Infantry Officer's Saber, based on US 1850 model for Foot Officers

Artist Nashville Plow Works (Confederate States of America (Nashville, Tennessee))

Date1861-1862

Mediumsteel, cast brass, iron and wood

Dimensions97.5 × 84.5 cm (38 3/8 × 33 1/4 in.), 2 lb, 4 oz (weight)

ClassificationsArms and Armor

Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection

Terms

Object number2014.429

DescriptionCrude iron single edge hollow-ground triangular section blade, becoming elliptical & curving upward to point. At shoulder of blade is crude iron washer. Cast brass 3/4-basket hilt whose oblate base is cast "Nashville PLOW WORKS./C S A". Obverse branches linked at mid-height to simple knuckle guard that plugs into crude pommel with back strap, all in brass. Very roughly made spiraled wooden grip once covered in leather & now only retaining brass wire. Thick brass ferrule at base of grip.
Label TextThousands of edged weapons were made during the American Civil War (1861-65). Those locally developed by the Confederacy were heavily influenced by prewar United States Government prototypes. This saber resembles its Federal counterpart of 1850, although it is much cruder in form and quality. Following the outbreak of war, the Nashville Plow Works converted from peacetime farm tool production to the making of swords, an ironic reversal of the biblical injunction to "beat swords into plowshares."ProvenanceAnonymous gift on February 1, 1934. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.

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