PROFOUNDLY RARE CIVIL WAR CONFEDERATE OFFICER’S SWORD FROM THE STATE OF LOUISIANA.
inv # 02-14715

Overall length: 36 1/2″
Blade length: 30 1/2″

This Civil War State of Louisiana officer’s sword is one of two known examples of this exceptionally rare pattern. The maker of this sword remains unknown despite extensive research, but is undoubtedly of early war manufacture. On January 26, 1861, Louisiana adopted an Ordinance of Secession in Baton Rouge. This sword, and the other known example, were likely some of the first weapons produced in the South for the fledgling Confederate Army.

The blade has a single, shallow, unstopped fuller and is hand engraved over 2/3 of its length with various scroll and foliate motifs. The gilded brass hilt features an enormous 6 branch guard containing a trilobed adornment displaying a central medallion of a pelican feeding its young, flanked by 2 other lobes containing a “C” and an “S” respectively. The pelican feeding its young motif has been on the state seal of Louisiana since admission to the Union, a scant 49 days prior to the start of the War of 1812. Opposite the pelican and “C S” is another medallion featuring a sprig of laurel. The inside of the guard is undecorated. The 6 branches join into 3 which subsequently join into a single branch prior to attachment to the pommel. The pommel features a graduated lobed top with a base containing 11 stars around the edge. The pommel stars likely allude to the 11 Confederate states in existence as of June 8, 1861 with the secession vote of Tennessee. The leather grip is wound with twisted brass wire. The accompanying scabbard is of gilded brass mounted leather. All mounts are unadorned except for lineal decoration at the edges. The 2 carrying rings are also of gilded brass. The leather body has a top sewn seam.