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On display in the Museum of Mississippi History are many amazing artifacts, one of which is the sword shown above. The Museum has many swords on display, but this is one is special. It belonged to Brigadier General William Barksdale, and he was carrying it when he was killed in action. The following is the story of his sword, and how it found its way back to Mississippi.
On July 2, 1863, General William Barksdale was mortally wounded while leading his brigade of Mississippians in an attack on the Peach
Orchard at Gettysburg. He was captured by the Federals and taken to the Hummelbaugh House, where he died the next day.
During the battle a member of the 146th New York Infantry picked up General Barksdale’s sword, and turned it over to Colonel Kenner Garrard, his commanding officer. Colonel Garrard gave it to Major General George Sykes, commander of the 5th Corps, Army of the Potomac. (Final Report on the Battlefield of Gettysburg; New York Monuments Commission, Volume 3, page 972.)
On July 5, 1863, Major General Sykes forwarded the sword to Brigadier General Seth Williams, Assistant Adjutant General of the Army of the Potomac. Sykes wrote, “From the best information I can obtain, I believe the sword to have been taken from the body of the rebel General Barksdale on the field of battle.” (Reports of Maj. Gen. George Sykes,U. S. Army, commanding Fifth Army Corps, Gettysburg Campaign, O.R.--SERIES I--VOLUME XXVII/1 [S# 43]) Three days later, Ed Schriver, Inspector General, Army of the Potomac, informed Brigadier General Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant General of the United States Army, that he was being sent to Washington D.C., with a collection of captured Confederate flags and General Barksdale’s sword. (O.R. – Series 1, Volume 27, Part 1).
The sword of General Barksdale remained in Washington until February 22, 1877, when it was turned over to the general's brother, Ethelbert Barksdale. The sword had been on display since the war at an ordnance museum in the Winder Building in Washington D.C. (“The Sword of General Barksdale Captured at Gettysburg Returned to His Brother.” The Dallas Daily Herald, February 23, 1877, also “Mississippi.” The Times-Picayune, March 1, 1877.)
On May 25, 1880, the survivors of the Griffith-Barksdale-Humphreys Brigade held a reunion at Jackson, Mississippi. While in the capital city, a meeting was held in the chamber of the House of Representatives, and Colonel J.L. Power told the assembled veterans that the sword of General Barksdale had been given to him by the family so that it could be turned over to the survivors of the brigade. Colonel Power stated:
"Mr. Chairman: Capt. Johnson in his beautiful tribute to Gen. Barksdale, referred to the sword that he carried at an angle of
forty-five degrees when leading his command to battle. It so happens that I have that sword now present, and in behalf of the family of him who wore and wielded it so well, I confide it to the care of you, his surviving comrades. The sword was taken from General Barksdale's body after he fell at Gettysburg, July 2d, 1863, and on the 5th of July was deposited at Washington as one of the trophies of that great battle. The Federal authorities some years since very kindly returned it to the family, and they now authorize me to transfer it to you. This sword, it seems to me, should be the property of Mississippi, and I trust that the State will ere long adopt measures for the collection and preservation of such sacred relics of the war. I beg leave to suggest the appointment of a committee to present the sword to the Legislature at its next session."
That said, the association then created a committee to formally donate the sword to the State of Mississippi. (“The Reunion.” The Clarion-Ledger, May 26, 1880.
It took some time, but in January, 1882, the Mississippi Legislature passed a House concurrent resolution providing for a joint convention of the two houses to be held on February 28 “for the purpose of receiving the sword of the late Gen. William Barksdale.” (Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Mississippi, January 3, 1882, page 483.)
On February 28, 1882, the members of the Barksdale family formally presented the sword to the state of Mississippi. The sword was accepted for the state by W.H. Luse, the representative from Yazoo County, who said in his remarks;
"In defense of that faith, from first Manassas, under gallant Beauregard, to final Appomattox, under matchless Lee, the
men of Mississippi poured out their blood like water. In the resplendent achievements of the Army of Northern Virginia, the Mississippi Brigades bore a conspicuous part, and at the head of one of those brigades, for a twelvemonth, rode the intrepid soldier whose sword we shall presently deliver to your keeping - General William Barksdale. From that unhappy day at Fair Oaks, when the lamented Griffith was hurled bleeding to the earth, in full view of his whole brigade, and Barksdale was thus suddenly called to command - from that day, when riding in front of his troops, he said, 'Soldiers, let us to-day add another bright page to the history of Mississippi!' To the last day at Gettysburg, when his great soul went up, the Confederate armies held no truer, braver, more devoted, less unselfish man than William Barksdale. If ever son loved mother this man loved Mississippi; if ever man gave passionate allegiance to his State, this man gave it to Mississippi; if ever soldier fought forgetful of self and mindful only of the honor, the glory and the welfare of his native land, so fought this man for Mississippi." (Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Mississippi, Jackson, Mississippi, 1882, pages 502 - 503)
The Legislature then turned the sword over to the State Librarian and Keeper of the Capitol, Mrs. Mary Morancy, “With instructions that it be there safely kept and carefully preserved and be by him delivered to his successor in office as the other property of the State in his keeping.”Mrs. Morancy was the first woman to hold the position of State Librarian. When she died in 1902, Mrs. Morancy was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson, the same cemetery where General Barksdale was laid to rest. (The Clarion-Ledger, March 8, 1882, and The Jackson Daily News, November 6, 1902).
At some point the sword was transferred from the State Librarian to the Mississippi State Historical Museum; I have not found any documentation as to when this occurred, but it must have happened prior to 1929, as a catalog of the museum’s holdings from circa 1929 does list the sword. (Catalog of Collections, Series 1382, Box 5415, MDAH.)
The next time you visit the Mississippi Museum of History, be sure to stop for a moment and look at General Barksdale's sword; it has quite a story to tell.