AMERICAN AND EXJEOPEAN SWOEDS 89 



PRESENTATION SWORDS, 1881 TO 1901 

 The National Museum collection includes three presentation 

 swords of the latter part of the nineteenth century of exceptional 

 interest. 



SWORD OWNED BY MAJ. GEN. WINFIELD S. HANCOCK 



The first of these was presented to Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Han- 

 cock, United States Army, by the Sixty-ninth Regiment, New York 

 National Guard, on the occasion of the Yorlrtown Centennial in 1881. 

 In type this sword ^^ is an ornate expression of the regulation general 

 officer's sword of the period of its make. The blade is diamond- 

 shaped with the obverse decorated in gold on a silver and blue 

 background with the American arms and floral and trophy de- 

 signs. The reverse is similarly decorated with the letters "U. S." 

 and floral and trophy designs. The grip, which is 4-sided, is covered 

 with alternate narrow strips of plain silver plate and gold plate 

 decorated with oval shields flanked by sprays of palm. The knuckle 

 guard is a slender circular gilt strip, the sides of which are decorated 

 with floral designs, which terminates above the blade in a quillon 

 of the same type; a single branch of the same type parallels the 

 quillons and is joined to the latter above the blade. The counter- 

 guard consists of a large oval shield on the obverse decorated with 

 the United States arms in gilt openwork over a silver background; 

 a similar shield on the reverse without the silver background bears 

 a plain oval shield inscribed " U. S.," surrounded by gilt designs 

 in openwork. The scabbard is steel with a gilt tip and two gilt 

 mounts decorated with openwork, floral, and scroll designs. This 

 sword was presented to the National Museum in 1931 by Hancock 

 Dorr. 



SV/ORD OWNED BY MAJ. GEN. NELSON A. MILES 



A second presentation sword of this period of unusual interest in 

 the National Museum collection is one that was presented to Maj. 

 Gen. Nelson A. Miles, United States Army, in 1887, by the people 

 of Arizona in recognition of his services in connection with the cap- 

 ture of the Indian chief Geronimo and the removal of the hostile 

 Apaches from that State. The general type of this sword °^ is the 

 same as that regularly used by officers during this period. The 

 blade is diamond-shaped, long and narrow, and bears on the obverse 

 the legend, in script, " Genl. Nelson A. Miles, U. S. A.," and on the 

 reverse, " Presented Sept. 4, 1887 at Tucson, Arizona." The grip is 

 made of imitation ivory and is decorated with eight spiral grooves 

 wound with gold wire. The pommel is urn-shaped and the upper 



" Length, 93.7 cm. Blade, 77.5 cm. long, 1.8 cm. wide. Marked " Clauberg Soliiigeu." 

 PI. 26, flg. 7. 



^ Length, 91.1 cm. Blade. 7G.2 cm. long, 1.3 cm. wide. PI. 26, fig. 9. 



98266—32 7 



