieutenant Brumby had volunteered to accompany the squadron and having met the Commodore’s criteria was selected to go as Dewey’s Flag Lieutenant. The Spanish defenders were relying on shore batteries to supplement and cover their obsolete flotilla of ships anchored in Manila Bay. However, Dewey’s Squadron appeared before all of the batteries were put into place, and taking advantage of intelligence supplied by the American Consul at Manila, Dewey took advantage of darkness and sailed his warships into the Bay at midnight. A general engagement commenced at first light on May 1 with the epic command, “you may fire when ready, Gridley.” The Spanish flotilla was hopelessly outgunned and immobilized for mutual protection as Dewey pressed the attack, closing the range and causing unseen hits on the Spanish line.

Out of futility and a sense of honor, Spanish Admiral Montojo ordered his ships that were able to weigh anchor and ram the Americans.

Superior American gunnery registered hits and Montojo’s ships were picked off and disabled or set on fire one at a time. Before 8am Dewey retired to “feed his crews breakfast” and to check and redistribute ammunition.

Dewey commenced the attack again before 11am and this time met with only slight Spanish resistance. Montojo ordered his surviving ships to be scuttled as American shells set fire to the Spanish arsenal and a nearby government building which prompted the Spanish authorities to raise a white flag. Montojo ordered his colors to be struck at 12:40 and fighting ceased. At some point during the battle “a signal halyard being used by Brumby was sliced by enemy fire as he held it in his hands.” Eleven days after the victory Dewey was promoted to rear admiral.

Manila did not formally surrender until August 13, 1898 after a drawn out period of negotiations headed by Lieutenant Brumby under Admiral Dewey’s supervision.

It was Lieutenant Thomas Brumby who was afforded the honor of hoisting the stars and bars over the former Spanish territory as the United States found itself uncomfortably in tentative possession of a distant, unknown colony - all the vogue among the European powers - that would prove to be not easily conquered.

Lieutenant Brumby was aboard the flagship Olympia as the triumphant American squadron returned home via the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal and by way of Europe. Dewey returned to the United States a national hero and shared with his officers and crew the esteemed Thanks of Congress approved by joint resolution on May 10, 1898. Admiral Dewey spoke glowingly of his Flag Lieutenant in his report of the battle to the secretary of the Navy suggesting certain acknowledgements that were never acted upon. Flag Lieutenant Brumby received, as did others, a medal by Act of Congress commemorating the battle of Manila Bay approved on June 3, 1898. Brumby was also cited by the Navy for “eminent and conspicuous conduct” during the battle “and advanced five numbers” (in seniority). Brumby’s native Georgia also joined in with accolades being “honored by the Governor and State Legislature with a presentation sword” on October 29, 1899, now offered here as the enduring testament to an officer who long ago paved the way for American ascendancy on the world scene. Shortly after this sword was formally presented, Lieutenant Brumby returned to duty in Washington, D.C. and contracted typhoid fever. Unmarried, he died in Washington’s Garfield Hospital on December 17, 1899, age 44. A towering obelisk now stands in honor of Lieutenant Brumby on a solitary piece of ground in Atlanta’s Westview Cemetery. Fine. Blade retains most of its polish and gold gilt with some loss along the edge near the point and some oxidation and surface roughness along the edge, primarily on the reverse for several inches. Grip fine, retaining some of the silver wash and with a near perfect grip wrap. Scabbard with some silver plate with most of the loss along the bottom edge, showing some scattered handling marks, surface scratches and minor scuffs. $10,000 - $15,000

SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

Detail OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

31

Wooley, Deakin and Dutton Presentation Sword to John Welch

Left Side

32

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

Wooley, Deakin and Dutton Presentation Sword to John Welch

Detail

450 Wooley, Deakin and Dutton Presentation Sword to John Welch 30” curved blue and gilt blade. Strikingly beautiful and magnificent in execution this true work of art sword by Woolley, Deakin, and Dutton was presented in 1808 to John Welsh, the adjutant of the East Maylor Volunteers. The powerful wide 29 and i/2 inch saber blade is decorated throughout its entire length in rich gold and fire bluing with the Royal Crest of Britain, the British Royal Arms, the Royal Cipher GR for King George III, the figures of Fame and Prudence and the gold lettered presentation inscription: “FROM THE OFFICER’S & PRIVATES OF THE EAST MAYLOR VOLUNTEERS TO JOHN WELSH, ADJUTANT, AS A TESTIMONY OF APPROBATION FOR HIS ZEALOUS SERVICE, FOR SIX YEARS 1808.” The maker’s or retailer’s signature is engraved at the forte. The richness of the blade is the equal of the finest 100 guinea Lloyds Patriotic or City of London sword. The heavy stirrup hilt is of cast, polished, matted, and exquisitely chased ormolu. The knucklebow boasts writhing serpents, a trophy of arms, flowers and acanthus leaves in high relief. The langets and quillions of acanthus leaves and florals.

The pommel is a powerful golden lion’s head with the spine of the hilt forming its mane. The ivory grip is itself a true work of art, carved and fluted, wound with twisted gold wire and set with minute gold stars. The sword retains its original elaborate gold bullion knot and cord.

The velvet covered scabbard has three large luxuriously cast and chased high relief ormolu mounts adding to the extravagance of this most elaborate presentation piece. The locket features matted panels with acanthus leaves and the reverse with the retailer’s name in a gold cartouche. The middle mount features the British Royal Arms in high relief above a spray of flowers. The chape decoration consists of a relief eagle of Zeus, a trophy of arms, acanthus leaves and ends in an acorn finial. The fixed suspension rings are curled acanthus leaves. The John Welsh Napoleonic era presentation sword is in pristine condition throughout retaining nearly all of its magnificent bright mercury gilding on the hilt and mounts, all the fire blue and mercury gilding on the blade, and the condition of its work of art ivory grip is essentially as it was presented in 1808. The splendor and presence of this sword cannot be overstated. It is among the very best of its type. $40,000 - $60,000

SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

Detail

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

33

Presentation Sword to British Major General George Robert Ainslie, Governor General of Dominica

451 Presentation Sword to British Major General George Robert Ainslie, Governor General of Dominica 31.5” straight, double-edged un-fullered spear point blade. 6” gilt sterling silver hilt hallmarked on rear of upper crossguard for the London Assay Office, 1814 with the maker mark T.P that may be the mark of Thomas Pepper II, Thomas Pitts II or Thomas Purver, all London silversmiths who used similar marks during the period. Pommel cap in the form of a rampant lion, grip with panoplies of arms, 5.25” cross guard with foliate sprays. Blade with faux Damascus patterning and etched gold gilt geometric decorations in Turkish form, with a large presentation panel of the reverse that reads in three lines: TO HIS EXCELLENCY MAJOR GENERAL AINSLIE GOVERNOR OF DOMINICA &c &c &c / THIS SWORD IS PRESENTED BY THE TWO BRANCHES OF THE LEGISLATURE / IN TESTIMONY OF HIS MERITORIOUS CONDUCT IN THE REDUCTION OF THE MAROONS IN THE YEAR MDCCCXIV. The obverse is decorated with more etching of Turkish inspired geometric patterns. The sword is accompanied by its original scarlet velvet covered wood scabbard with gilt sterling mounts that are again London hallmarked and maker marked to 1814. The mounts are engraved with panoplies of arms and martial themes with a single suspension ring on each of the two upper mounts in the form of a serpent eating its tail. The rear of the upper mount is engraved in three lines: Rundell Bridge & / Rundell / London. The sword and scabbard are produced in the “Turkish Pattern,” as evidenced by the maker’s own calling card of the period which read in part: “All sorts of Turkish ornaments in the newest taste after the most approved drawings and models from their agents in Constantinople. Rich diamond and enameled sabers, daggers, knives snuff boxes, watches, pistols, etc.”Rundell, Bridge & Rundell worked in London ca18051833, starting as Rundell & Bridge ca1785 and becoming Rundell, Bridge & Co ca 1834. (Bezdek) A truly unique and high quality sword, awarded to Ainslie for his brutal handling of the Maroons on Dominica during 1813-1814.

George Robert Ainslie (1776-1839) was born near Edinburgh in 1776, the son of Sir Philip Ainslie.

Geroge’s mother was a daughter of Lord Grey, so with a landed knight for a father and the political influence of this mother he was destined to be successful in the British military or government, no matter what his actual abilities were. George entered the military in 1793 as an ensign in the 19th Regiment of Foot and quickly advanced to lieutenant. He then received a captaincy in the 85th Regiment of Foot and soon thereafter a promotion to major. In a period when commissions in the British military were more often purchased than earned, Ainslie’s wealth and political influence helped to advance his military career rapidly. The 85th saw action in Flanders in 1799 as part of the War of Second Coalition during the Napoleonic Wars, where Ainslie showed no particular martial aptitude or ability, and after the “tactical retreat” of the Anglo-Russian Forces, he was again promoted; this time to lieutenant colonel and transferred to a Fencibles Regiment (militia) where his lack of leadership ability and understanding of military matters was not a significant issue. Likely due to family influence, Ainslie was returned to active service in 1807 as lieutenant colonel of the 25th Regiment of Foot and was elevated to Brevet Colonel in 1810. In 1812, family influence delivered the post of Colonial Governor General of the island of St. Eustatius in the Caribbean, along with the

34

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

required promotion to the rank of general. The following year he was given the Governorship of the Island of Dominica.

Ainslie arrived in Dominica at a time of unrest, as the discontent of the island’s many African slaves, held in bondage on English plantations and often brutally treated, had resulted in numerous escapes and minor revolts. The escaped slaves, known as “Maroons,” formed communities in the wilderness and launched a guerrilla-style campaign against the plantation owners on the island. These raids were often brutal, as the escaped slaves sought some level of retribution for their previous treatment.

