Smallsword

Small or dress sword (Braddock Sword),
1753-1754,
Steel, wood, silver

Status

Not on view

Label Text

Family history maintains George Washington wore this sword while an aide to Major General Edward Braddock (ca. 1695-1755) during the French and Indian War. Sent to drive the French out of the Ohio country, the campaign was a military disaster for the British, culminating in Braddock's defeat at the Battle of Monongahela on July 9, 1755, and his death four days later. Washington never forgot this humiliating and demoralizing rout at the hands of a smaller combined French and Indian force, and it proved to be a turning point in his career.

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Date1753-1754

Maker John Carman

Geography Made - England

Medium/TechniqueSteel (blade), wood, silver (hilt)

DimensionsOverall (Overall length): 37 1/4 in. (94.62 cm) Overall (Blade length): 30 in. (76.2 cm) Overall (Hilt width): 4 in. (10.16 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Hilary Herbert, Vice Regent for Alabama, 1884

Object numberW-82

DescriptionSmallsword. Hilt with silver cast and chased elements featuring twisted or swirled fluting (gadrooning) on the ovoid pommel, center of the knucklebow, quillon, quillon block, edges of the symmetrical shell guards, and both ferrules. No forward quillon. Two, fairly large arms-of-the-hilt or finger rings. Plain, wooden grip (wire binding missing). Blade is of hollow triangular form with a pronounced central channel inside and a spine outside; tapers to the point.

Published ReferencesJames C. Rees, Treasures from Mount Vernon: George Washington Revealed (Mount Vernon, VA: MVLA, 1999), 110.

Michael D. Coe et al, Swords and Hilt Weapons (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1989), 69, 106 (ill.).

George C. Neumann, Swords and Blades of the American Revolution (Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1973), 132, 135, fig. 222.S (left).

Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. George Washington's Military Equipment (Mount Vernon, VA: MVLA, 1963), 8-10, fig. 2.

Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. General Washington's Swords and Campaign Equipment (Mount Vernon, VA: MVLA, 1944), 6, 18-9, pl. I.

MarkingsFour stamps (London Hallmarks) near the terminal of the on the inner side of the knucklebow: lion's head, leopard's head (London assay marks); “JC” maker's mark; lower-case cursive "S" in an incuse shield (date letter).

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