Saber Sword from Battle of Waynesboro, Georgia 1864

ochope

Cadet
Joined
Sep 3, 2017
Do any of you have any experience dealing with possible artifacts from the American Civil War era? I don't even know where to start so I am reaching out to you guys! Any advice would be appreciated.

This post is regarding the Battle of Waynesboro, Georgia of 1864 and the Battle of Buckhead Creek - Jenkins County, GA. My family lived about 20 miles or less away from Waynesboro. My father unearthed this sword in the late 80s while he was digging up our backwoods to plant some trees.

What are the possibilities that this sword was/is an actual piece of history? Or the possibility that it is a replica? It's very rusted and the tang is very uneven/rough as if it was handmade. The sword's length is 34.5" with the blade's length about 30".

Any help or input would be appreciated.

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Hi and welcome from Missouri. We have lots of blade experts who can probably identify your saber just from the shape of the blade and the guard. Just be patient. I'm sorry that the grip is lost, but I still think it's a nice find.
 
Welcome From THE Heart Of Dixie. What your Dad found appears to be an imported British cavalry sword. The guard looks like a P1851 but the guile on the end of the guard is a little different and the tang on the end of the blade where it comes thru the guard is suspect, as is the piece of flatten lead. Let me look thru my books
 
Hello and welcome from Southeast Missouri. That is a very nice relic sword. It is always nice to find to find ACW items on your own property. Free is the best.
 
Welcome from Columbus Ohio. Some say the only true way to know if a piece is authentic is to dig it yourself. That is a really nice looking sword and looks to be the real deal to me, cool piece.
 
Do any of you have any experience dealing with possible artifacts from the American Civil War era? I don't even know where to start so I am reaching out to you guys! Any advice would be appreciated.

This post is regarding the Battle of Waynesboro, Georgia of 1864 and the Battle of Buckhead Creek - Jenkins County, GA. My family lived about 20 miles or less away from Waynesboro. My father unearthed this sword in the late 80s while he was digging up our backwoods to plant some trees.

What are the possibilities that this sword was/is an actual piece of history? Or the possibility that it is a replica? It's very rusted and the tang is very uneven/rough as if it was handmade. The sword's length is 34.5" with the blade's length about 30".

Any help or input would be appreciated.

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Good morning, @ochope . Welcome to CWT.
 
Welcome From THE Heart Of Dixie. What your Dad found appears to be an imported British cavalry sword. The guard looks like a P1851 but the guile on the end of the guard is a little different and the tang on the end of the blade where it comes thru the guard is suspect, as is the piece of flatten lead. Let me look thru my books

Hi! Thank you for helping me! What do you think of the possibility that this saber resembles the Confederate Cavalry Saber, the Kenansville?
 
and THANK YOU to all that has welcomed me!

Welcome from Columbus Ohio. Some say the only true way to know if a piece is authentic is to dig it yourself. That is a really nice looking sword and looks to be the real deal to me, cool piece.

I feel as though you are right: to know a piece is authentic is to dig it yourself! I was worried that the sword could have been a replica.
 
Hi! Thank you for helping me! What do you think of the possibility that this saber resembles the Confederate Cavalry Saber, the Kenansville?

The guard does somewhat resemble one of the 3 different model Keansville but the blade length and the pommel end tells me that its not.
 
and THANK YOU to all that has welcomed me!



I feel as though you are right: to know a piece is authentic is to dig it yourself! I was worried that the sword could have been a replica.
I would say if it is a replica it has been in the ground for a long time. My thought though is that it is an original 19th century sword. I don't have enough knowledge to tell you if it is ACW, Post ACW or earlier, Union or Confederate, American made or import, or what model it is. I will defer to @ucvrelics.com on that, he is very knowledgeable and I respect his assessments. I will be watching to see what he comes up with.
 
I have looked thru ALL my CW sword books both Union & Confederate and I do not believe this is a CW period sword as there are several things that just don't fall into that period. The blade length is the first, most CW Cavalry swords were 35 or 36 inches. The pommel caps were flatten on the blade and this one looks like it has some sort of nut which was put on after the piece of flattened lead that is on the handle part of the blade. I'm leaning toward a British made short sword as the slot where the red arrow is, is seen on a LOT of British made swords.
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I have looked thru ALL my CW sword books both Union & Confederate and I do not believe this is a CW period sword as there are several things that just don't fall into that period. The blade length is the first, most CW Cavalry swords were 35 or 36 inches. The pommel caps were flatten on the blade and this one looks like it has some sort of nut which was put on after the piece of flattened lead that is on the handle part of the blade. I'm leaning toward a British made short sword as the slot where the red arrow is, is seen on a LOT of British made swords.
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W0w! Thank you for taking the time to look into this and writing your findings to me. I really do appreciate it! The blade length is definitely the main factor that keeps me looking for more answers as I keep seeing that the blade length is smaller than other swords that I have been looking at. I am so thankful that you included photos with marking to further demonstrate what you were saying, thank you!

So it is safe to assume that this British sword is older than the CW period?

Could it still have been used by a Union or Confederate soldier?

Now, I am just trying to understand as to how this British sword was buried in Georgia and if there's any relation to the Battle of Waynesboro, GA since we were close to the area of the battle.

I am so appreciative that you took the time to write this for me. This is truly helpful!
 
I have posted this sword on an active American Civil War group on Facebook as well. I had a friendly and helpful user write to me last night ...

"after doing some reading and comparing photos i do believe this is a British cavalry saber made from around 1821 to around 1850, some went to India many thousands of others over to the Confederate army in the Civil war, So this type may have belonged to one of General Wheelers Georgia Cavalry that fought at Waynesboro as it was mainly Cavalry in the battle, British export sabers had no markings, some were from London and others from Birmingham UK, I hope this has been of help to you."

Any thoughts of the possibility of the sword being used by Cavalry? It would make more sense as to why the sword was found.
 
I have posted this sword on an active American Civil War group on Facebook as well. I had a friendly and helpful user write to me last night ...

"after doing some reading and comparing photos i do believe this is a British cavalry saber made from around 1821 to around 1850, some went to India many thousands of others over to the Confederate army in the Civil war, So this type may have belonged to one of General Wheelers Georgia Cavalry that fought at Waynesboro as it was mainly Cavalry in the battle, British export sabers had no markings, some were from London and others from Birmingham UK, I hope this has been of help to you."

Any thoughts of the possibility of the sword being used by Cavalry? It would make more sense as to why the sword was found.

Remember "You Heard It Here First" It is a cavalry sword but not a CW import as I said before the blade is way to short to be one of the many imported Cav swords as they were 35 or 36 inches and not the 30 this one is. Below is an example from my collection of a British CW imported cav sword. Also, you need to remember that Georgia has been around since 1733 and was a British colony.

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Remember "You Heard It Here First" It is a cavalry sword but not a CW import as I said before the blade is way to short to be one of the many imported Cav swords as they were 35 or 36 inches and not the 30 this one is. Below is an example from my collection of a British CW imported cav sword. Also, you need to remember that Georgia has been around since 1733 and was a British colony.

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Thank you, ucvrelics.com! You have been such a help!
 
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