Import Foot Officers Sword with Scabbard Inscribed to Capt. S.E. Thomason - 176th NY Vols., then Captured and Descended in a Texas Confederate Family

American Civil War

30" slightly curved single-edged quill back blade with a nearly full-length unstopped median fuller. Blade 1.125" wide at ricasso with an overall length of 35.75". 5.5" hilt with single branch cast brass guard with knuckle bow, floral decorations and Phrygian helmet pommel cap. Grooved wood grip covered in shagreen with 13 wraps of twisted wire. Blade unmarked other than two touchmarks on the obverse ricasso, an S in a depressed shield and a Crown/B. The sword is accompanied by a leather covered, brass mounted steel scabbard. The upper and middle mounts are highly decorated and chased and the relatively plain drag is probably a replacement. The obverse of the middle mount has a shield in the center of a panoply of arms that was apparently engraved but only minute traces of the engraved words are still present. The reverse of the middle mount has a large US engraved in it. The reverse of the upper mount is engraved Presented to/Capt. S.E. Thomason/As a token of Esteem/by Co. H 176th N.Y. Vols. The sword is also accompanied by a maroon silk officer's sash, and a large binder of research and information about Thomason as well as history related to the sword and its later Confederate owner Ira Long.

Samuel E. Thomason joined the 14th New York Infantry as the captain of Company H on May 17, 1861. He was discharged slightly less than 1 year later on May 12, 1816 for "disability". On December 18, 1862 he was commissioned the captain of Company H of the 176th New York Infantry. While serving with the 14th NY Thomason would have been present for 1st Manassas on July 21, 1861 and started the Peninsular Campaign in March of 1862, seeing combat during the Siege of Yorktown, but discharged prior to Hanover Courthouse and the Seven Days Before Richmond. The 176th was raised in late November and December of 1862 and was sent to New Orleans in January of 1863. The regiment fought at LaFourche Crossing, Thibodeaux, Fort Buchanan and Bayou Boeuf during June of that year. On June 23, at Brasher City, LA, Thomason was wounded and captured along with several other officers and companies A, F and I. Only 156 men were left with the regiment after the engagement.

According to the documents accompanying the sword, it was apparently acquired by Lieutenant Ira Long of the 15th Texas Cavalry sometime after Walker's capture at Brasher City, LA. Thomason surrendered directly to Long, as the 15th Texas was transferred from the Trans-Mississippi to serve with Cleburne's Division with the Army of Tennessee in June of 1863, suggesting they may not have been present for the engagement near Brasher City. However, a letter from Long's daughter, dated June 8, 1977, states that the sword had been in the family since the war. The letter notes that she sold the sword to a Robert W. Stephens of Dallas, TX on that date and that the sword, scabbard and sash had been in the family's possession since the war. She describes the sword and scabbard inscription and they are definitely this sword and scabbard. Long fought with the 15th Texas during the war and served as a Texas Ranger for a period of time in the post-war period.

From the Collection of George Oldenbourg

This lot is located in Cincinnati.