American Silver-Hilted, Revolutionary and Early Federal Swords Volume Ii: According to Their Geographical Areas of Mounting

By Daniel D. Hartzler

This publication gives the sword enthusiast an opportunity to observe edged weapons made, for the most part, in the United States that display regional characteristics that often transcend state lines. The makers of these swords, many of whom were silversmiths as well, had learned the skills and peculiarities of their masters during apprenticeship before yielding to the desires of the shop owner as journeymen. Later, many of these often relocated to new localities, practicing their former traits before they could open their own establishment, where they would be free to exercise their own creative ingenuities.

Mr. Hartzler has done an excellent job in ferreting out edged weapons, especially swords, and their makers from throughout the country and identifying who they were and where and when they were in business. His identification of the styles and characteristics of the various swords, as well as the region from which they came, will be immensely helpful to students in their future study of these weapons.

His unique method of presentation, illustrating what state or region these weapons originated from, as well as their individual characteristics, elucidate the various styles and traits developed throughout the different areas. One can also follow the travels of a sword maker by the pattern of his products.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503530638

Book preview

American

Silver-Hilted,

Revolutionary and

Early Federal

Swords

Volume II

According to Their Geographical Areas of Mounting

Daniel D. Hartzler

Copyright © 2015 by Daniel D. Hartzler.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014922968

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5035-3061-4

               Softcover       978-1-5035-3062-1

            eBook            978-1-5035-3063-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 04/29/2015

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

656753

Contents

The following chapters can be found in Volume I

Sword Nomenclature

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1   Delaware

Chapter 2   Pennsylvania

Chapter 3   New Jersey

Chapter 4   Georgia

Chapter 5   Connecticut

Chapter 6   Massachusetts

Chapter 7   Maryland

Chapter 8   South Carolina

Chapter 9   New Hampshire

Chapter 10   Virginia

Chapter 11   New York

Chapter 12   North Carolina

Chapter 13   Rhode Island

Chapter 14   District of Columbia

Chapter 15   The Louisiana Purchase

Chapter 16   The Floridar

Chapter 17   The Rugged Mountain Wilderness

Chapter 18   The Northern Separation

Chapter 19   The Northwest Territories

Chapter 20   The Tejas

Chapter 21   Commissioned Swords

CHAPTER 8

South Carolina

A_Page_001_Image_0001.jpgA_Page_001_Image_0002.jpg

A fter several attempts at colonization by the Spanish from Santo Domingo and an unsuccessful endeavor by the French, the first permanent settlement in what would become South Carolina was made by the English in 1670. South Carolina’s government was very confusing in its early years. In 1719, the people rebelled against the Lords Proprietors, causing the province of Carolina to become a royal colony. Charleston was the primary seaport and the low country, as well as back country, and had inseparable commercial ties to that city. South Carolina supplied troops for the British cause during the French and Indian War. In 1759, John Paul Grinke was offering 35 shillings an ounce for old silver.

By 1770, Charleston was among the largest cities in the New World, attracting many precious-metal smiths who advertised in the local paper. Charleston was the center of the exceedingly wealthy and those that acquired large quantities of silver plate. There were no banks at the time, so silver coins were melted down and worked into handsome pieces that could be more easily guarded. There was a provincial duty of trade levied by South Carolina on imported articles. Tradesmen were commonly known a jacks of all trades, experienced in several occupations. Many goldsmiths spoke of themselves as merchants due to their diversity. The restriction of colonial trade and the new taxes turned the majority of South Carolinians into favoring independence. However, there were many more who urged loyalty to the crown. The Revolutionary War was much more of a civil war in the Deep South than is recognized today. In June of 1776 and in 1779, the Patriots defeated the British near Charleston, although by 1780 the British controlled most of South Carolina. The area’s Patriots and Tories were in constant conflict with each other, the latter with the help of the crown. There were 137 battles that took place in the colony.

The term merchants had various meanings. Sometimes it referred to a goldsmith, but there were other local merchants who were producers, as well as merchants who imported goods with ties to England. Some merchants were located on the wharves to exchange merchandise. Then there were merchants or middlemen selling retail or wholesale situated on streams not navigable for the larger ocean-going vessels. There were also merchant peddlers of the colonial coast and the inland trade who traveled up the many shallow streams into the low and back countries. William Wilkings, who was from London, worked in Charleston from 1749 into 1760 as a silversmith. To obtain funds in 1751, he arranged a unique lottery by dividing his merchandise into lots to be raffled off. He sold 250 chances at 40 shillings each, resulting in 188 winners. One of these lots included a silver-hilted sword.

