96 BULLETIN 16 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



" U. S. N." The scabbard is made of black leather with three brass 

 mounts, two of which are encircled by cables and the third is 

 bordered by the body of a marine monster. 



The owner of this sword was born in New York City in 1798. He 

 was appointed as midshipman in the Navy in 1818, and in 1826 he 

 was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. In 1830 he was assigned 

 to the Department of Charts and Instruments, and in 1838 he sailed 

 from Norfolk, Va., in command of a squadron of five vessels and a 

 store ship to explore the southern seas. He visited Madeira, the 

 Cape Verde Islands, Rio cle Janeiro, Tierra del Fuego, Valparaiso, 

 and Callao. He then visited many islands in the Southern Pacific, 

 including the Tuamotu Group, Tahiti, and the Samoa Group 

 (which he surveyed), and then touched at Sydney in New South 

 Wales. In December, 1889, he left Sydney and after skirting the 

 Antarctic ice fields for several weeks he explored the Fiji Islands 

 and then visited the Hawaiian Islands. In 1841 he visited the 

 northwest coast of America and inspected the mouths of the Colum- 

 bia and Sacramento Rivers. Leaving San Francisco in November, 

 1841, he again crossed the Pacific and visited Manila, Sulu, Borneo, 

 and Singapore and returned to New York around the Cape of Good 

 Hope. This expedition was the first of its kind ever undertaken 

 by an officer of the United States Navy, and Commander Wilkes was 

 awarded a gold medal by the Royal Geographical Society of London 

 in recognition of his achievements. In 1855 he was promoted to the 

 rank of captain, and when the Civil War began he was placed in 

 command of the steamer San Jacinto. 



Acting in that capacity on November 8, 1861, he intercepted at sea 

 the British mail steamer Trent., which was proceeding from Habana 

 to St. Thomas, West Indies, and transferred from that ship to the 

 San Jacinto the Confederate commissioners John Slidell and James 

 M. Mason, who were then on their way to Europe. They were taken 

 by Captain Wilkes to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. Th&j were 

 later released on the demand of the British Government, but through 

 his bold action Wilkes became the hero of the hour throughout the 

 North. In 1862 he commanded a flotilla on the James River, which 

 shelled City Point. In 1864 he was placed on the retired list and in 

 1866 was promoted to the rank of rear admiral on that list. He died 

 in Washington, D. C, in 1877. His sword was presented to the 

 National Museum in 1914 by Miss Jane Wilkes. 



SWORD OWNED BY LIEUT. SAMUEL HOWARD 



A naval officer's sword of the same period as the one just described 

 is one ^^ carried during the Civil War by Lieut. Samuel Howard, 



'^ Length, S3 cm. Blade, 69.2 cm. long, 2.7 cm. wide. Marked " Mgr. de Klingenthal ; 

 Coulaux & Cie." PI, 29, fig. 6. 



