Bidders will compete for money at an Ohio auction house next week for the sword of the Civil War Union general who led a scorched-earth campaign across Georgia and coined the phrase “war is hell.” Become.
General William Tecumseh Sherman’s wartime sword, believed to have been used between 1861 and 1863, is among the items on display to bidders at Fleischer Auctions in Columbus on Tuesday.
Other items up for auction include Sherman’s uniform rank insignia worn during the Civil War, a family Bible, and an annotated personal copy of Ulysses S. Grant’s Memoirs.
Lincoln’s special forces fought Mosby’s Confederate Rangers with bravery and intelligence.
Sherman, a West Point graduate, was superintendent of military schools in Louisiana when South Carolina seceded in 1861 and war began. The capture of Atlanta in September 1864 helped President Abraham Lincoln win his second term in November of the same year and ensured that the fight to preserve the Union continued.
After capturing Atlanta, Sherman led the famous “March to the Sea,” culminating in the capture of Savannah in December 1864, which was a major blow to Confederate morale.
The sword and scabbard of Civil War Union General William Tecumseh Sherman will be sold at Fleisher’s Auctions in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday, May 9, 2024. A wartime sword, believed to have been used between 1861 and 1863, is one of the items for which bidding will begin on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Patrick Orsagos)
“Without William Tecumseh Sherman, the North would not have won the Civil War and the Union would not have been preserved,” said Adam Fleischer, president of the auction house.
Fleischer said the saber has a “conservative” estimated selling price of $40,000 to $60,000, and the estimated selling price of the entire Sherman collection could reach $300,000.
“As Americans, we live with the consequences of the Civil War, whether we know it or not,” Fleischer said. “If William Tecumseh Sherman had been removed from history, the war would have ended very differently. I might have welcomed him,” he said.
Fleischer said Sherman’s belongings were offered to the auction house by his direct descendants.
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The auction includes a 1733 document signed by Benjamin Franklin, the 11th known “free” badge from 1790 issued to a former slave, and a scrap of Tuskegee Airmen, according to a Fleischer’s Auctions release. Artifacts such as books and other artifacts are also included.
