Manufactured: Chicopee, Mass Maker: Ames Mfg. Co.  Year: 1857 - 1864  Model: Mamaluke  Size: 32 inch blade length, .992 wide  Condition: Excellent+.

This rare Ames Mamaluke (pre-1859 regulations) has a slightly curved blade which is just shy of 32 inches with a wide single fuller starting at the small ricasso and running all the way to the tip. It is etched with the maker name: Ames Mfg. Co. / Chicopee / Mass. followed by a fowled anchor and a presentation plaque - reading: Capt. W.L. Shuttleworth / U. S. Marine. It is followed by a Trident crossed with what appears to be a shovel engulfed in sea-weed. The obverse etching ends in foliate scroll work. The reverse has Foliate, a neat Anchor with cannon, sales crow’s nest, sailor and pennant followed by an American Eagle under E. Pluribus Unum and acorn & Oak leaf scroll work. The grip is rounded ivory with 6 pointed star fasteners, All brass is gilt. The backstrap has line decoration on the edges. The quillon tips are turned and pointed. The scabbard is sheet brass with attached ring mounts and a frog stud. The entire length has a raised center line making the scabbard almost diamond shape. The drag is very square in design.

William Louis Shuttleworth, 1812-1871, a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, was born in Piscataway, New Jersey. According to family lore, his ancestors were originally from England and settled in New Jersey; several Shuttleworths fought in the Revolutionary War and two died at Valley Forge. William Louis entered the U.S. Navy in 1831, serving as a carpenter. He sailed on the U.S.S. Falmouth, the frigate Potomac, and the Ohio.

On 28 Feb 1839, he resigned from the Navy and entered the U.S. Marine Corps as a 2d Lieutenant. He was stationed at the Navy Yards at New York and Brooklyn, served on the steamer Missouri, on the sloop Vandalia, and was brevetted captain for conspicuous gallantry at the bombardment and capture of Vera Cruz during the War with Mexico. At some time during the War with Mexico, he served under Major John Harris. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in 1847, sailed aboard the U.S.S. Jamestown, and was promoted to Captain in 1857. In 1860 he was the superintendent of construction of the new Marine Barracks at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

"In April, 1861, he was ordered to the Minnesota steam frigate and served on her two years, participating in the capture of Forts Clark and Hatteras, the action with the rebel ram Virginia, and numerous skirmishes in the neighboring rivers. At Hatteras he landed through a heavy surf and cut off the retreat of stragglers from the forts. In April, 1863, he was ordered to Pensacola to assist in holding the navy yard, and commanded the marines there until 1865, when he was ordered to the marine barracks at the Brooklyn navy yard," In 1864 he was promoted to Major, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Colonel. According to a descendant, William Louis Shuttleworth IV, among his duties, he took recruits from New York down to Pensacola, Florida. It was there he met Dr. John Brosnaham, a naval surgeon from Catskill, New York, and his family.

William Louis married one of Dr. John's daughters, Clotilda Santiago Brosnaham 6 July 1843 in Pensacola. They had three children: Mary, who died when she was a year old; William Rodman, who died at four months; and John George. Clotilda died in Brooklyn from childbirth complications in 1850 when she was only 30. Clotilda and two of her children are buried in the Catskill Village Cemetery in Catskill, New York, where Clotilda's grandparents, the Brosnahams, lived. After Clotilda and their son William Rodman died in 1850, William Louis wrote a poem about their death which appeared in the Home Journal. John George Shuttleworth served in the Civil War on the Confederate side. After the War he received the Degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University Medical College in New York. He never married. When his father died in 1871, he served as the administrator of his estate.

After Clotilda died, William Louis married her half-sister Amanda on 20 February 1851. They had three children: Mary Ella, born 1852, Samuel, born 1853, and David Dobbs, born 1855. Samuel died in Brooklyn about six weeks after he was born. He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery. Amanda died the day after Christmas in 1858 when her two children were still very young. Because their father was gone a lot, the children often lived with their grandparents in Pensacola. Soon after the Civil War ended, John George, Mary Ella, and David Dobbs accompanied their father to New York. In December 1865, all three were living with their father at the Marine Barracks in Brooklyn. According to a letter written to his Uncle George O. Brosnaham in Pensacola, 26 December 1865, Jack (John George) wrote that his father was recovering "from another attack of 'vertigo'. He is still unwell but I think improving fast." He also notes that "Father would have written but he is so weak that he can hardly write his name."

William Louis retired from the Marine Corps in 1869, and lived the rest of his life in Brooklyn where he died 27 September 1871. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, with his mother, Mary, infant son Samuel, and his son John George.

Bio info courtesy of Anne Field.

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