American Historical Ephemera and Photography Online

Homemade knife (wear, surface oxidation, scuffs), possibly a refurbished corn knife with wood handle, 17 in. overall length, housed in a leather scabbard (heavy wear to leather, not uniform to blade). Accompanied by envelope bearing the handwritten notation "Information about the owner of the Confederate knife and scabbard" inside which is a 3pp handwritten account on modern, yellow-lined paper of the origins of the knife. The account includes a transcribed letter from "Sherard Roberts...with the 6th Georgia Militia" and related provenance information supplied to a previous owner. The provenance states, in part, that the previous owners purchased the knife from an identified private owner in Savannah, Georgia, whose grandfather, presumably "Sherard Roberts," was the original owner of the knife and scabbard.

HDS locates a Sherrod E. Roberts (1837-1906), resident of Clinch County, Georgia, who enlisted on 9/1/1861 into Co. E, 29th Georgia Infantry. He was listed on rolls 12/31/1861 (place not stated) without any further record. The transcribed letter included with the knife is dated 8 November 1861, Savannah, Georgia, and contains an account of Roberts's participation in the Battle of Port Royal, connecting his service to that of the 29th Georgia which was a documented participant in that engagement.