US CIVIL WAR M1850 OFFICER SWORD AND GROUPING OF HENRY CLAY CONNER, FOUGHT AT DEVIL'S DEN.

A nice offering of items from Captain Henry Clay Connor. The group consists of his M1850 officer's sword with a blade that exhibits a pleasing gray patina that slightly mutes the patriotic and foliate motifs on each side. No visible maker marking. Hilt is in standard configuration with brass guard and knucklebow with tiered pommel. Grip is of wood, wrapped with leather and grooved in order to accommodate strands of twisted brass wire. Leather loss to grip with tight wire. Scabbard is present, but is fragmented, missing a portion of leather between the middle mount and drag, with significant bends that are almost breaks in between the mounts. The mounts exhibit a dull patina. The rest of the group consists of Conner's captain's shoulder boards, Massachusetts Minute Men 1861 medal, a piece of wood with label stating that it came from Libby Prison, and a binder of ephemera that mostly includes post-war pension and veteran related documents from the early 1900s. There are a few envelopes and letters that date to the Civil War. The ephemera exhibits wear that is typical of old paper. Conner was born in Boston in 1833, married in 1853, and working as a “heeler” in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1861 when he enlisted first at age 28, mustering into Co. D 8th Mass. Infantry as corporal on 4/30/61. The regiment served at Annapolis, Washington, Relay House, and Baltimore, mustering out 8/1/61. He was commissioned 2nd lieutenant of Co. A 22nd Mass. Infantry on 9/2/61, which likely dates this sword, making 1st lieutenant 2/17/1862, and captain 8/12/62. In the Peninsula Campaign the regiment fought at Yorktown and suffered heavily at Gaines Mill, losing 84 just in killed and mortally wounded, and another 11 at Malvern Hill. It was heavily engaged again at Fredericksburg and at Gettysburg, where it lost 3 killed, 27 wounded, and 1 missing out just 137 engaged in the fighting near Devil’s Den and then took part in the campaign to the Rappahannock. Conner was discharged for disability 11/14/63, but enlisted yet again, as Captain Co. B 4th Mass. Heavy Artillery, which served in the defenses of Washington, mustering out 6/17/65. His service record in the 22nd shows him present through August 1862, sick in September, present October through December, and on recruiting duty January to April 1863. He was present May and June, sick again at some point in July, returning to the regiment Aug. 29, but absent sick again from Oct. 18 to his discharge in November. We find him after the war, briefly working as a police constable in Essex County, Massachusetts, and by 1880 in Elmira, New York, working as a “traveling agent.” He died at a disabled veterans’ home in Tennessee in 1916. CONDITION: Fair-good. Blade Length: 30" Overall Length: 36"