Land owners and their families were sometimes murdered and homes were often burned. Ainslie arrived at the height of the Maroon raids and sought to put an end to the violence by essentially eradicating their population. The new governor assembled a militia force of some 500 men as well as the Loyal Dominica Rangers, which was a militia of “trusty slaves” who were little more than bounty hunters. Their goal was to capture and kill Maroons, in particular their leaders. The most powerful and influential of those leaders was Jacko. Ainslie’s brutal tactics included the public flogging, and often execution, of captured Maroons in the Sunday Market in Roseau. He also launched a series of search and destroy type missions that were nothing short of an attempt to completely eradicate the Maroon population. The killing of the Maroon leader Jacko in July of 1814 brought this period to an effective close, ending what has been known in history as the Second Maroon Wars. While initially praised in Parliament for his decisive actions in bringing the “rebellion” to a close, evidenced by this very presentation sword and his elevation to the rank of Major General, stories soon made their way to England about Ainslie’s borderline psychopathic tendencies to torture and even behead captured Maroons. As as result he was removed from his position as Governor General and transferred to a colonial backwater where he could do less damage to the British Empire and hopefully cause less bad publicity for the government.

This new position was that of Lieutenant Governor of Cape Breton Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia. Ainslie arrived there in 1816, at a time when the colony was floundering due to general mismanagement and a lack of funds in the treasury. There was a general uproar within the colony as the residents were unwilling to pay their taxes due to belief that they were not being adequately represented; a situation not unlike the American colonies during the early 1770s. Ainslie attacked the financial and managerial problems with his usual lack of ability, total ineptitude and complete stubbornness. By 1820, he managed to destroy the independent status of the colony of Cape Breton, and it was re-absorbed into Nova Scotia. Ainslie was then recalled to Great Britain where he spent the rest of his life pursuing his passion of coin collecting. His particular interest was in the coins of Normandy and Brittany and he eventually published a treatise on Anglo-Norman coins in 1830.

Ainslie died in 1839. Fine. Blade retains much of the frosty finish, gold gilt and Damascus patterning in the presentation panel. There is some loss due to wear, fading and some scattered light surface oxidation and discoloration. Hilt very fine, retaining most of the gilt, as to the scabbard mounts. Scabbard with wear and loss of surface finish on the velvet and the seam of the cover opening along the lower edge. $75,000 - $100,000

Presentation Sword to British Major General George Robert Ainslie, Governor General of Dominica

Left Side

Details

SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

35

The Splendid And Historic Gold and Enamel Hilted British Napoleonic Period Presentation Saber of The Intrepid Coghlan Dated 1800

452 The Splendid And Historic Gold and Enamel Hilted British Napoleonic Period Presentation Saber of The Intrepid Coghlan Dated 1800 30” curved blue and gilt blade. The gold and enamel hilted sword presented by Admiral The Earl St. Vincent to the ‘Intrepid Coughlan’, acting lieutenant of H.M.S. Viper is without question the most beautiful solid gold hilted British saber from the Age of Fighting Sail ever offered at public sale in America. Made by Robert Makepeace, goldsmith, 6 Searle Street, London and so signed on the 18 carat gold locket together with John Ray and James Montague whose mark is struck on the hilt, the Intrepid Coughlan’s sword is an artistic masterpiece personally presented to him by one of England’s greatest admirals and heroes, Sir John Jervis, Lord and later Earl St. Vincent, second in Napoleonic renown only to the immortal Horatio Nelson. Robert Makepeace and James Moriset are the goldsmith’s responsible for the very first of the magnificent City of London, gold, enamel, and jeweled presentation swords which was given by the City to Lord St. Vincent, now on exhibit at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Admiral St. Vincent knew Robert Makepeace to be a goldsmith of the highest stature before he commissioned him together with the equally brilliant John Ray and James Montague to make this magnificent saber. Ray and Montague were the goldsmiths who made the gold hilted court sword for Prince William Frederick also from the Koch Collection.

The 18-karat gold hilt of stirrup form is cast and exquisitely chased struck on the inside of the knucklebow with John Ray and James Montague’s touch mark and London hallmark for 1800-1801.

The grip is of highly burnished gold cast and chased at the base with naval trophies of arms. The sides of the grip are set with fabulous multicolored enamel plaques, the right depicting Hercules 12th labor wherein the hero leads Hades’ three-headed dog Cerburus from Hell and the left panel depicts the Intrepid Coughlan, himself, in his acting-lieutenant’s uniform, leaning against a classic column receiving a laurel crown from a flying Victory, as a naval engagement takes place in the background. These plaques surrounded by gold chased frames of relief chased laurels are of the highest quality and represent the enameler’s art at its most sublime. Each panel is a miniature painting executed by a master artist. The knucklebow and quillon are cast and chased with acanthus and laurels. The knucklebone widens to frame yet another superb enamel oval of translucent blue and the legend: “CERBERE 29, July 1800.” The quoin widens to frame a highly burnished gold plate inscribed with the presentation inscription: “A Tribute of Friendship from ADMIRAL, the EARL of ST. VINCENT TO THE INTREPID COUGHLAN.” Jeremiah Coughlan’s heroism was characteristic of sailors in the British Navy during the Napoleonic Ways. Under the command of Captain Sir Edward Pellew, the inspiration for the character of Jack Aubrey in the film, Master and Commander, as acting lieutenant of His Majesty’s Cutter Viper, Jeremiah Coughlan, in his own words, “I have succeeded in bringing out the Gun Brig Le Cerbere, of Three Guns (24 pounders) and Four Six Pounders, and 87 men, commanded by a Lieutenant de Vaisseah.”

This remarkable feat attracted considerable attention at the time. So incredible was Coughlan’s courage and coolness under fire during the capture of the Cerbere by a mere cutter, that fired by 36

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

such an incredible exploit, Admiral Lord St. Vincent wrote to Sir Edward Pellew: “Dear Sir, I am quite transported by the noble exploit performed by your friend Coghlan…I desire that you will acquaint Mr. Coughlan, that I have directed Mr Makepeace, an eminent goldsmith, in Searle Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London to prepare a sword of 100 guineas value, which I beg of you to present to this gallant seaman, in the most appropriate manner.

Yours most truly, St. Vincent” Coughlan rose through the ranks of the British Navy to become captain and was further honored by being awarded the Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Bath. Upon his death on the 4th of March 1844 an account of his funeral in the Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle states: “On the coffin were placed the Union Jack, the cocked hat of the deceased, and a splendid sword, of 100 guineas value, bearing the inscription ‘Admiral Earl St. Vincent to the Intrepid Coughlan’.”

Only one other similar gold sword is known. The gold sword presented to the Intrepid Coughlan is both a magnificent work of art and a fabulous relic of the days when Britannia ruled the waves. The artistic excellence of its enamel and gold work, equal to the objects of Peter Carl Faberge, together with its historical value and significance render it the most important British sword ever offered for auction in America. Whether acquired by an art collector, sword aficionado, or yachtsman, Captain Coughlan’s sword will retain its attraction indefinitely.

The broad curved 30 inch long saber blade is brightly burnished for its entire lower half. The upper half is elaborately fire blued and bright gilded with the British Royal Arms of 1714 to 1801, trophy of arms, the figure of Britannia, and the crowned Royal cipher ‘GR’. The polished black shagreen covered scabbard with chape, locket, and suspension mount of 18 carat gold each struck with Standard mark for 18 carat gold.

The mounts are polished, cast, and chased in relief with bands and borders of laurel leaves. The chape with cast and chased acanthus leaves and the locket signed “Makepeace, London”. The sword and scabbard in excellent condition throughout and the blade with nearly all its bright gilding and fire bluing. $100,000 - $200,000

Detail

The Splendid And Historic Gold and Enamel Hilted British Napoleonic Period Presentation Saber of The Intrepid Coghlan Dated 1800

Left Side

Details SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

37

A Spectacularly Rare Gold and Enamel Royal Presentation Sword Given by H.R.H. The Prince Regent George Augustus Frederick to His Brother Adolphus Frederick The Duke of Cambridge

453 A Spectacularly Rare Gold and Enamel Royal Presentation Sword Given by H.R.H. The Prince Regent George Augustus Frederick to His Brother Adolphus Frederick The Duke of Cambridge 31” double-edged false damascus blade with 6.5” fuller. 1” wide at ricasso, overall length 37”. Solid gold hilt with snakeskin scabbard. Blade decorated on one side with fire blued and gilt designs, sprigs of foliage and panels throughout its length, the other with blued and gilt sprigs of foliage within a looped design. Hilt is superbly cast and chased on a finely stippled ground. The boat shell guard of solid gold decorated in high relief with foliage and the short straight quillions with laurel branches en suite with the knuckle-guard. The gold grip chased with rococo ornament and trophies of arms framing enamel plaques, one with the Prince of Wales’ crest and motto, the other with monogram on a royal blue enamel ground. The pommel of gold is formed in the round as a fierce eagle head crowned with a kingly crown.

Scabbard mounted with superbly cast and chased fittings. The gold shape with a mustachioed head wearing a plumed helmet on each side and the gold suspension mount chased with nude wrestlers and victor’s laurels on one side, the other with bound captives and a trophy of arms. The locket is signed Rundell, Bridge, & Rundell, London 22 July 1816 with a trophy of arms on each side and an oval plaque with the presentation against a royal blue enamel ground. “His Royal Highness George Augustus, Frederick Regent of. The United Kingdom. Of Great Britain. And Ireland to His Affectionate. Brother.