During the middle of the eighteenth century, seven basic breeds were used as pommel heads, five canine and two feline. The five most commonly used breeds were the hound, retriever, spaniel, wolf, and occasionally the Saint Bernard. Panther and lionlike heads were also utilized. The most common variety of dog head used on sword pommels from the north was the hound, while the retriever was more prevalent in the south. There wasn’t an overabundance of these canine pommels produced, making them somewhat scarce. These unique pommels were made through the French and Indian War to just after the Revolutionary War.

In the 1750s, jade was very fashionable and the bright green color was carried over into the northern colonies in the form of a stain to be used to color ivory sword grips. This jade fad lasted for several decades. Around the 1770s in the Deep South, due to the rich blue indigo color being so accessible (South Carolina was a leading exporter of the dye), it was used on ivory as well as bone grips. One elegant unattributed wolf-head piece made by a maker with the initials NF has been placed in this chapter because of its indigo-stained ivory.

132770.png

Fig.345 Wolf-head early Southern extravagant colonial-made sword. Pommel length is 1.602 inches and width is 1.088 inch. It was cast in one piece. It shows elevated ears, eyes, eyebrows, nose, muzzle, jaws, and jowls. The remainder has multiple lines representing short hair. The knuckle bow is .092 inch in thickness with ten piercings. Chased stars in the center and deep extensive engraving on the remainder. The counterguard has a sunburst with forty-five piercings and four in the quillon area. Both sides are chiseled with stars, a rectangular hallmark of N F with a pellet between in Roman capitals. The hallmark is unattributed but it appears to have been made in the 1750s. The grip is ivory with traces of blue indigo. It is spiraled, carved in alternating ridges, large relief bands of checkering, and band wire. The blade is slightly curved and has two size fullers. Hilt: 5. Total: 31 ½.

William Gowdey [–1798] appeared in Charleston in 1759, where he advertised that he was continuing to carry on in the business of jewelry, gold, and silver way. He became a member of South Carolina’s society in 1779. Sometime before his death, he moved across the river to Christ Church Parish.

134803.png

Fig.346 Gowdey’s retriever with a broad-nosed canine pommel that is heavily cast, nicely contoured with deep decorations. Has a small capstan washer with a wide dog collar. The pommel rests on the bone grips that are swelled in the center. The floating guard is slotted and deeply decorated on the upper side. On the inferior side is a rectangular cartouche with Roman capitals W•G. Colonial-made curved blade with one top mount. Hilt: 5 ⅜. Total: 35 ¼.

134815.png134869.png134879.png134892.png

Fig.347 Dog hilt attributed to William Gowdey. Doorknob capstan, cast dog’s head, 1.726 inch in length, 1.307 inch in width, and crudely engraved with a dog collar ferrule. The floating four-sloted guard is .095 inch and is richly engraved on both sides. It is scalloped on the outside edge in four different types of ornamentation. Double chain guard of eight lengths with a big ring originating at the back of the mouth and terminating at the base of the guard. A plain high thimble ferrule holds the bone grip. Hilt: 5 ¾. Total: 35 ½.

134661.png

Fig.348 Bowie side knife by Gowdey with a retriever pommel that bears the same background striations. Narrow collar that sits on the ivory grip. The cross quillons are dog heads, one with the same plain short snout, while the other has a longer snout. Bowie-shaped blade that has been stamped in modern times with a name and number. Hilt: 5 ½. Blade: 12.

134902.png134911.png134920.png

Fig.349 Dirk with a different upturned canine head with long ears and is void of superficial decoration. It has a closed mouth and is unmarked. The pommel ferrule is high and squared with two lines that slide over the horned grip. Vertical columned handle with silver corners. Cross quillons with an oyster shell on the obverse. Wide, tapering blade with a slight fuller near the spine. The leather scabbard has large wide mounts and reversed arcs on the edge. Hilt: 6 ¼. Blade: 9 ½.

134936.png134953.png

Fig.350 Identical upturned dog-head form with the same pommel, crossguard, and dark-stained fluted grip with silver ribs on the corners. Blade is forged in the same shape with no identifying marks. Partial scabbard with the same type mounts. Hilt: 6. Blade 10 ¼.

