AMERICAN AND EUEOPEAN SWORDS 57 



seriously wounded, and he died in the town of Gettysburg five days 

 later. His sword was presented to the National Museum in 1913 b)^ 

 Mrs. Strong Vincent. 



STAFF OFFICERS' SWORDS, MODEL OF 1860 



The swords of the type just described were partly superseded in 

 I860 by the adoption of another type for use by the officers of the 

 general staff and the field and staff of regiments. Its use by these 

 officers was optional during the period from 1860 to 1873. It seems 

 to have been informally adopted for the use also of general officers, 

 and the National Museum collection includes an unusually large 

 number of these swords, which were owned during the Civil War 

 by officers of high rank. This sword, used for a longer period than 

 any other single type of United States Army officer's sword, was 

 also adopted from a French model. It is distinguished by a long, 

 straight, narrow, diamond-shaped blade, a barrel-shaped grip, an 

 inverted cone-shaped pommel, a flattened knuckle guard, and a 

 double-heart-shaped counterguard with the reverse side hinged. 

 Some of the early examples of this sword, however, lack the double- 

 heart counterguard on the reverse side. 



SWORD OWNED BY MAJ. GEN. JOHN R . BROOKE 



One of the earliest swords of this type in the collection was owned 

 during the Civil War by Maj. Gen. John R. Brooke, United States 

 Army, and was presented to the National Museum by him in 1919.^^ 

 The blade is of the regulation diamond-shaped type; the obverse is 

 decorated in silver chasing with an oak-leaf spray flanked by scroll 

 designs; the reverse is similarly decorated with a trophy consisting 

 of a United States shield surmounted by two standards. The grip, 

 which is unusually small, is made of boxwood and is wound with 14 

 turns of brass wire in deep grooves. The pommel is vase-shaped, 

 the end being decorated with a circlet of laurel leaves, the obverse 

 side with the United States arms, and the reverse with a plain shield. 

 The knuckle guard is a flat brass strip, the lower portion of the 

 sides of which are decorated with thunderbolts, the whole termi- 

 nating above the blade in a quillon, the end of which is decorated 

 with a circlet of leaves. The counterguard consists of a single oval 

 plate on the obverse of the blade, decorated with the American eagle 

 displaj'ed in heavy relief. The scabbard is plain steel with two 

 brass rings. 



The owner of this sword was born in Pennsylvania in 1838. He 

 entered the military service as captain in the Fourth Pennsylvania 



*' Length, 92 cm. Blade, 78.3 cm. long, 1,7 cm. wide. Inscribed " Emons & Marsall, 

 Phila." PI. 21, fig. 1. 



98266—32-^5 



