Arms, Armor and Militaria

29.25" single edged spear point blade with 19.75" stopped median fuller, blade is 1" wide at ricasso. Overall length is 35" with a 5.75" gilt brass hilt, grooved wood grip covered in shagreen and fifteen wraps of twisted wire. The blade is exceptional, featuring post-Civil War custom etching for nearly the full-length of both sides of the blade that details Horace Lee's Civil War service. The sword is accompanied by an extremely fine gilt brass scabbard that is engraved and decorated with chiseled mounts. A presentation panel between the upper and middle mounts on the obverse reads: Presented to Col. H.C. Lee/By the SPRINGFIELD CITY Guards/May 1855. The reverse throat of the scabbard is engraved AMES MFG/Co/Chicopee/Mass. A large binder of information and research regarding Lee and his service is included with the sword. This includes copies of period newspaper accounts of the presentation of the sword to then Colonel Lee of the Springfield City Guard. An original war time letter from Lee is also included in the binder. This sword was offered for sale by Eric Vaule in a November 2000 ad in Man At Arms for $35,000. A February 2001 appraisal letter from Vaule values the sword at $30,000.

Horace Clark Lee (1824-1884) was born in Springfield, MA. He served as the colonel of the Springfield City Guard prior to the Civil War, and it was at that time he was presented this sword. He was a 39-year old city clerk when he was commissioned the colonel of the 27th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry on September 3, 1861. The regiment spent much of its early service in North Carolina, seeing action at Roanoke Island and New Berne, Kinston, Whitehall and Goldsboro during 1862. 1863 saw them regiment fighting during the Siege of Washington, NC and doing Provost Duty in New Berne. In the spring of 1864 the regiment moved to Virginia and saw duty around Portsmouth and Yorktown, before heading into the Petersburg Campaign. They fought at Port Wathal Junction, Chester Station on May 6-7 and then at Drewy's Bluff May 12-16. It was at Drewy's Bluff that Lee was captured and sent to Charleston, SC where he was imprisoned until exchanged. This is commemorated on the sword with the phrase: "With 50 comrades was placed under the fire of our batteries at Charleston, SC June 15, 1864." Like so many successful colonels he was brevetted to general as the was coming to a close, receiving the rank on March 13, 1865. After the war, Lee worked in a variety of fields from operating a dry goods store to selling insurance.