Confederate Variant Naval Cutlass with 1841 USN Style Hilt Attributed to Leech & Rigdon

American Civil War

20.875" wasp waisted blade with prominent median ridge, blade 1.5" wide at ricasso. 5.25" repurposed hilt from a US Model 1841 Naval Cutlass with fish scale grip and cast Eagle with arrows in its talons in the pommel cap. Slot in pommel cap where the guard joined the hilt is filled with brass. A 2.5" oval brass guard has been added to the naval pattern sword/knife, or may have been the original guard, worked down to an oval. Includes an old leather scabbard with aged modern brass mounts and an old frog, all of which is likely unrelated to the original weapon but has been added to enhance the display.

The Confederate arms making company of Leech & Rigdon had its origins in Memphis, TN when Thomas Leech moved to that city circa 1854 to establish a cotton brokerage. The firm of Thomas Leech & Company had four initial investors, Leech and his brother and two Englishmen involved in the cotton trade. As much of the south’s cotton was destined for English mills, this arrangement made good business sense. As the political rhetoric of the period continued to heat up, and the potential for the secession of southern states became more of a reality after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, Leech began to organize his business to enter the military goods trade. To this end he sought out the assistance of Charles H Rigdon, who had relocated to Memphis from St. Louis in 1859 or 1860. Rigdon was a skilled machinist and scale maker and had the experience and technical ability to manufacture edged weapons, firearms and cast brass accoutrements. Early Leech & Rigdon production items are typically marked with the initial firm name of Thomas Leech & Co, with later Memphis production items marked Thos. Leech & Co Novelty Works Memphis, or Memphis Novelty Works, or sometimes simply Novelty Works. The firm produced a wide array of edged weapons, including cavalry sabers, officer’s swords for infantry and cavalry, short artillery swords, naval cutlasses, bayonets and a dizzying array of “Bowie” and fighting knives. They also produced cast brass accouterments like belt buckles and spurs and offered complete accoutrement sets like saber and sword belts. The firm eventually began to produce a .36 caliber percussion revolver based upon the Colt Model 1851 Navy. With the fall of the Confederate Forts of Henry and Donelson, followed by the fall of Nashville in February 1862, the firm started plans to relocate further south and away from encroaching Union forces. The decision was taken to relocate to Columbus, MS adjacent to the newly established Confederate Briarfield Arsenal. Soon the newly reorganized Novelty Works company, soon to be Leech & Rigdon after the partnership was officially consummated, was back making arms and equipment. The company continued to turn out a variety of arms and material for the Confederacy in their new location, but as the Union armies continued to push into the region, the firm moved again, along with the Briarfield Arsenal, to Selma, AL in the fall of 1862. Leech & Rigdon’s stay in Selma was relatively short-lived and by the spring of 1863 they had moved to their final location, Greensboro, GA. Here they continued to manufacture arms and accouterments until the Leech & Rigdon partnership was officially dissolved in January of 1864. A few days later, a new partnership between Rigdon and J.A. Ansley, Smith and Charles Keen established the relatively short-lived firm of Rigdon, Ansley & Co. Rigdon & Ansley relocated to Augusta, GA and there manufactured a few hundred Rigdon & Ansley revolvers before the end of the war in April of 1865.

From the Bill Beard Collection

This lot is located in Cincinnati.