August 18 & 19, 2020 Edged Weapons, Armor, & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/18/2020
The brutality of the fighting in the Wilderness as Grant launched his overland campaign against Richmond in May 1864 was exacerbated by fires created by the gunfire. Lee attacked Grant in the heavily wooded zone where the larger Federal army would be unable to deploy and use its superior numbers to advantage. Sparks from gunfire ignited underbrush and increased the horror of the nightmare conflict engulfing or threatening to engulf some of those too badly wounded to move. Framed between copies of the Alfred Waud drawing of Union soldiers improvising stretchers to carry off wounded comrades amid the flames and the Edwin Forbes sketch of the Sixth Corps fighting in the woods, is a Union rectangular eagle sword belt plate, mounted with the label (modern) below reading, "Fire in the Wilderness." The buckle shows a break in the side bar and denting at the lower right that suggests it may have been bullet-struck before experiencing the heat of the fires in the woods. The buckle is the regulation 1851 configuration specified for officers and enlisted men carrying swords, but shows by a now-missing separate wreath at bottom that it is an enlisted man's belt plate. The pattern was regulation as well for infantry sergeants (and worn by some corporals as well,) so it was likely worn by one of the many infantrymen in the fighting, which was largely infantry combat. CONDITION: This is a very telling relic, professionally matted and framed, that is ready to hang. PROVENANCE: From a well-known and respected Maryland collector's estate. SR
Item Dimensions: 23 - 1/2" x 15 - 1/2".