The. Duke. Of Cambridge. 22. July. 1816.” other side bears the full British Royal Arms in polychrome enamel against a royal blue ground. The suspension rings also of gold are formed as coiled serpents.

One of the, if not the, most spectacular solid gold 19th century swords ever offered at auction in America, this gift from the future King George IV to his brother the Duke of Cambridge in 1816 is of the very highest quality and in pristine condition throughout. With the exception of a very few virtually unnoticeable chips on the Prince of Wales plaque this supreme example of perhaps Britain’s greatest sword maker, Thomas Price, is virtually in the same condition as when the Prince Regent, the future George IV, presented it to his brother, the Duke of Cambridge in July of 1816. This magnificent work of art bears London gold marks and the mark of Thomas Price, a noted goldsmith and sword cutler who is known to have made “a number of important presentation swords” awarded during the Napoleonic War, nearly all of which were retailed by Rundell, Bridge & Rundell who held a royal warrant from George III. It is truly an entire sword collection by itself and would be proudly displayed in any fine art museum in America.

Combining as it does the pinnacle of the 19th century goldsmith’s art with unquestionable British royal historical significance, the Prince Regent’s gift represents a unique opportunity to acquire one of the very finest edged weapons extant.

Detail

38

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

A Spectacularly Rare Gold and Enamel Royal Presentation Sword Given by H.R.H. The Prince Regent George Augustus Frederick to His Brother Adolphus Frederick The Duke of Cambridge

Left Side

George IV (1762-1830) known as George Augustus Frederick was King of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover upon the death of his father, King George III, on January 29, 1820. From 1811 he acted as Prince Regent.

Of German lineage, Prince Adolphus Frederick, titled the Duke of Cambridge (1774-1850) from 1801, engaged in a long military career advancing to senior General-Major in the Electorate of Hanover during the convoluted 1790’s Coalition Wars against the French and Prussians. In 1805 the Duke became colonel-in-chief of the elite Coldstream Foot Guards, a senior English regiment whose origins dated back to 1660. The date of the presentation - 22 July 1816 - coincided with the marriage

of Princess Mary, the Duke’s sister, to their cousin William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester. The Duke of Cambridge escorted the princess to the nuptials and honor of giving the bride away fell to the Prince Regent. The celebrated event occurred in the Grand Salon at the Queen’s House and the elaborate ceremony is well documented in London papers of the period.

Provenance: Adolphus Frederick (1774-1850) Viceroy of Hanover and Duke of Cambridge by descent Excellent condition overall. $100,000 - $200,000

Details SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

39

The Gold & Enamel Hilted Sword of His Highness Prince William Frederick (1776-1834) Dated 1801

454 The Gold and Enamel Hilted Sword of His Highness Prince William Frederick (1776-1834) Dated 1801 34” triangular shaped blade with blue and gilt and floral designs. This splendid solid 18 carat gold hilted court sword by the renowned London goldsmiths and jewelers John Ray and James Montague, 22 Denmark Street, Soho, bears London 18 carat gold touch marks for 1801. Prince William Frederick’s sword is similar in design and execution to the famous City of London presentation swords by Ray and Montague, one in the Victoria and Albert Museum, another in the collection of the Royal Armouries, and a third sold by Sotheby’s, 5 October 2005 as lot 263, presented to Captain Philip Bowes Vere Broke (220,800GBP). The gold hilt is exquisitely relief chased on the left side with a panel surrounded by laurel leaves framing a brilliant royal blue enamel plaque depicting the Royal Arms of Great Britain in multi colored enamels of red, white, gold and blue. On the right side the grip bears an enamel plaque with the initials “FW” intertwined surmounted by a standing lion atop a gold royal crown all on a royal blue ground surrounded by laurels. The gold pommel chased en suite with an enamel plaque bearing a magnificently executed trophy of arms in royal blue, red, white, and gold. The oval disc- shaped guard of gold cast and chased. The gold knucklebow is chased in relief with laurel leaves.

The black vellum scabbard is fitted with three gold mounts all decorated en suite with the hilt comprising chape, locket, and middle suspension mount with two gold rings. Prince Frederick’s sword comes with an original bullion knot of the period and possibly the original. The blade is etched and gilt with a fire blued panel of martial trophies and gilt scrolls, signed at the forte with the blade smith’s signature “I.W.M. a Solingen” on a gilt panel. The entire sword is preserved in pristine condition throughout with only a few minor marks. Prince Frederick’s gold and enamel sword is a Royal work of art of the highest order equal to the City of London presentation swords now in British public collections. It is the first Napoleonic period gold and enamel sword to be sold in the United States at public sale since a far less important British gold and enamel sword belonging to Jay Altmayer was sold by Butterfield and Butterfield in 1989. $100,000 - $200,000

40

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

The Gold & Enamel Hilted Sword of His Highness Prince William Frederick (1776-1834) Dated 1801

Left Side

Details SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

41

A Very Fine and Rare 100 Pound Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund Sword Presented to Captain Robert Redmill Of H.M.S. Polyphemus, in Commemoration of his Service at the Battle of Trafalgar, October 21st, 1805

455 A Very Fine and Rare 100 Pound Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund Sword Presented to Captain Robert Redmill Of H.M.S. Polyphemus, in Commemoration of his Service at the Battle of Trafalgar, October 21st, 1805 30.5” single-edged blade with 24” hollow ground fuller. Width at ricasso 1.5”, overall length 37”. Blade heavily blued and gilt with flowers, foliage, martial and naval trophies, mythical figures, George III cypher, British Royal Coat of Arms surmounted by lion and crown, recipient initials, and cherubs.

Right side of blade gilt in block letters “FROM THE PATRIOTIC FUND AT LLOYDS TO ROBER REDMILL ESQR CAPT OF H*M*S* POLY-/-PHEMUS FOR HIS MERITORIOUS SERVICES IN CONTRIBUTING TO THE SIGNAL VICTORY OBTAINED OVER/THE COMBINED FLEETS OF FRANCE & SPAIN OFF CAPE TRAFALGAR ON THE 21st OF OCTOBER 1805.” 6.5” ormolu hilt with foliate langlets forming into a panel depicting naval trophies with quillions terminating in fasces. Knuckle bow takes on the form of a Herculean club entwined by a serpent, complimenting the finely checkered ivory grip with back-piece formed by a casting of the Nemean lion, the whole being fitted with a deep blue and gold bullion knot.

Scabbard, also of ormolu, features cast and chased scenes set in medallions depicting Hercules in combat with the Hydra and the Nemean lion, in addition to a seated Brittania presenting a victor’s laurel crown before a representation of the battle. This medallion surrounded by naval trophies and stern of British warship with “HMS POLYPHEMUS”, as well as “NELSON” and “TRAFALGAR” in furled banners over “21st /OCTR /1803”. Additional cast, pierced, and chased panels on blue velvet backing depict martial and naval trophies. Suspension loops take on the form of serpents, with chape of graduated beads. Accompanying fire-gilt bronze and leather suspension belt adorned with gold bullion embroidery. Two-piece buckle depicts a warrior in classical habit in combat with a hydra, his shield bearing the design of the Union Jack. Under the scene is marked “PATRIOTIC FUND/1803”. Lion medallions form the hangers with buckles of naval motifs.

Of all the splendid Napoleonic era presentation swords, none are more highly prized than those awarded by the Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund of London. Of this rarified group of 23 known swords (some sources say 25) none are more valued than the so-called “100 pound” swords given to British naval commanders who served at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar. Scholars debate whether this naval battle was more important for Britain than the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, but there is no doubt that Trafalgar was the greatest battle of the Age of Fighting Sail, and Lloyd’s Patriotic Swords the greatest swords from the era.

42

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

Detail

BID LIVE ONLINE WITH

COWAN’S live!

A Very Fine and Rare 100 Pound Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund Sword Presented to Captain Robert Redmill Of H.M.S. Polyphemus, in Commemoration of his Service at the Battle of Trafalgar, October 21st, 1805

Left Side

The sword offered here was presented to Captain Robert Redmill (1758 -1819) who was in command of the 64 gun HMS Polyphemus in the Lee Column at the Battle of Traflagar. The Polyphemus engaged two French ships, the Neptune and the Achille and captured the Spanish ship Argonauta. Captain Redmill and Polyphemus had the unique honor of towing Admiral Horatio Nelson’s badly damaged flagship, HMS Victory, back to Gibraltar harbor along with Nelson’s body. The Polyphemus suffered casualties of two dead and four wounded in the battle.

Captain Redmill’s Lloyd’s sword was crafted by Richard Teed of London, as are similar examples curated in British national collections (the National Maritime Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum). The Teed trade label in the lid of the case explains the meanings inherent in the fire gilded hilt. PATRIOTIC FUND LLOYDS 1803: “The ornamental design for the Hilts of the Swords Presented from the Fund in reward of BRITISH VALOUR imports that National Union figured by the Roman Faces PRODUCES HERCULEAN EFFORTS (of which the Club of Hercules is emblematic WHICH AIDED BY WISDOM (denoted by the serpent) LEAD TO VICTORY (implied by the Skin of the Nemean Lion, the proudest of that Hero’s Trophies) The Wreath of Laurel denotes that REWARDS Await the Brave who shall successfully Wield their swains in the Cause of their Country, in Defense of British Security, Independence & Honor.” The condition of the Redmill Lloyd’s sword is excellent throughout with little wear to the brilliant blue and gold decorated

blade, nearly all the bright fire gilding on the hilt, and nearly all the original fire gilding on the scabbard.

The belt and mounts are excellent with nearly all the bright fire gilding remaining. The Redmill sword is accompanied by an original Patriotic Fund mahogany case missing partitions, partially relined but retaining the original elaborate paper Richard Teed label detailing the sword’s iconography.

