Civil War Relic.

[oldzimm]

Here is a story that might be of interest to some of you. Three years ago our Legion decided to tear down an interior wall and make a addition on to our social room. When the contractor tore down the horse hair plastered wall, a Civil War Saber in a scabbard fell out. The saber is in excellent condition, who ever hid it in the wall coated it with lacquer to preserve it. We now keep the saber locked in a display case, last Sunday I got it out to take pictures of it, here they are.





Seal skin handle in excelent condition


My two good friends with the saber.

[Bowhunters]

Wow thats cool, do you see any initials or a year on it anywhere?

You aught to take it to one of those, antique road shows and get it priced and aged.

[DouglasSpear]

How cool is that!? I love stories like that.

[KwackWacker]

Makes you wonder what else is buried inside other walls. That's a great find.

[oldzimm]

What we know of the saber thus far.

-The saber was made in Trenton N.J. in the early 1860's by Emerson & Silver. (stamped on the blade)

-There are two sets of initials, the saber has D.F.M. on the blade which stands for Dexter F. Mosman, he was the man who inspected the sabers for the U.S. government. On the ent of the scabbard are the initials A.G.M. which we found out are the initials of the man who inspected the scabbard for the U.S. government, most likely a relative of Mosman.

-U.S. is stamped on the blade. (U.S. Government issue)

-The saber has two niches on the top side of the blade about 4 inches from the point and one niche about 1 foot from the point on the cutting edge. I assume this would be where the most contact would of been during battle.

-The question is who had the saber during the Civil War and who hid it in the wall?
Researching the deed to the building at the courthouse we found a man by the name of George W. Foote bought the property in 1882 and remodeled the building, I'm sure he was the man who hid the saber in the wall.

George was a member of Co. H, 51st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, during the siege of Petersburg Virginia he was promoted to Corporal and transferred to Co. E. The 51st fought in twenty battles, traveled by rail 3311 miles, by water 5390 miles and on foot 1738 miles. I bet that saber would tell some good stories if it could.

I don,t think George W. Foote being a Corporal would be issued a saber. When I visited his grave (died 1907) I recognized the name on the grave right behind his, Major William R. Foster (died 1877). William was George's Co. Commander in Co. E. They died thirty years apart but are buried next to each other. Could it be George and William were related or friends and Major Foster gave the saber to George upon his death?

Why would George hide the saber? I think it was because during the Civil War most of the Volunteer Companies were formed of men who lived in the same area. From what I read Major Foster was well respected by his men, when the Major died I bet lot of his men from the old Company would of loved to have his saber and that is why it might of been hidden.

If our Legion building ever gets condemned, we would tear every wall out to see if anything else is there, I wouldn't mind finding a pair of Army Colts that were well preserved.

[Bowhunters]

Cool info, I did a little snooping on the picture and by the finger guard configuration it appears to be a U.S. Light Calvary Sabre so if true its not a foot soldiers piece but belonged to a member of the U.S. Calvary.

Any chance Major Foster was in the Calvary?

[Tony204ing]

See what ya started now i have holes all over the house that i gotta fix,.

[RICHARDCatdaddy]

Now thats an rare piece to find living in the wall.Kind of right though,com=nsidering your Legion Post,and a Cav. Sabre.Thanks for the pix.

[oldzimm]

Cool info, I did a little snooping on the picture and by the finger guard configuration it appears to be a U.S. Light Calvary Sabre so if true its not a foot soldiers piece but belonged to a member of the U.S. Calvary.

Any chance Major Foster was in the Calvary?

Yes it is a Calvary Saber, it is too long to be the Saber of a foot soldier. There is lots of info. we must find out yet about Major Foster. There is a War College here in Pa with a huge library with information on Veterans, sometime I want to take a trip to it and see if I can solve some of the puzzle.

It sure would of been nice if there was a letter with the saber giving us some history, there very well could of been and it just couldn't stand the test of time.

[DouglasSpear]

I think a better direction in finding out who it belonged to would be to check the history of the building your Legion is in and find out when it was built, by whom, who owned it, etc. That way you might be able to run some ancestry reports or find out why it was put in the wall. It's such a cool story, it needs a conclusion!

[Bowhunters]

I think a better direction in finding out who it belonged to would be to check the history of the building your Legion is in and find out when it was built, by whom, who owned it, etc. That way you might be able to run some ancestry reports or find out why it was put in the wall. It's such a cool story, it needs a conclusion!

Good idea, city hall might have a microfish copy of the original owner/builder or deed.

[John Foote]

oldzimm, Just read you post about finding this civil war saber. My GGuncle was George Washington Foote from Mifflinburg. I would like to chat with you about this sometime. I live in the Williamsport area and perhaps come to see the saber. John Foote

[jeremykohler]

is it tiffanys?

[FOODPLOTPLANTER]

might not should have this on here. government might see it and try to lay claim on it being it has U.S. stamped on it. you know how they can be when it comes to anything of value.