and I reply.
On August 10, 1859, the Nashville newspaper The Tennessean ran an advertising announcement that noted that the former proprietor of the Tennessee Plow Factory, A.W. Putnam, had turned the operation of the business over to Messrs. Sharp & Hamilton. Thomas Sharp and J.T. Hamilton were noted by the former operator to be "practical mechanics". Putnam went on to say that he could "cheerfully commend them as worthy of favor and extensive patronage." The business was located on the Franklin Turnpike (8th Avenue South in Nashville today) about a mile south of the Public Square. Today a State of Tennessee historical marker is erected near the original factory location at 8th Ave. South and Palmer Place, only yards from Cannery Row. The pair ran the firm, known locally as the Tennessee Plow Factory, as well as Putnam's Plow Factory, for less than a year before the business was destroyed by fire. According to articles printed on June 29, 1860 by both The Tennessean and the Daily Nashville Patriot, the manufactory was destroyed by a fire that erupted between 11:00 PM the previous evening and 12:00 AM on the 29th. The losses were reported variously at between $26,000 and $35,000. The building, valued at $17,000, was "a complete wreck" but was fully insured by the Bluff City Insurance Company of Memphis. However, Messers. Sharp & Hamilton reportedly suffered an uninsured loss of some $15,000 in equipment, machinery and raw materials. Not to be deterred, the pair set about to rebuild the business. The owner of the building, as well as the majority of the machinery, was A.W. Putnam; from whom they had acquired the operation of the business. On July 7, 1860, Putnam published a plea for financial assistance in the The Tennessean for the pair. Between Mr. Putnam's insurance, assistance from the citizens of Nashville, and the hard work of Sharp & Hamilton themselves, the pair raised the business from the ashes like the proverbial Phoenix and the new firm was christened the Nashville Plow Works.
The first reference that I could located for the Nashville Plow Works was an October 18, 1860 advertising notice in The Tennessean stating that Sharp & Hamilton had rebuilt their facility and had even expanded it, increasing their manufacturing capabilities. For nearly a year, the pair would continue to manufacture all forms of agricultural equipment, while the clouds of Civil War gathered. With the election of Abraham Lincoln as the president of United States in November of 1860, the final movement towards southern secession were inexorably put into motion. The secession of South Carolina, on December 20, 1860, followed by Mississippi on January 9, 1861 started a domino effect resulted in seven southern states seceding before the opening salvo of the American Civil War was fired on April 12, 1861 with the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Three additional states followed in quick succession, with Tennessee being the eleventh and last state to officially secede from the Union on June 8, 1861. With the state now on a war footing, much of the industrial capabilities of Tennessee now turned their attention to production of arms and material to support a war effort. Both the Nashville Plow Works of Sharp & Hamilton and Cunningham & Company (later known as College Hill Arsenal) turned their attention from the manufacture of farm implements to the production of edged weapons. At this time most historians make the hackneyed reference to the Biblical verse Isaiah 2:4 "…and they shall beat their swords into plowshares," noting that these Nashville companies, in particular Nashville Plow Works, had reversed the intention of the statement. More realistically, however, the firms followed the Biblical verse Joel 3:10, which instructed the reader to "Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, 'I am strong.'"
The first reference that I can find to Sharp & Hamilton producing edged weapons comes from a notice in the Saturday September 21, 1861 Daily Nashville Patriot, where a Mr. H.L. Justice has taken out an ad offering land for sale in the Nashville area. Mr. Justice notes that "I can be seen during the day at Sharp & Hamilton's Sword Factory". The very first receipt that I can find for the sale of Sharp & Hamilton sabers is dated October 4, 1861. This receipt is for "81 Sabers, Cav"at a total price of $851.50, roughly $10.50 each. The receipt also shows the sale of 33 pounds of zinc @ $0.15 per pound and 220 pounds of copper at $0.30 per pound. Six days later, on October 10, another receipt notes the delivery of "100 sabers @ $10.50" each, followed by 19 more on October 12 and an additional 58 on October 30. Sharp & Hamilton delivered a total of 258 cavalry sabers to the Confederacy that month, at a standard unit price of $10.50 each. Deliveries of both cavalry sabers and raw materials continued for the next four months. Records indicate in November the unit price was increased to $11.00 each, with 100 sabers delivered that month, 213 delivered in December and 229 delivered in January of 1862. In all, 800 sabers were delivered by the firm between October 1861 and January 1861. Additionally, Sharp & Hamilton sold the Confederacy 236 pounds of zinc, 798 pounds of copper and 102 pounds of lead, with the final raw material sales taking place on February 7, 1862.
It seems likely that all of the 800 sabers that were delivered by Sharp & Hamilton were enlisted cavalry sabers. Many of these are almost certainly the Sharp & Hamilton sabers that appear, both marked and unmarked, with a bird's head grip profile, an iron backstrap and capstan nut, a nine-groove leather-covered wood grip with twisted brass wire and a cast brass guard. It is possible that some of the unmarked, brass hilted plain cavalry sabers with the hilt shape more often referred to as "Nashville Plow Works" were part of these deliveries as well. As officers were required to purchase their own weapons and equipment, officer's sabers were rarely contracted for by the Confederacy. The handful of times that I have encountered receipts for the purchase of officer's sabers, they are so identified in writing as being "officer's" swords. All of these Sharp & Hamilton receipts are merely for "sabers" or "sabers, cav", indicating enlisted pattern swords. In searching through Confederate purchasing records, I could find no receipts or invoices for Nashville Plow Works. This suggests that all of the contracts were under the names of Sharp & Hamilton. It also suggests that some of the unmarked sabers that are attributed to "Nashville Plow Works" might more appropriately be called "Sharp & Hamilton" sabers. The Nashville Plow Works mark appears on some of the officer grade swords produced by Sharp & Hamilton, suggesting that we should only use that name for these officer's pattern swords.
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