This is a superlative example of the 100 pound prize sword and made that much more significant by the role played by Captain Redmill and the Polyphemus not only in the Battle of Trafalgar itself but by safely returning Admiral Nelson’s body together with his Flagship Victory to Gibraltar harbor following the battle.

Provenance: The Connoisseur Volume 1 September - December 1901 Page 127 Illustrated: “August 28th Glendining & Co. King William Street, Strand disposed of an important relic of the Battle of Trafalgar, the naval sword presented by the Patriotic Fund to Captain Robert Redmill.

From the Sword Collection of William Koch $200,000 - $300,000

Detail

SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

43

Treasures of the Civil War October 31, 2018 Cased Presentation Sword to Surgeon Elisha K. Kane, USN - Mexican War Hero and Famous Arctic Explorer

Left Side

503 Cased Presentation Sword to Surgeon Elisha K. Kane, USN - Mexican War Hero and Famous Arctic Explorer 28.25” spear-point, double-edged blade with prominent median ridge. 5.75” cast gilt brass hilt with 5” cross guard cast with martial themes on the obverse and left plain on the reverse. Engraved grip further decorated with a highly detailed serpent with emerald eyes encircling the entire grip with the open mouth serving as the finial of the pommel cap. Blade with frosted etching showing flowing foliate scrolls, martial themes and panoplies of arms. Reverse with an American Eagle with a ribbon that reads E Pluribus Unum in its mouth as the central theme. Gilt brass scabbard with highly detailed mounts and decorations, including delicate beading, floral themes and classical imagery on the drag. The obverse of the scabbard throat is engraved with the following presentation: Presented to / Surgeon Elisha K. Kane, U.S. Navy / by his Friends and Fellow Citizens of / the City of Philadelphia / in honor of his gallantry / when bearer of dispatches / to the Commander in Chief. The reverse of the throat is engraved On assuming the command of his casual / escort at Napaluca Mexico of his skill and / intrepidity on leading it to a charge on a / body of Mexican Lancers which resulted in / the capture of two Generals, other officers and / men - and of his noble humanity on inter- / posing his own person in the heat of battle / to save the lives of his wounded prisoners / form an infuriated soldiery. Sword is continued in a highly figured oval wood case that may be circassian walnut with a red velvet lining and blue satin covered padding.

Elisha Kent Kane (1820-1857) overcame rheumatic fever as a child and emblazoned his short life as an adventurous naval surgeon who survived the Mexican War and Arctic explorer before dying at just 36. Scion of a socially prominent Philadelphia family, Elisha Kane entered the University of Virginia in 1837 intent upon a career in civil engineering. The following year Kane was stricken by a severe attack of rheumatic fever that caused him to withdraw from school and return home to Philadelphia with a permanently damaged heart. Having sufficiently recovered by the fall of 1839, he 44

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

began the study of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and after a period of residency at the Blockley Almshouse hospital graduated in March 1842. Ironically, his father John Kintzing Kane, an influential Jacksonian politician and distinguished jurist, sought for his son an appointment as a naval surgeon believing that the young man did not have the stamina to endure the rigors of “a normal medical career.” While awaiting word of the commission in May 1843, Kane peremptorily joined the diplomatic mission headed by the newly appointed Ambassador to China, Massachusetts statesman Caleb Cushing, as the expedition’s physician. The lengthy sea voyage took Kane to Madeira, Rio de Janeiro, Bombay, Ceylon, Macao and Manila. In the Spanish Philippines Kane explored the recently active volcano of Taal where he was nearly overcome by noxious fumes, and barely escaped. While in the distant Orient Kane witnessed protracted negotiations that culminated in the Treaty of Wanghia (July 3, 1844), the first between the United States and Imperial China then seething in upheaval over concessions forced by the recent Opium War with Great Britain. Kane had taken leave of the legation in June 1844 and oblivious to the dangers traveled extensively while “conducting a hospital boat at Whampoa” for six months. Kane then made his way back home taking a rather circuitous route by way of India, Egypt, Athens and Paris followed by a transatlantic voyage that landed back in Philadelphia in September 1845, literally two years away traveling around the world.

Elisha Kane’s navy appointment as assistant surgeon had been approved in July 1843 just as he had reached China. In his new role as ship’s surgeon Kane then embarked upon two cruises including an anti slavery patrol to the West African coast during the early part of Mexican War 1846-47 that he found “stultifying” despite becoming seriously ill once more. Given leave to recover, the redoubtable Kane journeyed directly to the Washington, D.C. in October 1847 “seeking assignment to duty more stimulating than that of ship’s doctor.” More than he could have imagined his wish was to be realized.

Surgeon Kane was duly given a most unusual and dangerous task which would later result in national accolades manifest by this very presentation sword given by “his friends and fellow citizens

Cased Presentation Sword to Surgeon Elisha K. Kane, USN - Mexican War Hero and Famous Arctic Explorer of Philadelphia” to their home town hero. With no military experience per se, Surgeon Kane, attached to the Marine Corps, was to deliver government dispatches including, it is said, “a secret message” to General Winfield Scott then occupying Mexico City following its capture by American troops on September 15, 1847. An excerpt from an Elisha Kent Kane Historical Society article relates that: “En route, Kane and the mercenaries hired to escort him became engaged in a skirmish with Mexican forces, commanded by Brigadier General Antonio Gaona, former Governor of Puebla. Although Kane’s party got the better of Gaona’s forces, Kane himself received a serious lance wound. In spite of his injury, he successfully restrained his men from murdering Gaona. He then saved the General’s son by stitching up his wounds with the tine of a fork and thread. Gaona insisted upon hosting Kane at his estate for the duration of his recovery from the lance wound. When Kane returned to Philadelphia he was treated like a hero. Very little is recorded about the skirmish, also known as the battle of Nopalucan, but it occurred on January 6, 1848 about 115 miles east of Mexico City along the National Highway at the namesake town in Puebla province. Post-war, Kane resumed the dreaded routine of a naval surgeon afloat serving aboard the U.S.S. Supply and U.S.S. Walker which, given his prior sentiments, must have been onerous.

The best remembered part of Kane’s short life commenced in 1849 when he petitioned the Secretary of the Navy to accompany a proposed expedition to the Arctic to search for the missing British explorer, Sir John Franklin, presumed lost in the Canadian Arctic since 1845. In May 1850 he received welcome orders to proceed to New York Harbor to join the First Grinnell Expedition as ship’s surgeon. The expedition was composed entirely of navy personnel crewing the refitted whaling brigs Advance and Rescue commanded by Lieutenant Edwin J. DeHaven, USN. The two vessels got underway on May 22, 1850 bound for the Barrow Strait with instructions to search there and northward in the Wellington Channel and westward to Cape Walker. At Beechy Island in August 1850 traces of the Franklin’s Expedition were found, including graves of crewmen, confirming that Franklin’s ships, Erebus and Terror, had wintered there in 1845-46. Kane recorded in his journal on August 28 “that there were seven ships, under three different commands within hailing distance of Beechy Island with two more ships of another expedition trapped in the ice only 15 miles to the west.” The Grinnell Expedition spent the winter of 1850-51 embedded in the Arctic ice, breaking free only in early June to reconnoiter northward through the ice-pack before turning for New York where the ships docked in September 1850. Kane spent a portion of the next two years writing a detailed narrative of the voyage and speaking before large public audiences as well as lecturing at scientific societies and the Smithsonian. As his expertise became more widely known he began to advocate for another expedition to search the “Polar Sea” for Franklin. A second smaller expedition reached fruition in 1853 thanks to wealthy benefactors and the navy who put Kane command of the civilian brig Advance with a mixed crew of just eighteen men.

The Advance left New York on May 30, 1853 bound for Greenland. The expedition proceeded northward up the west coast of Greenland into an uncharted Peabody Bay (so named by Kane) where, by the end of August, the Advance was stopped by ice. Kane had taken sledge dogs planning to use this method of travel to extend the northern search range during the depth of the Arctic winter. Localized expeditions in small boats were also utilized to explore and gather scientific data.

During the winter months of 1854 temperatures plunged as low as minus 70 below as intolerable conditions turned deadly. Scurvy, malnutrition and severe frost bite took its toll. While small detachments split up and continued to survey, two men died in March 1854 after most of the dogs had already been consumed. By mid-summer Kane was alarmed that Advance would remain icebound and so on July 12 he and five volunteers attempted to reach Beechey Island by small boat.

Kane’s small contingent was forced to turn back. On August 28 another party of desperate men (reported as seven or nine) then set out overland to reach Upernavik to the south in defiance of Kane who now counseled that the expedition remain together. This attempt also failed as the group of dead men walking staggered back to Advance in early December. thanks to the aid of native Inuit people. Morale plummeted, isolated and trapped for twenty one months - facing a third winter on the ice - it was decided to abandon the Advance in May 1855 and make for Upernavik in small boats.

A harrowing eighty-three day trek traversing at least a thousand miles of Arctic ice was successful with the loss of one man. The sixteen (or seventeen depending on the source) survivors were taken aboard a Danish ship which made its way to Godhavn on Disko Island. While the expedition did

nothing to solve the mystery of the lost Franklin, Kane had started early on to record meteorological data, notes on the Inuit people, and had charted the western coast of Greenland with detailed topographical observations that no explorer had done. Despite being in extremely poor health upon returning to Philadelphia, Kane threw himself into penning an account of the lengthy arctic ordeal entitled, Artic Explorations: The Second Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, 1853, ‘54, ‘55.

Invited to lecture in London, Kane once more crossed the Atlantic and visited England in late 1856.

