10 BULLETIN" 16 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



War various private firms were authorized to manufacture swords 

 for the United States Army. One of the best known of these firms 

 during the early part of the nineteenth century was that of Nathan 

 Starr &, Son, of Middletown, Conn. The elder Starr ^ was the first 

 American maker to obtain a contract from the United States Gov- 

 ernment for the production of swords. This notable American 

 craftsman was born in Middletown in 1755. Prior to the Revolution, 

 he made edged tools at his forge, and during that conflict he was 

 engaged as an armorer in the Connecticut Militia. In 1798, he was 

 authorized to manufacture swords for the use of the United States 

 Army. Nathan Starr, jr., was born in 1784, and after beginning his 

 business career in New York City, in 1813, he returned to Middle- 

 town and became his father's partner in his armory there. The two 

 Starrs, father and son, produced many fine swords for the United 

 States Army during the War of 1812. After the termination of that 

 conflict, they made a number of presentation swords of more than 

 passing interest. Among these was a sword presented to President 

 Andrew Jackson by the State of Tennessee and another presented 

 to Capt. Isaac Hull by the State of Connecticut. Nathan Starr, sr., 

 died in 1821. His son continued the work of the Middletown armory 

 until 1845. The swords made by these two representatives of the 

 Starr family are much sought after by American collectors of 

 weapons of this type. 



Aside from the Starrs, the N. P. Ames Manufacturing Co., of 

 Springfield, Mass., has been the most prominent and important one 

 in the history of American sword making. The founder of this firm 

 was born near Lowell, Mass., in 1803 and established a cutlery busi- 

 ness in Chicopee Falls in 1829. In 1831 he obtained a contract from 

 the United States Government for making swords, and in 1834 he 

 incorporated the Ames Manufacturing Co. in Cabotville. From 

 that time until the close of the Civil War this firm produced military 

 and naval swords in very large quantities. 



Aside from the firms just mentioned, probably the best-laiown 

 company dealing in swords in the United States during the nine- 

 teenth century was the firm of William H. Horstmann, which was 

 located in Philadelphia. This firm began to sell both military and 

 naval swords at an early period, and its weapons are noted for their 

 fine workmanship and excellence of design. The founder was born 

 in Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1816. He estab- 

 lished himself in business in Philadelphia in that year as a dealer in 

 textiles and soon began to develop a trade in military uniforms and 

 accouterments. About 1830 he purchased and added to his own 



" See the article entitled " Natban Starr, American Swordsmith," by Robert W. Bingham', 

 in the ^Miscellany of Arms and Armor presented by his fellow members of the Arms and 

 Armor Club to Bashford Dean in honor of his sixtieth birthday in 1927. 