Thomas You [–1786] was the son of Charleston goldsmith Daniel You, who died in 1750. Thomas is recorded in a judgment note three years after Daniel’s death. He had hilted a silver sword value at £40 that William Donning sold to Joseph Jones of Ashepoo. Thomas was known to be an excellent craftsman in both large and small works.

135061.png135098.png

135145.png

Fig.351 Thomas You small sword. The capstanrivet is rounded and it has two steps and goes intoa slight urn on the ball pommel. The knuckle bowis built up at its origin and flows into the centerwith a quillon, which is turned to the right. Largepas d’ane rings over the shell guards. The shellguards are nicely reinforced and are struck three times in the center in a rectangular cartouche Twith a pellet between the T and the Y. The grip iswound in tightly turned wire, which swells in thecenter. The blade is triangular and straight witha taper. The scabbard has wood on the inside, islight leathered that is backstitched, and has onlya single center mount remaining. Hilt: 6 ¼. Total:34 ½.

Loyal subjects were called upon to suppress the rebels. Bands of Tories kept up a continual war against the Patriots, with tarring and feathering turning into mayhem and murder. South Carolina would enlist more royalists than any other southern colony and become the second most British tainted state in the number of his majesty’s volunteers behind New York.

Patriotic goldsmith John Hector advertised every piece of work that he offers to the public is entirely begun and finished in this place and he hopes for the encouragement of sets that are lovers and encouragers of America manufacturing. The anti-British feeling at this time of 1774 was strong in Charleston when he came to the port just prior to the war. Some of these émigrés no doubt joined the patriot militia, while others certainly joined the crown forces, and still others simply moved to the interior of the country. Few accounts have been found on particular silversmiths of Charleston who came to the port just prior to the war. The majority of smiths were less concerned with politics and more about their families and their ability to earn a living. Most felt the American cause was lost, and consequently signed the petition asking General Lincoln, the commander the Patriots, to accept the British terms of surrender at the siege of Charleston in 1780. They signed a pledge ardently requesting speedy readmission in the character and conditions as British subjects. The existing biographies of Charleston silversmiths are very interesting during these tragic times.

A_Page_008_Image_0001.jpg

Fig.352 Tory gilted-brass cross-belt plate. Plate is engraved for The Kings 4th American Regiment

Thomas Harper was working in the seaport city in 1773. He was an adherent to the crown, and as such refused to take the oath of allegiance of the revolutionaries. In July of 1778 he closed his shop and he and his family went to Georgetown to sail to the Dutch Indies. When the British captured Charleston in 1781, he returned, reopening his shop at a new location, but was forced to depart again, this time going with the English army to England. In 1783, he appeared in London before the loyalist commission and applied for losses for his damages.

Andrew Hibben [–1784] and John Miot [1740–1791] were practicing together, both of whom tended to favor the loyalist side, although they did not actively participate. After the successions of hostilities, their confiscated estates were returned to them.

A_Page_009_Image_0001.jpg

Fig.353 Patriot Second South Carolina Regiment silver crescent hat pin, with Liberty or Death engraved on the front in script. Left tip of moon is missing.

Jonathan Sarrazin [–1811] was a parishioner who was about to accept the terms of surrender but was arrested for disloyalty in August of 1780 and cast into the cellar of the exchange building. He was transferred to the prison ship Pack Horse and exiled to Saint Augustine. After the war, he returned to the city to make silver.

Ripley Nichols Singleton [1754–1799] was arrested when the English captured the city and placed onboard one of the prison ships lying in the harbor. By 1784, he was again working in the city.

Nicolas Smith was from London, associated with George Smithson. The partnership terminated in 1775 but Smith carried on alone. On April 3, 1775, George Smithson’s advertisement said, he makes all kind of jewelry and gold work, swords, cutteaux, spoons, buckles … Both Nicolas and George were members of James Benthan’s Company in the Patriotic Militia but the last information on Smith was that in the 1782 city directory. An advertisement in that year includes silver swords and cutteaux. George Smithson left the city in July of 1778 and embarked for the West Indies.

James Alexander Courtonna [1720–1793] came from London to Charleston in 1751. In 1775, he had 500 acres in the district at the forks of the Edisto River and Young’s Mill Creek. In 1778, he and his son were members of Capt. James Bentham’s South Carolina Patriotic Militia. However, in 1780 and the siege of Charleston he signed a petition asking General Lincoln to accept the British terms of surrender. Then thinking that the American cause was lost, Courtonna requested readmission of the charter on the conditions as a British subject. After the war he then swore allegiance to the US and remained in Charleston, retiring to his Orangeburg property at Amelia.

