Arms, Armor and Militaria

37" straight, tapered, spear point blade with dual full-length fullers, 1.375" wide at ricasso. 43.5" in overall length with a 6.75" hilt. Gilt brass three branch semi-basket guard with knuckle bow set with German silver starburst in the guard's face with a applied spread-winged gilt brass American Eagle with olive branches in its talons and surmounted by a ribbon reading E Pluribus Unum. Grooved polished wood grip with 17 wraps of twisted wire. Spine marked in script indicating production at the Chatellerault Arsenal in August of 1856 and that the sword is the pattern of 1855. The sword is accompanied by its silver washed steel scabbard with two suspension rings which is engraved on its face between the mounts, in three lines: Arnold A Rand/Captain 1st Mass Cavalry 1862/Colonel 4th Mass Cavalry 1864.

Arnold Augustus Rand (1837-1917) was a 24 year old "gentleman" when he was commissioned as the 2nd lieutenant of Company F of the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry on December 27, 1861. He was promoted to captain on February 4, 1862 and captain and assistant adjutant general on June 3, 1863, at which point he was commissioned into the US Volunteers Adjutants General Department. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 4th Massachusetts Cavalry on December 3, 1863 and officially discharged from his former position to take the field with them on January 12, 1864. On January 22, 1864 he was promoted to full colonel and command of the 4th Massachusetts Cavalry. The 1st Mass Cavalry saw their first deployment in South Carolina in January of 1862, with the 3rd battalion (companies I, K, L & M) being permanently detached to serve in North Carolina in July of that year and the balance of the regiment being moved to Fortress Monroe in August and then back to the Virginia Theater of Operations in September. The regiment was engaged at the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam, and ended the year in the Battle of Fredericksburg. 1863 saw the regiment attached to the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division of the Army of the Potomac's Cavalry Corps. The regiment was engaged at Chancellorsville and Rand left them to join the Adjutants General Department prior to their fight at Brandy Station on June 9. As Rand's new assignment had him away from the regiment, he was not with them at Aldie, Upperville or Gettysburg either, and he missed the Britoe and Mine Run Campaigns in which the regiment was engaged. The 4th Mass Cavalry was formed from the old 3rd Battalion of the 1st Mass Cavalry (companies I, K, L & M) in late December of 1863 and proceeded to Florida in February of 1864 where they fought at Olustee, before returning East operating at Fort Darling and the Bermuda Hundred before joining the Siege operations at Petersburg in June. They spent the balance of the year supporting the 10th Corps Army of the Potomac at Petersburg. Rand resigned his commission on February 3, 1865 so he missed the regiment taking part in the breakthrough and fall of Petersburg in the spring, including fighting at High Bridge and Farmville and being present for the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9 at Appomattox. After the war Rand worked as a lawyer and served as the Recorder of the Massachusetts Commandery, MOLLUS, 1881-1906, devoting much time and energy to the development of the MOLLUS Library at the Cadet Armory in Boston. He eventually become the vice president and general counsel of the John Hancock Mutual LIfe Insurance Company, a roll he filled for some 20 years. He was a member of GAR Post #114 in Dedham, MA and died on December 22, 1917 at the age of 80.