Captain George Hoyt must have been well liked by his company to have been presented this elegant sword made by the Philadelphia jewelry firm of G.W. Simons & Brother, who are still in business today. Hoyt was certainly devoted to his regiment, the 8^th New York Heavy Artillery. He enlisted leaving behind his pregnant wife and two children. When the third child, a daughter, arrived in January 1863 he named her “Octavia Artilla,” a rather awkwardly Latinized “Eighth Artillery.” His wife’s thoughts on the matter are not recorded, but the daughter carried it for the rest of her life.

G.W. Simons and Brother was and is a well regarded Philadelphia jeweler. The company was founded in 1839 by George Washington Simons, later joined by brother Peter. By 1858 they employed 60 people making gold and silver pen and pencil cases, “thimbles, finger shields, tooth and ear picks, watch keys, gold pens, cane heads, bracelets, breast pins, earrings, finger rings, sleeve buttons, studs, guard slides, charms, seals, badges, etc.” Advertisements in 1863 and 1864 mention gold and silver corps and division badges, which would have made use of their metal working and engraving talents, as well as, “fine swords” and “military goods of every variety.” The company incorporated in 1905 and is still in the high-end jewelry business as Simons Brother Company in Philadelphia.

In overall form the sword is a regulation U.S. Model 1850 Foot Officer’s Sword, as appropriate for a line officer of infantry or artillery serving on foot, though using a steel scabbard rather than leather, more appropriate for an active officer and as a surface for embellishment with the engraved presentation, patriotic and floral motifs. The blade is even more impressive, made of Damascus steel and bearing a Solingen maker’s address, slightly curved, with spearpoint and quill-back, deeply etched and gold washed along the back and on both sides for about half its length and then left plain to show off the Damascus patterning.

The hilt is the standard M1850 configuration, using gilt brass pommel, knucklebow and guard with cast and chased with floral motifs, the guard showing very crisply detailed open-work floral scrolls. A leather sealing pad is in place on the underside of the guard. The grip is wrapped with standard gray shark or ray skin, but shows an unusual, elegant binding of two twisted wires that show alternating, spiral black and gold color along their twists. This alternating pattern is picked up in the deep blade etching, which alternates bright with gold washed and gold-highlighted motifs. The spine is decorated with a long leafy vine, the leaves spilling over the edges, where they are picked up in the dense, leafy scrolls on both sides of the blade that preserve portions of their gold wash, some of the leaves bearing hashmarks giving them the look of seashells. On the obverse “Solingen” is engraved in script on a gold washed panel on the ricasso, with the dealer name and address etched above: “G.W. Simons / & Bro. / Phila. Pa.” Floral elements then lead to a stand of arms consisting of pikes, banner, shield, helmet, etc., with a bold American eagle with raised wings and holding olive branch and lightning bolt arrows, flourishing an E PLURIBUS UNUM ribbon scroll overhead, all on a gilt washed panel. More dense floral scroll work above then encircles a Greek warrior with helmet pushed back on his head, and holding sword and shield. The panel ends with a floral/seashell arch with a scroll and fleur-de-lis finial surrounded by the beginning of the Damascus patterning. The reverse is filled with similar floral elements framing two main panels. One consists of a bold U.S. shield, from behind which rises a stand of arms with bayonetted muskets, banners, and pikes, with a halberd at center carrying a Liberty Cap on its central spike. This is gold washed and corresponds to the eagle on the other side of the blade. The second panel, above, is a trophy of arms containing breastplate, helmet, swords, musket, shield and cannon, with a U.S. flag rising prominently overhead, preserving portions of a gold wash or highlights. The panel ends like the other side with the blade then emphasizing the Damascus patterning.

The edge and point of the blade are very good. There are a few small dark spots in the Damascus sections, but they are not obtrusive. The blade overall is a muted silver-gray with nicely mellowed gilt highlights. Some of the gilt is rubbed, but on the central blade motif on either side and other elements is strong, indicating it was likely gold washed and highlighted to give a bold, mixed bright and gilt look.