James Courtonna small sword is distinct in the neck and ricasso area. The neck of the pommel extends up much higher with a matching lower ferrule at the other end of the grip. The knuckle bow and pas d’ane is banded, as is the other pas d’ane and quillon, while the ricasso center has squared edges.

A_Page_010_Image_0001.jpg

Fig.354 Doorknob capstan standing on a round ball, which is nicely turned above and below. The knuckle bow is slightly built up at its origin, swells in the center and goes into the center of the guard, which has two brackets on each side for reinforcing strength. The quillon is turned to the right. The shell guards are small but nicely decorated and bear a heart and the letters I C on the knuckle bow. The owner’s initials also appear on the shells AL. The twisted-wire wound grip is square and swells in the center. There is a red buffer between the blade and the hilt. The triangular blade is straight and has brass inlays. Hilt: 6 ¼. Total: 36 ½.

A_Page_010_Image_0002.jpg

John Vanall was a patriot and made silver gorgettes. One with his hallmark is inscribed Col. C.C. Pinkney 1776 with thirteen stars and is located in the National Museum of the American Indian.

John Paul Grinke [1713–1791], with his family, was ordered out of Charleston in 1782 because his son John F. Grinke was a major in the rebel forces. After the British evacuated their troops, he returned to the city.

John David Miller [1753–1831] was wounded in the arm while serving in the militia at the engagement of Port Royal Island. In 1780, he signed the petition to accept the British surrender terms. After the war, he continued to work in the city.

Thomas You [–1786] was also placed on a prison ship in the harbor in 1781. Subsequently he demonstrated his allegiance and attachment to His Majesty’s government and in July of that year received a certificate for free enterprise of his trade. Thomas had four daughters and two sons. The sons were named after their grandfathers. John for his maternal grandfather; John Clifford and Danny for his paternal grandfather, Daniel You. Everyone in this family was a revolutionary. Young Danny left his father’s employment and retreated to a Whig stronghold, where he made swords. Along with the hallmark, he used a separate heart cartouche of an eagle and stars. Young Danny lost his life while serving as a mountain man with the Patriots.

135434.png

Fig.355 Daniel You Patriot silver foot officer’s sword. Large doorknob capstan on a globular one-piece pommel. Stirrup knuckle bow is .135 inch in thickness, center guard has a wide loop that is .093 inch in thickness. Hallmarked DY in Roman capitals and a heart cartouche with a perched eagle surrounded by four stars on each side. Reeded ivory grip. Straight tapering blade with center fuller displaying traces of military trophies. Hilt: 6. Total: 38 ¼.

Enos Reeves (1753–1807) served in the north with the Pennsylvania Line, later going to the State of South Carolina to participate in the southern campaigns. After the war, he returned north to muster out with the rank of captain. He returned to Charleston, married, and went into the silversmithing business in that city.

By 1780, the British army occupied most of South Carolina. More and more Tory militia bands became aggressively harassed and plundered by their former Whig revolutionaries. On the road to Gilford, General Green’s army was growing by the gathering of mountain men, while the Tories, who had joined the king’s army, now began to slip away to their homes.

For almost three years, the newly independent province of South Carolina endured the occupation, which made most of the state’s population, who were revolutionaries, fugitive. It was printed that when the British evacuated Charleston in 1782 the soldiers and their large Tory following carried away loot valued at £300,000 sterling. Add to this the devastating fires of 1740, 1796, and 1838, plus the Yankee looting of 1865, it’s no wonder that Charleston silver is so rare.

The mild government of South Carolina only slightly restricted the post-war Tory radicals, finally banishing returning Tory exiles not originally from South Carolina who had fought for the king, as well as those natives who had been too friendly with the British. Roger Fursdon arrived in Charleston from England sometime in 1784. On July 6 of that year, he advertised: Clock repairs and warranted one year, unless hurt by violence. Plate of every denomination for trinkets to surgical instruments. Metals and ores of any sorts melted and analyzed on the most reasonable terms. But due to the lingering memory of the British atrocities two years earlier, his stay was cut short, causing him to move on to more friendly environs.

