Confederate sword and scabbard. m1840 Cavalry Saber. Philadelphia: Horstmann's. "Horstmann's Phila." stamped to ricasso.

With period tag reading in full: "J.M. Wilk[in]son / Company B - 75th N.[Y.] /Sword picked up Battlefield at Ceda [Illeg]. / Sept. 19 186[4]."

John M. Wilkinson was a young man of only 18 years old when he enlisted at Cato, New York on 16 September 1861. He was mustered into Company B of the 75th New York Infantry two months later and headed south to Florida, arriving for duty at Santa Rosa Island and Fort Pickens. The 75th NY occupied Pensacola and moved to New Orleans by August 1862. The regiment then moved throughout the Department of the Gulf, participating in the Expedition to Bayou Teche, the Battle of Fort Bisland, the Assaults on Port Hudson (where the regiment suffered 107 casualties), and the Battle of Sabine Pass. At the Battle Sabine Pass, Wilkinson who captured and taken as a prisoner-of-war, but later paroled.

The 75th New York was engaged throughout Louisiana into 1863 before moving east to join General Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign in August. In Virginia, they fought at Third Winchester, Fisher's Hill, and finally, the Battle of Cedar Creek, where Wilkinson captured this sword from the battlefield (he mistakenly notes the month as September rather than October). The sword's original owner is unidentified, but may have belonged to one of the many Virginia Cavalry regiments that composed Beverly H. Robertson's Cavalry Brigade.

Cedar Creek would prove to be the 75th's and Wilkinson's final major engagement. He mustered out shorly after on 25 November 1864, evidently bringing his trophy of war home with him.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Swords, Arms, Armaments, Militaria, Guns, Uniforms, Accoutrements]