Kane must have known that his time was short and he determined to make what would become his final journey, this time the destination was to the warm clime of the southern hemisphere --Havana, where he hoped to restore his vitality in the face of decades of chronic illness. After suffering two severe strokes he died there in on February 16, 1857 at age 37. As a measure of esteem the Spanish Governor of Havana accompanied Kane’s remains back to New Orleans. Kane’s final sojourn to Philadelphia took seven days while all along the route - from New Orleans to Cincinnati - the banks of the Mississippi were lined with mourners. The train cortège from Cincinnati was slowed by an outpouring of the public wishing to pay their respect at every town and city. Kane was solemnized by an elaborate public funeral in his native Philadelphia and was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery. Kane had experienced more travel and adventure, accomplishing more in thirty-seven years than many do given a longer life. Kane’s body of authorship, two books “that still rank high for literary merit” and numerous scientific articles, became an enduring legacy and barometer for later 19th century Arctic exploration. Elisha Kent Kane’s Mexican War presentation sword for “skill and intrepidity” is solidified by his later Arctic adventures for which he is remembered today. Very fine. Blade retains most of the frosty etching and original polish with some minor loss, scattered dulling and a few speckles of minor surface oxidation. Hilt and scabbard fine with some light handling marks. Case fine with some light handing marks. $30,000 - $50,000

Details SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

45

Civil War Ames Presentation Sword to Acting Master James R. Wheeler, USN - USS Kearsarge

783 Civil War Ames Presentation Sword to Acting Master James R. Wheeler, USN - USS Kearsarge 28.75” slightly curved, single-edged blade with 19.5” stopped central fuller. 5.5” gilt brass hilt with sterling grip and three-branch guard that terminates in a sea serpent at the pommel and another sea serpent as the quillon. Frosted etched blade marked Ames Mfg. Co / Chicopee / Mass above the obverse ricasso and with decorative panels running about there-fourths of the blade’s length. The obverse images include panoplies of arms, flowing foliate and geometric themes and include a central image of an anchor surmounted by an American shield. The images on the reverse of the blade include a canon mounted on a naval carriage, and American Eagle, a fouled anchor and a central image containing the letters USN in a banner, along with the usual foliate scrolls. The sterling grip is engraved with tight, flowing feathery scrolls featuring a nautically themed panoply of arms as the central image on the obverse. Guard with an oval depicting a panoply of arms and the pommel cap with an eagle surmounting a fouled anchor, surrounded by the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. Pommel cap is further decorated with flowing feathers and a shell motif in addition to the usual

46

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM KOCH

acanthus leaf motif. Sword is accompanied by a pair of scabbards, including a highly embellished gilt brass scabbard with highly detailed and stylized mounts, three suspension rings and a sea serpent drag. The obverse of the metal scabbard is engraved with the following presentation: James R. Wheeler / Acting Master of the US Ship Kearsarge / as a testimonial for his Services in her engagement with the Alabama June 19, 1864. Scabbard with relief engraved image of Poseidon within flowing scrolls and nautically theme mounts. Secondary scabbard of shagreen covered wood with gilt brass naval motif mounts with knotted ropes and a sea serpent drag. Sword and both scabbards are contained in a varnished wood case with silver washed brass fittings. The case has a form fitted interior with blue velvet and satin lining, with additional cream colored satin lining. This sword is published in a number of references including Colonel Rankin’s Small Arms of the Sea Service. A truly spectacular Civil War naval presentation sword from one of the most storied Civil War naval battles, likely second only to the battle between the Monitor and the CSS Virginia (Merrimack) in terms of legend and lore.

BID LIVE ONLINE WITH

COWAN’S live!

Civil War Ames Presentation Sword to Acting Master James R. Wheeler, USN - USS Kearsarge

Left Side

On July 19, 1864 Acting Master James R. Wheeler was one of nineteen naval officers aboard the USS Kearsarge during the epic sea battle off Cherbourg with the storied Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama. As spectators watched from the shoreline the visual drama of the unprecedented engagement between two steam warships played out lasting a little over an hour. The adversaries maneuvered on opposite courses in spiraling circles, attempting to cross the others’ bow and deliver a full broadside. As the range closed, Alabama fired first without effect. Not unexpectedly the well drilled crew of the Kearsarge soon demonstrated superior gunnery skills and methodically scored at least six hits that holed the Alabama below the waterline. With the Alabama sinking Captain Semmes struck the colors and send his only surviving boat over to Kearsarge for assistance. Details of the broader fight are many, while Acting Master Wheeler in his official report of the battle - his only known eyewitness account - dated June 22, 1864 gave a rather brevet perspective: In obedience to your order I respectfully report that during the recent engagement with the Alabama the men of the first division, comprising the 11-inch forward pivot gun and rifle upon forecastle, without a single exception, displayed coolness and fortitude to a degree not anticipated under the excitement of receiving an enemy’s fire. Indeed, I can not sufficiently express my commendation of their performance of duty. While I render to every man a praise so justly merited, I would make special mention of James Haley, captain, John F. Bickford, first leader Charles A. Read, first sponger, Edward Wilt, second sponger, of pivot gun, for their deliberation and coolness during the discharge of their respective duties. The marine guard, stationed at the rifle gun openly exposed to the fire of the Alabama, showed great coolness and efficiency in the discharge of their respective duties.

A Boston native, Captain James R. Wheeler of the “Merchant Service” is said to have volunteered his services even before the Confederacy fired on Fort Sumter. An experienced civilian mariner who managed to navigate navy bureaucracy, he was duly appointed Acting Master on October 29, 1861 and was immediately ordered to report to the Commandant of the Boston Navy Yard for gunnery instruction. On December 20, 1861, Wheeler was ordered to Portsmouth for duty aboard the steam frigate USS Kearsarge as Acting Master. His first war patrol under Captain Pickering was to the Mediterranean in search of the marauding “Rebel Steamer Sumpter” [sic]. Thereafter, Wheeler was attached to Kearsarge from the time she left Portsmouth until she returned to Boston in November 1864 with the exception of “a short time he was ordered by Captain Winslow on secret service” previous to the engagement with Alabama. Presumably detached to Cherbourg (or possibly an English port), said service seemed to involve collecting local intelligence on “the movements of the SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

rebel vessels Alabama, Georgetown, and Rappahannock,” erroneously believed to be in the vicinity of the Kearsarge. We know that Acting Master Wheeling had returned to his ship by June 19 as his signature appears in the ship’s log as “Officer of the Day.” In the wake of the signal victory, Captain Winslow is his subsequent dispatches to the Navy Department mentioned, among others, Acting Master Wheeler for “meritorious conduct and services” laying the groundwork for future independent command. This exquisite presentation sword “as a testimonial” was forthcoming. Additionally, on December 20, 1864 all of the officers and men of the Kearsarge received the Thanks of Congress in a formal resolution praising their “skill and gallantry....in the brilliant action against the piratical craft Alabama.”

Kearsarge finally returned to Boston in November 1864 and after several months of shore leave (Wheeler had married in 1854), James Wheeler was promoted to Acting Volunteer Lieutenant on February 7, 1865. He was given command of the fast steamer USS Preston, formerly a British built blockade runner named Annie that had been captured off North Carolina and subsequently acquired by the navy. The vessel departed New York in mid February bound for new Orleans where she arrived on March 9, 1865. Preston was assigned to duty as part of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron.

On March 21 Preston sailed for Mobile with dispatches for Admiral Thatcher and then joined the 3rd Division of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron operating off the coast of Texas. Preston put into Galveston, the only major port still in Confederate hands, following Detail

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

47

Civil War Ames Presentation Sword to Acting Master James R. Wheeler, USN - USS Kearsarge the surrender and remained on station during the month of July until ordered to Philadelphia where she was decommissioned on August 8 and sold out of service. Acting Lieutenant Wheeler remained in limbo “awaiting orders” until December 18, 1865 when he was assigned to the USS Algonquin, a paddle steamer gunboat that rarely left New York Harbor due to poor engines. Wheeler was detached from the Algonquin on March 10, 1866 and went aboard the steamer Augusta on March 23 preparing to undertake a celebrated cruise accompanying the USS Miantonomoh, a revolutionary twin screwed double turret seagoing monitor conveying Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V. Fox to Imperial Russia on a goodwill mission bearing a Congressional Resolution of congratulations and thanks to Tsar Alexander II. A later report mentions that “Lieutenant Wheeler accompanied Secretary fox’s party in receiving the hospitalities of Russia.”

The lengthy cruise left New York on May 5, 1866 and was a political gambit intended to show the flag and American naval technology. The two ships would be away for over a year and would visit nearly every port in Europe and the Mediterranean before returning home and anchoring in Philadelphia on July 22, 1867. Lieutenant Wheeler did not complete the extended tour. While visiting Lisbon in December 1866 Admiral Goldsborough commanding the expedition ordered a medical board for officers and crew. Along with others Lieutenant Wheeler “was condemned by the Medical Survey and ordered home” on December 5, 1866. Lieutenant Wheeler returned to Philadelphia in January 1867 and was honorably discharged from the navy on February 11, 1867.