The Palmetto State was known for the Palmetto tree and for the gamecock roosters. With independence, men of this new Union state began to develop their own concept of a patriotic symbol. The eagle-headed pommel became the most popular pommel-hilted sword. American-produced silver eagles were imaginative in design and in a multitude of variations. The colonial eagle pommels in their basic form were sometimes awkward in appearance. They were first cast in one piece. The American folk-art eagle pommels became lightweight, form-pressed, and embossed in a two-piece mold, then silver soldered together and enhanced by surface cutting lines of engraving. This created a wonderful three-dimensional appearance at less cost, although they were still sometimes ungainly. In South Carolina, the folk-art eagle’s form and beauty came from the common people of the country and it was very reminiscent of the cock rooster that was used in rooster fighting. A cock was a type of male rooster that was bred and trained for fighting another rooster. The form of the American bald eagle and the South Carolina fighting cock became somewhat interwoven in the eyes of these zealous citizens.

135478.png

Fig.356 Longrifle silver cheek piece inlay of a game cock

135531.png

Fig.357 Fighting cock. Small capstan with a well defined head with a comb and a small beak. On the top of the comb there is long, curved feathering, and on the sides of the head there are nice undercut individual feathers. The knuckle bow originates out of the neck and broadens as it terminates in a single disk. The grip is ivory with a small ferrule at the bottom of the pommel and a larger one at the base of the grip. The Spanish blade is slightly curved and has the motto on it, which when translated says, Do not draw me in haste or sheathe me without honor. Hilt: 5 ¾. Total: 36 ½.

135546.png

Fig.358 A flat-headed style fighting cock with the comb actually being the rivoted area. The bill is a little longer, same forehead molding, same type of eye socket and eyeball treatment. The plumage on the top of the head is identical, but the side feathers continue as the top. Large lower ferrule that has a predecorated band when mounted. Quillon terminates in an eagle head. Ivory grip is barber-poled and has a narrow backstrap. The blade is slightly curved with a very shallow center fuller. Hilt: 5 ¼. Total: 37 ½.

John Kershaw of Charleston is documented as a silver producer only from 1789 to 1791. His stock, however, includes cutlery.

William Gray [1772–1803] was a Charleston silvermaker who died intestate of yellow fever. His widow Elizabeth took out Letters of Administration on April 9, 1803, for his estate whose value did not exceed $400. Apparently he was deeply in debt.

A_Page_014_Image_0001.jpgA_Page_014_Image_0002.jpgA_Page_014_Image_0003.jpg

Fig.359 This sword made by William Gray displays a primitive style eagle pommel made in two pieces that is undecorated. It has a button capstan rivet over a pressed-form head, which has the outline of a beak and a tiny crest. The knuckle bow is twisted to the midpoint. It has a Moorish prayer arch with four piercings, which consists of lobes on the top and front and is rounded with leaves that are pointed. The back of the knuckle bow is hallmarked W G in Roman capitals within a rectangular punch. A small ferrule holds the bone grips, which are spiraled in double columns. There is a small scabbard cap under the counterguard. The curved blade has a shallow center fuller. The obverse side has lavish etching, flowers and eagle, stars and a floral motif. Hilt: 5 ½. Total: 31 ¾.

Daniel Carroll was in business with John Carroll in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, just after the War of Independence. By January of 1790, Daniel was in Charleston and advertising that he had a variety of articles in the silversmith, jewelry, and hardware line. He also stated that his employees were experienced workers. In the Charleston museum is a gilted sword scabbard that is engraved in script on the reverse side of the upper mouth Danl Carroll Charleston Maker. This apparently was made between 1790 and 1805, for by 1806 Carroll had returned to Philadelphia.

John B. Dumoutet [1761–1813], a silversmith from France, relocated from Philadelphia to Charleston in 1802, where he advertised that he handled military and fancy stores.

South Carolina was known as a rebellious state in the third quarter of the twentieth century, even though several New England states threatened secession first. South Carolina’s problems with federal taxes, tariffs, and state’s rights did not just begin with the American Civil War. The Palmetto State strongly supported free trade in the early Federal period. Because their economic development was heavy on trade with European nations, throughout the early 1800s the South Carolinians adopted ordinances against the ever-rising increasing Federal tariffs. In 1798 the undeclared war with France resulted in the Jay Treaty.

John Spring [–1827] was a silversmith who was referred to as one who appeared to be more interested in military affairs than in silvermaking. By 1806, he was also a gunpowder inspector, and though he commanded the Charleston Artillery Regiment of the Seventh Brigade, he became keeper of the city arsenal and very little of his silver survived.

Goldsmith Alexander Young [1784–1856] was from Fifeshire,