The scabbard is equally impressive: steel, in the bright, with brass ring bands and throat. There is just one very shallow ding near the drag on the obverse and a couple of small gray spots. The brass has a medium tone. The reverse is plain. The obverse is engraved lengthwise between the throat and upper ring band in a combination of script, block, and Old English lettering, amid flourishes, “Presented to / Capt. G.A. Hoyt. / By Members of Co. C. 8^th N.Y. Arty. / March 25^th 1864.” Between the ring bands is an eagle in flight with upraised wings, carrying arrows and olive branch, but looking rather predatory. Overhead flows a foliate banner scroll reading “E PLURIBUS UNUM.” Below those motifs, between the lower ring band and drag, is a long, flowing, flowering vine that entwines at center and United States shield. Both the eagle and the shield are reflections of motifs on the blade.

Hoyt was a harness maker living in the town of Gaines, Orleans County, NY, in 1860, his household consisting of his wife, young daughter, son, and what was likely his wife’s younger sister. He was 31 years-old when he enlisted in the army at Lockport, NY, on 8/6/62 and mustered into Co. C of the 129^th New York Infantry as 1^st Lieutenant on 9/10/62 with rank from his date of enlistment. The regiment had been organized for three-years’ service, left the state August 23, 1862, and was posted in Baltimore, where it served also as heavy artillery in the fortifications, which led to its redesignation as the 8^th NY Heavy Artillery in December 1862. In July 1863 it served about a month at Harpers Ferry, as part of the Middle Department 8^th Army Corps, and then returned to Baltimore and vicinity, receiving in February 1864 two additional companies to bring it up to the twelve companies standard in an artillery regiment. Hoyt had been promoted to Captain of the company on Aug. 18, 1863, with rank from July 8, likely indicating he had been in command of the company during its time at Harpers Ferry, if not earlier. The presentation, dated March 25, 1864, likely took place in the camps in the Baltimore area. Records indicate the company spent some time in the garrison of Fort McHenry.

The regiment’s training as infantry was called on less than two months after Hoyt received the sword when the large heavy artillery regiments (both in terms of number of companies and number of men per company) were called into the field for Grant’s 1864 campaign. Assigned to the 2^nd Army Corps, the regiment saw its first fighting on May 19 at the Ny River, losing 8 killed, 21 wounded and 4 missing, likely shocking after largely quiet garrison duty, but nothing compared with the fighting, likened by some to butchery, at Cold Harbor, where it took part in the disastrous assault of June 3 and fighting of the next nine days that cost it 80 officers and men killed, 339 wounded, and another 86 missing, many of whom were likely among the dead as well, with most of the loss suffered in that first attack.

At Petersburg they were in the charge of June 16, where CWData lists 130 more causalities, probably an underestimate, and on June 22 were in an attempt to retake some lost field works, charging within a few yards of them, where they entrenched and remained under severe picket fire all night, advancing to the works after the Confederates pulled back, and then withdrawing to dig a new line of entrenchments, actions that cost them about 95 more men, one of whom was Hoyt, listed in some sources as wounded June 22, but most as wounded June 23, by a gunshot wound in the leg or ankle. It might have seemed a lucky wound at first, given the slaughter the regiment had been subjected to. He was well enough to obtain a furlough and travel home to his family, only to have the reunion turn tragic as he developed typhus and lockjaw, dying on July 5, 1864. He was interred in Orleans. His wife did not remarry, but survived on a widow’s pension until her death in 1917. His daughter Octavia Artilla Hoyt, married twice, had children by her first husband, and died in 1937. She had been active in a daughters of veterans chapter and in 1932 attended the regiment’s 70^th anniversary reunion, attended also by twelve of its remaining thirty-three veterans. A newspaper reported that she had been the “daughter of the regiment,” and her name chosen by the regiment’s commander, Col. Peter A. Porter, upon receipt of news of her birth.

Hoyt’s sword is an elegant example of Simons and Brother workmanship as well as a token of respect and esteem to a brave officer who saw intense combat and was equally devoted to his unit.  [sr] [ph:m]

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