Shortly after leaving the navy Wheeler applied for an invalid pension which was granted at the rate of ten dollars per month to date from April 1869 payable at Boston. Wheeler specifically cited in his application “a hernia of a permanent nature through injuries received while in the line of duty serving in the USS Kearsarge against the Alabama. ”The matter of Wheeler’s pension would become manifest as part of his legacy. After a spell of unemployment Wheeler was appointed an Inspector in the Boston Customs House, afterwards being promoted to Storekeeper. In 1869 he applied for a consulship probably on the basis of his limited diplomatic experience in Russia, and in November was appointed by President Grant as Consul to Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. Wheeler’s notoriety stemming from his naval service probably having some bearing on the appointment. Wheeler arrived in Kingston on January 6, 1870 with his wife and two children to assume his new duties as consular officer. Shortly after taking the post Wheeler became stricken by the heat, his “health already poor by reason of the injuries received in the line of duty.” After a short illness he died in Kingston on April 8, 1870 at which time his meager pension and annual government salary of $2,000 abruptly ceased. James R. Wheeler was buried in Kingston, the funeral and all other expenses paid from his estate. Tragically, Wheeler’s wife, Sarah, and the two children were left nearly destitute, the administration of the estate in both Kingston and Boston “swallowed up everything” forcing them “to find their own means for returning to Boston.” It is noted in later official pension correspondence with Sarah Wheeler that “the prize money received on account of the Alabama amounting to $3,754 dollars” was also “swallowed up in administering the estate.” Periodically throughout the second half of the 19th century, the widow Sarah, then living in Roxbury, Massachusetts, petitioned the government with claims for a widow’s pension. Sadly, Sarah was never able to provide the required documentation - her husband’s death certificate was never located and her own first and middle names had been inverted resulting in a decade of mistaken identity - causing her multiple claims to be denied or disallowed. Sarah Wheeler died in 1890 without the pension.

A determined son sought to redress the perceived injustice for as late as March 1920 correspondence exists between a William R. Wheeler and the pension office over back claims, by now filed as “abandoned.” Very fine. Blade retains most of the frosty etching and bright blade polish with some minor wear and loss, as well as some light scattered surface oxidation, most notably ion the obverse above the Ames mark. Hilt fine with much gilt remaining. Scabbards both fine. Wood case with some wears scattered scuffs and mars and a moderate chip out of the lower left corner.

Interior with wear, some tearing of the lining and some fabric loss. $40,000 - $60,000

Detail

48

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM KOCH

Civil War Ames Presentation Sword to Acting Master James R. Wheeler, USN - USSÂ Kearsarge

SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

49

Exceptional Gold Presentation Sword to General Rufus King

784 Exceptional Gold Presentation Sword to General Rufus King 32.5” single-edged slightly curved spear-point blade with 5” false edge and nearly full-length stopped median fuller. 6.75” gold gilt hilt with beaded crown pommel cap and beaded globe finial. Cast gilt grip with stippled surface with six wraps of wide gilt decorative banding, cast as alternating rows of laurel leaves and smooth bands with stars. Flowing gilt upper quillon in the form of a classic helmet plume with a feathery base and forward swept beaded finial. Knuckle guard stippled and gilt with flowing foliate themes and oval center escutcheon set with an amethyst. Obverse grip set with three additional amethysts. Gilt folding clam shell-style counter-guard. Obverse ricasso with Weyersberg King’s Head logo. Above the ricasso, the two-line dry needle etching reads non script: Bailey & Co / Philadelphia. Silver washed Damascus patterned blade with gold gilt acid etched panels including a Grecian urn with foliate sprays and additional foliate themes surrounding a large US within a sunburst on the obverse and flowing foliate patterns on the reverse that feature a spread-winged American Eagle with a ribbon in its beak that reads E PLURIBUS UNUM as the central panel. Spine of sword etched with flowing vines and gold gilt as well. Scalloped red wool throat washer at hilt.

Sword is contained in a gold gilt metal scabbard with highly ornamented brass mounts with beaded boarders that thematically connects with the beading on the pommel cap and quillon of the sword.

Upper mount with two rings, bidding mount with a single ring. Scabbard body engraved with flowing foliate scrolls and sprays. Central panel between the two suspension mounts is engraved as follows: Presented to / Ten. Rufus King / By the 19th Ind. Vols at their Camp on Arlington Heights, VA / as a toke of respect for him as a Solider & a Gentleman / March 4, 1862. Bailey & Company presentation swords are exceptionally rare, and this is a truly stunning example in outstanding condition.

50

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM KOCH

Born in New York City, Rufus King (1814-1876) was the first of four commanders of the feted Iron Brigade comprised of the 2nd, 6th and 7th Wisconsin, 19th Indiana, and 24th Michigan - hardy Midwestern farmers whose fighting spirit would be canonized as a theme of Army of the Potomac lore. King hailed from a highly respected and prosperous family with roots going back before the Revolution. Rufus King is inextricably linked with the famed Iron Brigade. Much of the Iron Brigade’s vaunted reputation can be attributed to the plethora of Civil War Centennial literature that reintroduced the American Civil war to a broad base of captivated readers in the early 1960’s. In fact, the Iron Brigade missed the entirety of the Peninsula campaign and was not engaged in any of the swirling Seven Days’ fighting during June and July 1862. Rufus King commanded the iron brigade for only a short time before being promoted to division command and, in reality, it was the second brigade commander, John Gibbon, who “must get much of the credit for the high degree of military efficiency” attributed to the brigade. It was also Gibbon who equipped the brigade with its trademark ‘Black Hats’, the iconic Hardee hat with upturned brim favored by the Regulars.

Rufus King excelled in the organization of the early Iron Brigade drawing upon his West Point education - he was Class of 1837 commissioned into the elite topographical engineers - and the four years he soldiered as Adjutant General of New York from 1839 to 1843. Setting aside his avocation as editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel after the bombardment of Fort Sumter, King became among the first of the volunteer brigadier generals when he was commissioned on May 17, 1861. King’s Brigade as it would be known was not born until October 3, 1861 when the three Wisconsin regiments were joined with the 19th Indiana in Washington, D.C. to form the nucleus of future Iron Brigade. The 2nd Wisconsin had been in the eastern theater the longest, from June 20, 1861, and was the only

BID LIVE ONLINE WITH

COWAN’S live!

Exceptional Gold Presentation Sword to General Rufus King

Left Side

regiment to see action at 1st Bull Run. Later in the summer the 6th Wisconsin arrived in Washington on July 28, then the 19th Indiana on August 5, followed by the 7th Wisconsin on September 21. Governor Randall of Wisconsin had originally planned to send an all-Wisconsin brigade to the east but its formation never materialized due to the pressing need to forward regiments to the front as quickly as they mustered in. As the late-comer in October 1862, the 24th Michigan was never associated with General King’s brigade. King drilled and perfected his regiments during the fall and winter ensconced in the Washington Defenses.

When the spring campaigning season arrived, the four original regiments would constitute the 3rd Brigade, McDowell’s Division, in the 3rd Corps. When Rufus King was promoted to division command in early April 1862 - a month after this sword was presented - he effectively took leave of his Wisconsin and Indiana soldiers several months before General John Gibbon would lay the groundwork for their “Iron Brigade” sobriquet. The 19th Indiana was commanded by Solomon Meredith and would go on to amass a knot of battle honors but it is not known what, if any, special arrangement may have existed between General King and the Hoosiers that would have prompted the men to purchase this elaborate and costly presentation sword. While the likely existence of a period newspaper account of the sword presentation is presumed, one could not be readily located.

General King has a short career as a division commander. He guarded the line of the Rappahannock during the early summer and did not participate in General McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign, nor was he engaged in any of the swirling Seven Days’ fighting later in June and July. Subsequently, Lincoln pressed for another drive on Richmond that summer, later to be known as the Second Bull Run Campaign. King’s division was part McDowell’s Corps in John Pope’s army that Lee worried would combine with McClellan and overwhelm him. Splitting his army, Lee ordered Stonewall Jackson’s Corps to march rapidly north towards Gordonville to intercept Pope. Meantime, King ordered his old brigade now under Gibbon to take a mixed force and carry out a reconnaissance to ascertain reports of a large body of Confederate infantry moving on Gordonsville. Near the Orange Court House, Gibbon learned that the whole of Jackson’s Corps was in the vicinity.

Gibbon was then drawn into a brief skirmish with Confederate cavalry screening Jackson, but quickly withdrew so as to report the intelligence to King. Pope had been ordered to pressure the Confederate line of communication between Richmond and Gordonsville and maneuvered two divisions - King’s and Rickett’s - of McDowell’s Corps to prevent a linkage between Jackson and Longstreet.

Essentially, General King pulled back without orders exposing Rickett’s who, in turn, also withdraw. Jackson’s ‘foot cavalry” flanked the floundering Pope and

captured the large supply depot at Manassas Junction on August 26 putting his corps between Pope and Washington. Pope went looking for a fight with Jackson but couldn’t find the Confederates who had gone into defensive positions waiting for Lee to come up. On August 29, Jackson attacked a part of McDowell’s Corps near Groveton in order to pin the Federals while Lee advanced with Longstreet’s Corps. The reputation of the Iron Brigade was born at Groveton (Brawner’s Farm) in the brutal fighting of August 28.The disastrous battle of 2nd Bull Run following on the 29th and 30th with Pope launching a series of attacks only to find himself caught between Jackson and Longstreet. Ultimately, the Federal retreat bordered on a route reminiscent of the disaster a year earlier at 1st Bull Run. Union casualties numbered some 14,000 killed and wounded with army’s morale suffering an incalculable loss. Immediately, the fallout and scapegoating commenced. General John Pope was relieved of command and exiled. FitzJohn Porter was courtmarshaled and dismissed. A Court of Inquiry brushed off allegations that Rufus King has been drunk (in fact, he was an epileptic with a worsening condition) on the field of battle but did find him guilty of disobeying orders, reprimanding him for dereliction of duty. King never held a significant field assignment again and, with his reputation in tatters combined with failing health, resigned from the army on October 20, 1863. A devout Catholic, King was appointed Minister to the Papal States and held the position in Rome until the end of 1867. He returned to New York City and briefly took up an appointment as deputy collector of customs before his health forced him to retire in 1869. For the remainder of his life Rufus King lived out of the public eye and died on October 13, 1876. The general was buried in Grace Churchyard, Jamaica, New York.

