COMING IN DECEMBER 2020
UNIQUE PRESENTATION CONFEDERATE SWORD OF GENERAL WILLIAM PORCHER MILES. (S# 11902)
inv # 02-13602
This sword is one of a handful made for Confederate officers by the English firm of Henry Wilkinson. Wilkinson’s swords had the reputation being among the best in the world. His swords of different patterns were purchased by soldiers of many countries, including the United States & Confederate States during the Civil War. The Miles presentation sword was delivered in London to Benjamin Franklin Evans, who was in London on behalf of the Confederate Govt. at the time. B. F. Evans is best known being a South Carolina lithographer making Confederate stamps & currency.
This sword has unique 2” etched panel of 2 crossed Confederate First National flags w/ 12 stars in circle on each canton. William Porcher Miles was appointed to the First Provisional Confederate Congress in Montgomery where he headed the committee to design the flag for the Confederate States. The design accepted was the Stars & Bars, the same design on the crossed flags that appear on both sides of this sword. The first Confederate flag was hoisted in Montgomery, AL. March 4, 1861. By April, W. P. Miles was back in Charleston on General P. G. T. Beauregard’s staff. After the Battle of Manassas, the newly designed Stars & Bars were found too easily being confused w/ the Stars & Stripes in the smoke of battle; a new flag design was needed. Miles again was involved w/ Beauregard in the design of a new flag for battlefield use only which would soon be adopted that we know today as the St. Andrews cross used by the Army in Northern Virginia and Army of Tennessee.
