September 15, 16, & 17, 2026 Firearms & Militaria
Lot #2112:
US MODEL 1840 CAVALRY OFFICER’S SABER PRESENTED TO 1ST LT. CHARLES H. BAKER, 1ST MAINE CAVALRY
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/16/2026
Excellent Horstmann 1840 pattern 1st Maine Cavalry officer’s saber inscribed in period script on the reverse of the knucklebow: “Presented to 1st Lieut. C.H. Baker by Co. H, 1st Maine Cavalry. Christmas 1861." The regiment was a hard-fighting unit and Baker’s period of service encompasses their first serious combat experience in Shenandoah Valley against Stonewall Jackson in Spring 1862. The pommel has typical recessed leaf and rosette design along its edge, mirrored in shallow cast and chased short leafy branches on the side bars, inside and out, with plain quillon. Full sharkskin grip wrap and triple wire binding in place, as is the blue wool blade pad. Blade is bright with good edge and point. Flat spine etched with leafy vine and both sides with vivid, etched panels extending about half-way up the blade with foliate motifs and panoplies of arms, shields, pikes, and banners. The obverse has an etched script dealer address, “W.H. Horstman / & Sons / Philadelphia”, over geometric foliate spray, followed by panoply of arms with round shield, pikes and banners flanked by leafy branches, then foliate scrolls, with second panoply above showing shield, drum, sword hilt and banners. Reverse is etched with palmette, latticework, foliate scrolls and tall stand of arms, followed by second foliate panel and second panoply with muskets and cannon. Both panels end with foliate elements and the frosting terminating in foliate/flamboyant edges. The scabbard is polished steel with screw-fastened throat, ring bands, rings, and correct plain drag in place. See Thillmann for Horstmann’s variations on the pattern. The 1st Maine Cavalry had an impressive combat record and Baker helped organize it. Described as having a light complexion, dark eyes and light hair, he was married and a merchant in Skowhegan when he enlisted September 9th, 1861. Acting as a recruiting officer, he had enrolled 36 men in Skowhegan by early October and was commissioned and mustered 1st Lieutenant of Co. H to date November 5 to serve three years. The company left the state for Washington March 20, 1862, arrived four days later and on March 30 was one of five ordered to Harpers Ferry to guard railroad lines, doing scout and patrol duty and seeing some skirmishing. On May 9 those companies were ordered to join Banks’ Corps at Strasburg, Virginia, and soon after saw action against Jackson in the Shenandoah, with fighting at Woodstock on May 21 and in the days following at Strasburg and Middletown, referred to as a “disaster” by members of the regiment, culminating in the Battle of Winchester on May 25. They saw continued action covering the army’s retreat, during which the five companies lost some five killed or mortally wounded, nine wounded and another twelve wounded and forty-nine unwounded taken prisoner, with a few stragglers and refugees later making it back to the unit. Baker submitted his resignation on grounds of ill-health shortly after and was discharged June 14. He does not seem to have seen further service. By 1870 he and family had moved to Chicago, where he was a life insurance agent, applied for a pension in 1879, and where he passed away Nov. 29, 1921, and was interred back in Maine. CONDITION: Excellent. Sword and scabbard complete. Blade bright with good edge and point, strong etching and frosted ground with only slight freckling or small gray spots. Scabbard is complete. Smooth metal with wear to finish and age stains. One small ding on obverse just above the drag.
Item Dimensions: L: 39"