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LOT 139
Historic Civil War G.W. Simons & Bro. Philadelphia Model 1850 Staff & Field Officer’s Sword with Scabbard Inscribed as Presented to Colonel Griffin A. Stedman of the 11th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry - The presentation
grade Model 1850 Staff & Field Officer’s sword has a 32 1/4 inch mostly straight blade with floral and patriotic etching including “G.W. Simons/& Bro/Philadelphia/Pa.” on the right above the ricasso. The hilt is brass with floral patterns and includes a textured brass grip
with wire wrapping. The grip was likely silver plated. The browned scabbard has brass fittings with floral engraving. The reverse of the upper suspension band has the added
inscription “Presented to/Col. Griffin A. Stedman/11th Regt. Conn. Vols./Sept 25, 1862.” George Washington Simons (1819-1888) opened his business in Philadelphia in 1839 and was
later joined by his brother Peter B. Simons. They expanded from silver and goldsmiths to dealers in presentation swords during the Civil War. The company later became Simons Bros. & Co.
A binder of information on Colonel Griffin A. Stedman Jr. (1838-1864) of Hartford, Connecticut, is included. Copies of records from Stedman’s service during the Civil War are among the documents included along with secondary source material on Stedman’s life. The casualty sheet indicates he was the colonel of the 11th Connecticut Infantry and was mortally wounded at Petersburg, Virginia, on August 5, 1864. He initially joined the Washington Greys in Philadelphia but then returned to Hartford where he joined Samuel Colt’s First Regiment Colt’s Revolving Rifles. The regiment was reformed as the 5th Connecticut Infantry Regiment, and Stedman was commissioned as the captain of Company I. On November
27, 1861, Stedman transferred to the 11th Connecticut Infantry and was commissioned as a major. Following the Battle of Antietam during which he led his men in capturing the Stone Bridge, he was promoted
lieutenant colonel in June of 1862. He was promoted to colonel on September 25, 1862, and led his men at Fredericksburg, Swift Creek, and Drewery’s Bluff. He led a brigade in the XVIII Corps during the Overland Campaign, including at Cold Harbor, and was fatally wounded when he was shot in the stomach at Petersburg and posthumously brevetted as a brigadier general of volunteers for his “gallant and meritorious services before Petersburg, Va.” He had also been previously wounded in battle in the leg while lieutenant colonel. Fort Stedman in Virginia is named after him. His ornate monument by sculptor John M. Moffit in the Cedar Hill Cemetery is believed to date to his internment there on May 20, 1875. A tag with the sword states it was donated to the Louisa May Alcott Museum. Consignor information states this sword was used as the model for the carving on Stedman’s coffin shaped grave and was “brought to the stone cutter by Major William Cogswell of the 5th Connecticut, Stedman’s confidant and closest friend. Stedman willed his battlefield sword to ‘Old Cogs’.” Cogswell became a lawyer after the war and died in 1935 and is said to have left the sword to his only grand-daughter, Bertha Cogswell. Joe Hajec purchased the sword around the mid-1980s, and the consignor purchased the sword from him. Our research shows a Bertha Wheatley Cogswell Williams (1903-2003) as his granddaughter from his son George Edward Cogswell and Bertha Eleanor Fennessy Cogswell. CONDITION: Very good with worn but visible blade etching, mottled gray and brown patina along the blade, nicks at the edges, mild pitting, traces of original gilt finish but mostly aged patina on the brass hilt and scabbard fittings, much of the original brown finish remaining on the scabbard body, and general mild age and storage related wear. Provenance: Colonel Griffin A. Stedman; Major William Cogswell; Bertha Cogswell; Joe Hajec; Property of a Gentleman. Estimate: 5,000 - 7,500
LOT 140
Cased Late 19th Century Shepard & Dudley
Surgeon’s Amputating and Trephining Set - This
desirable set was retailed by Shepard & Dudley and
Samuel A. Crocker & Co. c. 1870-1890s, of New York
and Cincinnati, Ohio respectively. Shepard & Dudley
was a large importer of medical and surgical supplies
beginning around 1870 and continuing at least into
the 1890s. Samuel A. Crocker & Co. appears to be a
further western distributer of such supplies around the
same time period. Many of the instruments in this set
bear variations of the Shepard & Dudley mark, and the
interior of the case shows the Crocker & Co. labeling.
This set is quite typical of a surgeon’s “amputating and
trephining” kit, the likes of which were used before and
through the Civil War. Most of the larger instruments in
this set have matching checkered ebony grips. The set
includes many of the typical tools found in a surgeon’s
amputation set from the period including a capital saw,
smaller bone/metacarpal saw, scalpel, tourniquet, trephine, Hey’s skull saw, and more. All of the items are contained in the included mahogany case that has a fitted interior lined with plum velvet and the distributor markings as mentioned above. CONDITION: Very fine, the metal on most of the tools is bright with a few scattered patches of light patina. The grips of the tools are also very fine with crisp checkering. The case is also very fine with a few scattered minor handling/storage marks. An attractive and desirable 19th century surgeon’s kit!
Estimate: 2,500 - 4,000
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