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AMES PRESENTATION M1850 FOOT OFFICER SWORD GIVEN TO LT. A.W. CORLISS BY A FORMER FELLOW OFFICER IN THE 15th AND 33rd US INFANTRY

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This is a very good example of a presentation US Army regulation Model 1850 Foot Officer’s Sword made by Ames, the pre-eminent American sword manufacturer of the period. This pattern remained regulation until 1872 and this one was presented April 3, 1871, to Augustus W. Corliss, then serving in the 8^th US Infantry by a former comrade with whom he had served from 1865 to 1869, with both men having had prior service in different units during the Civil War, joining the regular army from the volunteer service.

The sword rates very good to fine for condition and is fully regulation with brass hilt using an openwork guard with floral motifs, gray sharkskin wrapped grip with twisted brass wire binding, and full length etched blade, along with its regulation, brass mounted scabbard, etc. The sword has the Ames maker address etched just above the obverse ricasso. The scabbard has the Ames address stamped on the reverse of the upper mount. The wire and wrap of the hilt are excellent. The brass has an undisturbed, medium, aged patina. The quillon is bent forward just slightly on top of the guard. The blade etching is fully visible, showing some rubs, but completely legible with the motifs standing out on the frosted ground. The obverse uses flowing and scrolling leafy vines at top and bottom to frame a floral entwined stand of arms over which is an American eagle with upraised wings, and an E Pluribus Unum ribbon scroll overhead. The reverse uses similar scrolling floral motifs, but at center uses a tall floral entwined stand of arms over a script “US.” On both sides the motifs are distinct against the frosting, which ends in flame points or rays, and the metal beyond that is likewise smooth, medium bright, with some thin gray spots. The scabbard rates fine for condition, solid, with good color and surface to the leather with the mounts matching the patina of the hilt. We see a small number “2117” scratched into the brim of the pommel cap and on the reverse of scabbard throat (as well as something indecipherable on the underside of the guard.) This might be an estate or museum inventory number, but it is not particularly obtrusive. The oval leather sealing pad on the underside of the guard is missing, something not uncommon.

The face of the pommel is professionally engraved “A.W.C.” The upper mount of the scabbard is engraved "A.W. CORLISS U.S.A. / from / O.C. Knapp / April 3, 1871.”

Orson Claudius Knapp and Augustus Whittemore Corliss both had good Civil War service and had known one another at least from 1865 when they both served in the 15^th US infantry, which was divided into several regiments in 1866 (doing away with multiple battalions in a regiment.) Knapp had served in the 13^th Ohio in 1861 and then the 15^th US from August 1861 forward, rising from private and sergeant to sergeant major, 2^nd Lieutenant, and 1^st Lieutenant by war’s end with brevets for Missionary Ridge and the Atlanta Campaign. He continued with the 15^th after the war, and was part of the regiment becoming the 33^rd US Infantry in September 1866, becoming Adjutant and then Captain in that regiment in 1867, was unassigned in 1869 and was honorably discharged at his own request in October 1870, likely explaining why he has given himself no rank or army status in the presentation.

Corliss had enlisted in the 1^st New England Cavalry as 2^nd Lieutenant in December 1861 and also served as Adjutant. He received a commission as Major in the Rhode Island Cavalry in June 1862 and took command of the 7^th Squadron Rhode Island Cavalry, a three-month unit composed of two companies. They were posted at Washington, Alexandria, and then Winchester, from where they moved to Harpers Ferry in the Antietam Campaign, took part in the defense of that post and then escaped through Confederate lines on September 15, 1862, avoiding capture with the garrison and managing to take part in the capture of some 100 wagons from Longstreet’s supply train along the way. They mustered out back in Rhode Island in late September, following which Corliss took a commission as Major and later Lieutenant Colonel of the 2^nd RI Cavalry in December 1862. That regiment served in the 19^th Army Corps in the Department of the Gulf, taking part in the operations against Port Hudson, operations in western Louisiana and the Bayou Teche campaign. He resigned shortly after the fall of Port Hudson in July 1863, joined the regular army in March 1865, serving first as a private and sergeant in the 15^th US Infantry until his commission as 2^nd Lieutenant and 1^st Lieutenant came through in July and like Knapp became part of the newly organized 33^rd US Infantry in September 1866. He served as regimental quartermaster to May 1869 when he transferred to the 8^th Infantry, where he made Captain in 1873, transferred briefly to the 17^th Infantry as Major in 1897 and was then posted to the 7^th US several weeks later. He made Colonel of the 6^th US in 1899, and Colonel in February 1901 before retiring in March. Corliss had been wounded in the Spanish American War, also served in the Philippines. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1904. Some of his papers are at the Denver Public Library and might provide information on the occasion of the presentation. He was an author as well, penning, among other things, the “History of the Seventh Squadron, Rhode Island Cavalry” in 1879.  [sr][ph:L]

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