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CLASSIC CONFEDERATE KENANSVILLE CAVALRY SABER FROM THE KNOX FAMILY COLLECTION OF MEMENTOS FROM THE FREDERICKSBURG AREA

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This classic Confederate cavalry saber, a “Kenansville” or “Froelich” in collector terminology, comes from collection of Civil War relics, mementos, and family memorabilia retained until recently by the Knox family of Fredericksburg, VA. The family was large, prosperous, and prominent in the community: a large collection of family letters titled “The Circle Unbroken” dealing with their letters from the Civil War years has been published and is widely available. At least four sons served in the Confederate army: three in the 30^th Va, and one with the VMI battalion that saw action in the trenches of Petersburg and Richmond. After the war two of the brothers, Robert T. Knox and younger brother James S. Knox, opened a store, “R.T. Knox & Bro.” in Fredericksburg with war relics on display among their retail offerings. We show an 1870 advertisement for the operation offering groceries, etc. At some point they also got into the coal business and described themselves as “manufacturers of sumac & grinders of bones” according to one secondary source, with the operation described as a “store and factory/processing plant.” In addition to their own family mementos, friends, neighbors and fellow veterans were likely contributors, and if they were buying bones, the numerous battlefields and army camps in the area were a ready source of supply that would have also yielded war relics for the searchers: we know of at least one set of body armor from Spottsylvania with a great display tag from the store.

This is a very strong condition Confederate cavalry saber as made by Louis Froelich, also known as a Kenansville, and occasionally, “Confederate States Armory.” The condition is nice enough that it was certainly not excavated or picked up on the battlefield years later, but likely given to them by a Confederate veteran neighbor. If you are going to own just one CS cavalry saber, it should probably be a Kenansville. Loosely based on the U.S. Model 1840 cavalry saber, this has the classic Froelich tall, smooth pommel with relatively flat top and the height emphasized by the knucklebow exiting from its bottom edge. The side branches come off the knucklebow at two different points, rather than together and then splitting, and the counterguard is a relatively narrow oval with pointed quillon. The grip shows remnants of its leather wrap, with the wood showing some lengthwise shrinkage gaps from age but stable, and the single strand wire binding is all there, blackened but showing some red tones and likely brass with a high copper content, set into the grooves and showing eleven turns. The edge of the counterguard has a characteristic Roman numeral, “XXVII,” cut in the edge as a mating number for a scabbard. The blade pad is long gone. The underside of the guard shows some pleasing reddish tones to the brass. The blade has an unstopped fuller starting a short distance from the guard and smooth metal showing gray with some scattered dark gray age stains. The blade edge shows three or four small, narrow edge nicks that are not obtrusive. The point is good.

Louis Froelich was a “mechanic,” an artisan working with metals, who emigrated from Bavaria in early 1861. Settling in Wilmington, NC, he started out making buttons as foreman of the North Carolina Button Manufactory and then went into the arms trade, making a large assortment of sabers, sword bayonets, bayonets, pikes, knives, axes, accouterments and other vital military supplies throughout the war with an epic determination,  having to move his operation from Wilmington to Kenansville, suffering from fires, federal cavalry raids, a corrupt business partner and a yellow fever epidemic to boot. Nevertheless, he is thought to have produced close to 12,000 sabers for Confederate cavalry at his different operations, with his weapons alternately termed products of the Confederate States Armory , Kenansville, or just Froelich. McAden and Fonvielle, “Louis Froelich: Arms-Maker to the Confederacy,” provide an excellent introduction to his work, various products, and career. This is a very good example of his characteristic enlisted man’s cavalry saber and would make an excellent addition to a cavalry, Confederate, edged weapons, or general Civil War collection.

This is a very good, untouched Confederate saber made by a well-regarded Confederate maker, with a great provenance to collection amassed in the Fredericksburg area.  [sr][ph:L]

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