PUBLISHED CONFEDERATE BOWIE KNIFE FROM THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN

PUBLISHED CONFEDERATE BOWIE KNIFE FROM THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN

Hover to zoom

Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 Image 4 Image 5 Image 6 Image 7 Image 8 Image 9 Image 10

$9,975.00 ON HOLD

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 2026-2146

Very few genuine examples of Confederate bowie knives from Gettysburg are known; offered here is one of those few.

THE BACK STORY This knife was discovered well over 40 years ago in the town of Gettysburg by none other than our own Maurice (Sam) Small owner of The Horse Soldier! This was back in the day when his parents Chet and Pat were actively running the business. Responding to a call to evaluate and possibly buy a Civil War musical instrument Sam entered the home of the LeGay family here in the town of Gettysburg. Not impressed with the "period" instrument, which was of little value, Sam was ascending from the LeGay basement and spotted hanging on the wall a large stag horn clip-point military knife; he recognized it instantly as Confederate. Sam asked Mrs. LeGay if he could look at it. Affixed to the knife at that time was an old handwritten precariously taped-on paper tag; written upon it in oxidized ink was: "Knife left by a Confederate soldier while marching through McKnightstown to G'burg. Found by Great Grand Mother". Mrs. LeGay elaborated that a Confederate soldier had exchanged the knife to her ancestor, then living in McKnightstown, for "a cup of water". McKnightstown is a village about 6 miles due west of Gettysburg now on old Route 30, then during the Civil War, called the "Chambersburg Turnpike".

By the last week in June Longstreet and Hill were near Chambersburg. Lee ordered a concentration of his forces around the village of Cashtown, located at the eastern base of South Mountain and about 7 miles west of Gettysburg. On June 30, while part of Hill's Corps was in Cashtown, one of Hill's brigades, North Carolinians in Heth's Division under Pettigrew ventured toward Gettysburg. About 1 mile east of the famous Cashtown Inn they soon passed through the village of Mcknightstown and into history at Gettysburg. Subsequently over the next couple of days the greater part of the Confederate army followed. It is worth mentioning that after Lee's failure at Gettysburg the majority of the wagons and ambulances bearing the wounded past back through McKnightstown heading, in retreat, east and ultimately south.  Sam wished to know if the knife was available at that time and was told no. He explained to Mrs. LeGay that the value of the musical instrument was negligible but that the knife was worth a considerable sum.  Not long after this, however, both the musical instrument and this knife were purchased by Sam; tragically the old tag was missing. When Sam asked Mrs. LeGay what happened to the tag, she stated that "It got sucked up in her vacuum cleaner". The Confederate bowie knife, sans tag, was immediately sold and for a time resided in the collection of the prolific author and Gettysburg historian and park ranger Mr. Gregory Coco.

THE STAG HANDLED BOWIE KNIFE: This exact knife is to be found on page 10 of the book "GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD Relics and Souvenirs" by O'Donnell publications. Please see our photo attachment and if you look carefully, you can see where the old tag, now lost, was once taped on it. The Southern made knife is excellently wrought with a total length of 19 1/4 inches long and a 14 1/2-inch-long blade. The blade is 1 3/4 inches wide at the iron hand guard and ends with a 4 inch long "clipped point". The surface of the still amazingly sharp blade is a gun metal gray with areas of brown patina blemishes, the most minor pitting and evidence of hand forging. The perfect condition 1 piece stag horn grip is 4 1/2 inches long, held firm by 2 iron rivets and conforms beautifully to nones palm when grasped; it has a mellow untouched patination. The hand guard is a 4 1/2-inch elongated disc which has been forged with an intentional backward bend at the top. The overall look is, to say the least, impressive.

This is a wonderfully example of a Confederate soldier's side arm. Its back story is well known among those in the collecting field, and the purchaser should expect an LOA from Mr. Sam Small of the Horse Soldier whose personal involvement with this fabulously important Gettysburg "relic" goes back almost half a century.   [pe][ph:L]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS ITEM, AS WITH ALL OTHER ITEMS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEB SITE,

MAY BE PURCHASED THROUGH OUR LAYAWAY PROGRAM.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR POLICIES AND TERMS.

THANK YOU!

Inquire About PUBLISHED CONFEDERATE BOWIE KNIFE FROM THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN

should be empty