Rufus King’s son, Captain Rufus King, Jr., 4th US Artillery, was a bonafide Civil war hero who would later be awarded (in 1898) a Medal of Honor for White Oak Swamp on June 30, 1862. Following his service Captain King had retired to Arizona and the legacy of the two soldiers intertwined in an article from Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 42 in 1888: “The portrait in oil of his father, General Rufus King, looks down upon maps and faded blue prints...the magnificent presentation sword owned

by General King displayed by his soldier-author son in the reception room down-stairs...”

Exquisite. Blade retains much of the silver wash and Damascus patterning with all etching remaining clear and crisp and most of the gold gilding remaining intact as well with one some minor wear and loss. Blade with some small, scattered patches of light sauce oxidation and discoloration, primarily at the tip. Hilt exceptional as well, with some minor wear, thinning and loss to the gilding. Scabbard equally wonderful with some minor thinning and loss to the gilt finish. Simply a stunning sword overall. $75,000 - $150,000

SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

Detail OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

51

798 C. Roby Plain Hilt Model 1860 Cavalry Officer’s Sword 34.75” curved, single-edged blade with 27.5” stopped median fuller. 40.75” in overall length, with a gilt brass 6” hilt with three-branch guard and Phrygian helmet pommel.

Grooved wood grip with top-seamed shagreen cover and thirteen wraps of dragoon style gilt wire, with a twisted pair flanked by two plain wires. Blade etched IRON PROOF on spine and with deeply etched flowing foliate motifs on the obverse with an American Eagle and panoply of arms as the central themes. The reverse of the blade engraved in a similar fashion with flowing vines, foliate scrolls a panoply of arms and with the letters USC (US Cavalry) as the central motif. The ricasso is etched C. ROBY & CO / W. CHELMSFORD / MASS. Partial buff washer in place at throat. Sword is accompanied by it correct pattern gilt brass mounted, browned metal scabbard with two suspension rings and a prominent lap seam along the lower edge. Plain hilt cavalry officer’s sabers with etched blades are uncommon, as a company grade officer on a budget was more likely to acquire the more practical variant with a decorative hilt with a plain blade. A fine example of an uncommon cavalry officer’s saber by a prominent American maker and retailer.

Fine. Blade retains some of the original polish, showing some dulling and some very lightly scattered flecks of age discoloration and oxidation. Blade and hilt remain tight and the peen is untouched. Hilt with some traces of gilt finish, and some lightly scattered impact marks. Grip with some light wear on the high edges, particularly along the top. Wire tight. Scabbard with nice thinning brown over most of the metal as well as some surface oxidation and some very minor light dings and handling marks. Mounts with strong traces of gilt. $2,000 - $3,000

799 Pattern 1860 Light Cavalry Sword By Ames 34.5” curved, single-edged blade with 26.5” stopped median fuller. 40.75” in overall length, with 6” brass hilt, three-branch guard and Phrygian helmet pommel cap. Grooved wood handle covered in leather with 11 wraps of two-strand twisted brass wire. Reverse ricasso with four line Ames “scroll mark” address reading Made By / AMES MFG. CO. / CHICOPEE / MASS. with the last line being a little weak. obverse ricasso stamped US / G.W.C. / 1864, pommel cap with J.F. inspection. Leather throat washer in place. Bright metal scabbard with two suspension rings and inspected G.K.C. on the obverse drag. A very nice example of an 1864 dated Ames cavalry saber in a far above average state of preservation. Fine. Blade with some original bright polish as well as some visible cross polish a the ricasso. Showing some scattered light surface oxidation and dulling from age. Markings clear with the exception of the last line of the Ames mark. Hilt with an uncleaned patina, grip with some light wear and loss along the high edges and contact points. Blade and hilt tight, peen undisturbed, wire tight and secure. Scabbard with a prominent lap seam, some scattered surface oxidation and discoloration and a couple of very minor surface dings. $600 - $1,000

52

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

800 14K Gold Naval Presentation Sword To Commander Daniel Delehanty by Gorham 29” single-edged spear-point blade with 20” stopped median fuller. 34.5” overall length with 5.5” 14k gold hilt with single sea serpent themed knuckle bow and sea serpent quillon. Hilt cast with the New York State Seal and oak leaf clusters on the interior of the guard as well as the coat of arms of the City of Albany, NY. Pommel cap cast with American Eagle motif surrounded by thirteen stars. Hilt marked 14k. Grooved wood grip with bottom seamed white shagreen cover and ten wraps of two-strand twisted gold wire. The reverse of the blade is deeply engraved with the gold gilt presentation: Presented to Commander Daniel Delehanty, by the Citizens of Albany New York, surrounded by foliate designs. Browned metal scabbard with heavily decorated 14k marked gold mounts and gold gilt decorations on the scabbard body. Upper mount cast with a spread winged American Eagle with a laurel wreath of stars above its head and Delehanty’s initials below the knotted rope suspension mount. Middle mount with a sea serpent encircling Poseidon’s trident and another knotted rope suspension mount. Drag with a sea serpent decoration and oak and laurel leaf clusters. Scabbard body with decorative gold boarder lines, foliate motifs and thirteen stars in the upper obverse panel between the upper and middle mounts. The reverse of the scabbard decorated en-suite, without the stars. This sword was the subject of a April 19, 1899 article in the Jeweler’s Circular, where the sword is pictured and described and noted to be entirely 14k gold mounted and produced for presentation to Commander Delehanty by the Gorham Manufacturing Company, on order from James Mix jewelers of Albany, NY at the cost of $1,000; the ecomenic impact equivalent of nearly 1 Million Dollars today!

Daniel Delehanty (1844-1918) joined the US Navy at the age of 16 and saw service during the Civil War in the blockading squadrons operating in the Atlantic and the Gulf. He received an appointment to Annapolis from President Lincoln during the war and graduated in 1867. He was promoted to Ensign in 1868 and to Master in 1870, achieving the rank of Lieutenant in 1872. He saw service around the world with the post-Civil War US Navy, which was dedicated to the expansion of American influence and the opening of trade with previously isolated locations like Asia and the Pacific Islands. He also saw shore duty at a number of locations including the Mare Island Navy Yard, the US Naval Academy and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. While stationed at the Academy he was an instructor in naval tactics, ship building and seamanship. In 1892, he was promoted to Lt. Commander and was subsequently assigned to the be the US Naval supervisor of New York Harbor, where he invented the Delehanty “self-dumping and self-propelling garbage scow”. He later served as the Executive Officer of the Battleship Texas, and saw service during the Spanish American War in Cuba. In 1898, he was appointed to be the Governor of the Sailors’ Snug Harbor. The Sailors’ Snug Harbor was an old age and retirement home of “aged decrepit and worn out seamen”, established in 1833 on Staten Island at the bequest of Revolutionary War solider and sea master Robert Richard Randall. This sword was presented to Delehanty at the Sailor’s Snug Harbor on April 8, 1899.

Fine. Blade with a dulled steel patina and a few minor nicks along its edge. Engraved presentation clear and intact. Hilt spectacular with brilliant gold and fine wrap and wire. Scabbard very fine as well, with only some minor loss to the brown finish and gilt decoration due to scuffing and wear. $5,000 - $10,000

801 Ames Model 1860 US Naval Cutless 26” curved single-edged blade with 18.5” median fuller. 6” hilt with brass half-basket guard and leather covered grooved wood grip. Reverse ricasso with three-line Ames scroll address, obverse ricasso dated 1862. Interior of guard quillon rack marked 10M/244. No scabbard present. Very good. Blade mostly bright with marks fully legible. Guard with untouched patina, leather grip with moderate wear and some flaked loss. $400 - $600

SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

53

Confederate Mitchell & Tyler Staff Officer’s Sword

Left Side

803 Confederate Mitchell & Tyler Staff Officer’s Sword 29.25” semi-curved, spear-point blade with single 20”, unstopped median fuller. 5” gilt brass hilt with a star over CS cast into the guard, surrounded by a laurel wreath. Grooved wood grip with leather cover and 16 wraps of twisted wire. Obverse blade etched with panoplies of arms and simple foliate scrolls with the letters CS in the center. Reverse blade etched with panoplies of arms with the words LIBERTY on a flag, HOPE on a shield and VICTORY OR DEATH in a ribbon. Reverse ricasso etched in an arc: Boyle Gamble & Co over Mfg. For / Mitchell & Tyler / Richmond / VA. Black lacquered wood scabbard with high grade gold gilt brass mounts with decorative floral bands. A really spectacular condition Confederate staff officer’s sword

by Boyle & Gamble and retailed by Mitchell & Tyler. Fine. Blade retains much of the frosty etching and bright polish with all of the etching remaining completely visible and all words completely legible. Blade with some scattered flecks of minute surface oxidation and a couple of tiny dings in the edge. Hilt and guard with strong traces of gold gilt in protected areas, wrap and wire fine with some light wear. Partial leather throat washer in place. Scabbard fine, with mounts retaining much of their gold gilt as well. $15,000 - $25,000

54

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

Kraft Goldschmidt & Kraft Confederate Cavalry Officer’s Sword

Left Side

804 Kraft Goldschmidt & Kraft Confederate Cavalry Officer’s Sword 36” spear point blade with three narrow, central fullers, with the two outside fullers measuring 9.75” and the center fuller 10.5”. Massive 6.25” hilt with heavy 3-branch guard and crudely cast pommel cap with acanthus leaf motif. Grooved wood grip with leather cover and 13 wraps of twisted iron wire and distinctive Kraft, Goldschmidt & Kraft brass ferrule behind the guard. Thick leather washers are present on both sides of the guard as well. Blade engraved with panoplies of arms on the reverse, surrounding the two-line Spanish motto: NO ME SAQUES SIN RASON / NO ME EMBAINES SIN HONOR, which translates: “Draw me not without reason, Sheath me not without honor”. The reverse ricasso is marked in script by the blade maker, Schimmelbusch & Joest (ca 1816-1839, Bezdek), with the obverse ricasso marked in script Solingen. Obverse of blade with floral motifs, panoplies of arms and a laurel wreath. Lap seamed metal scabbard with browned finish and brass mounts, including a screw secured brass throat, two brass hanging mounts with suspension rings and a brass, lyre-shaped drag.

