Non-Regulation Import Staff & Field Officers Sword of Capt. Albert Foster - 25th Mass Infantry

American Civil War

29.5" single edged spear point quill back blade with full-length stopped median fuller. Blade 1.15" wide at ricasso, overall length 35". 5.5" hilt brass guard that features a spread-winged eagle in the guard's face. Full backstrap with chiseled foliate themes terminates in a classically inspired pommel cap. Grooved wooden grip covered in shagreen with fourteen wraps of multi-strand wire. Knuckle bow engraved: Presented to/Capt. A.H. Foster by his friends Sept. 28th 1861. The sword is accompanied by a brass mounted leather scabbard. A large binder of research about Foster accompanies the sword. This sword was published and discussed in the September 1980 issue of The Gun Report and in Inscribed Union Swords 1861-1865 by David Stroud.

Albert H. Foster was a 42-year-old carpenter from Worcester, MA when he was commissioned the Captain of Company D of the 25th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry on October 12, 1861. The regiment was sent to North Carolina as part of Burnside's Campaign against Roanoke Island and the vicinity and on February 8, 1862 Foster was shot in the head while leading an assault. Amazingly the bullet that "entered his right temple and exited his right eye" did not kill him, although he was spent some time recovering before returning to the regiment. Upon his return to the regiment in September of 1862, Foster fought through the regiments remaining campaigns, with some brief interludes where he spent some time in the hospital "sick", a not uncommon occurrence in the swampy environs of the south during summer months. The regiment spent most of its service in North Carolina before being transferred to the Virginia theater of operations where it fought at Cold Harbor and during the Siege of Petersburg. The regiment returned to North Carolina in September of 1864 and finished their service there.

From the Collection of George Oldenbourg