These massive cavalry officer’s sabers were produced in limited quantities by Kraft, Goldschmidt & Kraft of Columia, SC and were based upon the French Model 1816 Cuirassier (Heavy Cavalry) Saber.

It is generally believed that the sword design was inspired, if not specifically ordered, by South Carolina cavalry General Wade Hampton, who carried one of these massive sabers himself, as did a number of South Carolina cavalry officers. KG&K apparently imported the surplus cuirassier blades that were at least 25 years old at the time, and hilted them in the French style with the large, flowing 3-branch French heavy cavalry guard, but retained some distinctive KG&K touches like the crudely sand cast acanthus leaf pattern on the pommel cap with a clear mold seam line in the middle, the massive brass ferrule at the front of the grip and the use of very thin twisted wire on the wrap. At least one account referred to these long, straight-bladed sabers as “Crusader like.” Only a handful of these massive Confederate cavalry officer’s sabers are known to survive in collections today and this is a particularly nice example. Very good. Blade with a mottled and oxidized dark gray over pewter patina, showing some light surface roughness and some very lightly scattered pinpricking. Blade shows some minor nicks along both edges near the tip, which may have been reprofiled during the period of use, possibly shortening the blade about .5”. All engraved decoration remains clear and legible, with some light wear. Hilt with a lovely golden patina, showing the typical casting flaws and rough finishing of Confederate brass hilts. A small flawed crack is present on the reverse of the knuckle bow, about 1.25” below the pommel SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

cap. Leather wrap with moderate wear and some minor leather loss, wire remains intact and tight.

Scabbard very good as well, retaining traces of browned finish, mixed with a lightly oxidized brown patina, showing a clear lap seam braze line along the bottom reverse edge. Mounts solid and complete, showing casting flaws and some rough finishing, with the same lovely golden patina as the hilt. Middle mount has a wonderful period of use replaced suspension ring made from classic Confederate copper-rich “red brass.”

A really lovely example of a scarce Confederate cavalry officer’s saber in a very nice state of preservation. $10,000 - $15,000

Details OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

55

Louis Haiman Confederate Staff Officer’s Sword

Left Side

806 Louis Haiman Confederate Staff Officer’s Sword 29.75” slightly curved single-edged blade with 6” false edge and a 23” unstopped median fuller.

5” brass hilt with cast openwork clam shell counterguard with silver CSA on exterior and large bulbous forward-swept quillon. Leather-covered grooved wood grip with 13 wraps of twisted wire.

Obverse blade etched with a large upside down C.S.A. with leaves between the letters and entwining geometric boarders surrounding the etched panels, including foliate scrolls. Reverse of blade with a spread-winged eagle and foliate scrolls with similar geometric intertwined borders. Browned metal scabbard with brass mounts and two suspension rings. An old gold sword knot is attached to the knuckle bow of the saber. This sword is originally from the William Albaugh III collection and is pictured on page 89 of his Photographic Supplement of Confederate Swords. A rare, well documented

56

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

and published Confederate sword. Very good. Blade with a dull pewter patina and scattered light surface oxidation and discoloration with some lightly scattered pinpricking and couple of small nicks along the edge of the blade. Hilt very good as well with a rich, uncleaned patina on the brass, most of the leather wrap in place with only some minor loss and some minor damage and loss to the wire. Scabbard good with traces of finish and a mostly brownish oxidized patina. Scabbard shows wear and some minor damage, with a soldered repair at the throat and drag, which is worn through in a couple of small areas.

Upper mount with loose band. Scabbard free of any major dents or creases.

Ex Albaugh Collection Pictured on page 89 of A Photographic Supplement of Confederate Swords $8,000 - $12,000

Boyle & Gamble Foot Officer’s Sword

Left Side

807 Boyle & Gamble Foot Officer’s Sword 29” slightly curved single-edged blade with 4” false edge and 22” median fuller. 5.25” sand cast brass hilt with two-branch guard, face of which is cast with the markings: BOYLE, GAMBLE & MACFEE over RICHMOND. Lightly grooved wood grip with thin leather cover and 15 wraps of singlestrand copper wire. Brass mounted, top-seamed leather scabbard with incised line decorations along edges. Upper and middle mounts with thin, crudely-made suspension rings that have approximate diameters of 1.125” on the exterior and .9” on the interior. Middle mount and drag decorated with two incised lines. Very good. Blade lightly cleaned with a mottle grayish patina and some lightly scattered oxidation. Hilt with an uncleaned patina, grip with leather in fine condition. Remnants of leather sword knot in guard. Scabbard fine, with light wear and crazing, stitching tight and mounts with an lovely uncleaned patina. Upper suspension ring nearly worn through at one spot from carry wear. Throat is slightly loose. $8,000 - $15,000

SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

57

Boyle & Gamble Confederate Staff Officer’s Sword

Left Side

808 Boyle & Gamble Confederate Staff Officer’s Sword 29.875” slightly curved single-edged spear point blade with 18.75” unstopped median fuller. 5.5” hilt with cast brass guard with the “CS and Star” motif, surround by a laurel wreath. Crudely sand cast guard, knuckle bow and pommel cap with floral motifs, acanthus leaves and flowing ribbons. Leather-covered wood grip with 7 wraps of single-strand brass wire. Roughly cast forward swept quillon. Blade etched with Confederate patriotic motifs on the obverse, including CSA in a shield surmounting a flag and canon and a flag with 12 “X”-shaped stars in a crude St. Andrews Cross configuration in the canton, along with a variety of flowing foliate themes. The obverse blade shows a clear forging flaw, about 1.75” from the hilt, with a similar, less obvious flaw about .5” from the hilt on the reverse. The reverse of the blade is etched with flowing foliate themes with the central panel showing a simple panoply of arms with a liberty cap suspended from a halberd, crosses flags, a canon and a bugle, all surmounted by a shield with three vertical stripes on the lower portion and 9 crude “+”-shaped stars on the upper portion. Brass mounted, top-seamed leather scabbard with ring mounts pinned to throat and middle mount. Scabbard body with incised lines at edges on both obverse and reverse and a simple flowing decorative pattern embossed along the edges of the seam. A truly spectacular condition example of a very desirable Boyle & Gamble Staff Officer’s sword. Very fine. Blade retains most of its bright polish its the large majority of the frosty etching, with the only real loss at the ricasso, where the frosting has thinned from contact with the scabbard throat.

Blade is crisp, unsharpened and free of any significant nicks along the edge. Hilt with a medium ocher patina, leather wrap with light wear and some minor finish loss, but entirely intact, with all wire in place. Scabbard fine, complete and solid, with some minor crazing and some minor bend marks, mostly on the reverse, but one quite obvious about 5.5” from the top of the drag on the obverse. Seam remains tight along the top edge, embossed patterns and incised lines remain mostly visible. Mounts with a medium bronze patina, with both the mounts and rings showing some small casting flaws. A really stunning example in a fantastic state of preservation. $7,000 - $12,000 58

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

Detail BID LIVE ONLINE WITH

COWAN’S live!

Confederate Staff Officer’s Sword by Kraft, Goldsmith & Kraft

Left Side

809 Confederate Staff Officer’s Sword by Kraft, Goldsmith & Kraft 32” single-edged spear-point blade with 5” false edge and 23” unstopped fuller. 6.75” gilt brass hilt with CS and floral motifs cast into the guard. Blade with 16.25” etched panel terminating in a spear point final. The obverse of the blade is etched K.G.&K. at the ricasso and with floral and martial motifs along the rest of the panel. The reverse is etched Columbia at the ricasso and with additional martial and floral themes, with the letters C.S. Grooved wood grip with thin leather covering and wrapped with 9 strands of plain brass wire. Metal scabbard with prominent lap seam along the bottom rear edge, black enamel painted finish and brass mountings with two suspension rings. Fine. Blade retains most of the acid etched panel with some minor fading, thinning and dulling. Metal with slightly dulled steel patina with the edge showing some scattered nicks and minor marks. Hilt with traces of gilt in protected areas, with the brass showing an uncleaned patina and numerous minute casting flaws and the expected minor finishing imperfections of a Confederate sword. Grip with a nearly full-length crack on the reverse that has opened up the leather wrap along most of its length. Wire remains intact. Scabbard with most of the paint remaining with some thinning and loss, although the paint may have been reapplied at some point in time. Brass mounts with a deep, untouched patina retaining both original suspension rings. $7,000 - $10,000

Detail SEE DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS, ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONDITION REPORTS OF ALL LOTS AT COWANS.COM

OCTOBER 30-31, 2018 CINCINNATI, OHIO

59

American History Premier Auction November 16, 2018 Bid in person, by phone, absentee or live online View Catalog online or request a printed catalog by emailing catalogs@cowans.com Contact: Katie Horstman historic@cowans.com 513.871.1670 x236 6270 Este Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45232

Sam Houston Unpublished Ninth Plate Daguerreotype

60

THE MAGNIFICENT SWORD COLLECTION OF WILLIAM I. KOCH

Cowan’s 6270 Este Ave. Cincinnati, OH 45232 513.871.1670 fax 513.871.8670 info@cowans.com cowans.com