William Tecumseh Sherman’s war sword put up for auction, 160 years after the Battle of Atlanta

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Just weeks before 160 years since he took the mantle in Atlanta, Gen. William T. Sherman’s sword is about to go up for sale at an auction house from Ohio.

According to the Associated Press, Sherman’s war sword, likely used between 1861 and 1863, is among the items that will open for bidding on May 14, 2024, at Fleischer Auctions in Columbus.

Other items that will be auctioned include Sherman’s uniform rank insignia worn during the Civil War, a family Bible and his personal annotated copy of the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant.

Sherman, a West Point graduate, was superintendent of a military school in Louisiana when South Carolina seceded in 1861, starting the war. His capture of Atlanta in September 1864 helped President Abraham Lincoln win a second term in November of that year, ensuring his fight to preserve the Union would continue.

After taking Atlanta, Sherman then led his famous “March to the Sea”, culminating with the capture of Savannah in December 1864, which dealt a major blow to Confederate morale.

“Without William Tecumseh Sherman, it is conceivable that the North would not have won the Civil War and the Union would not have been preserved,” said Adam Fleischer, president of the auction house.

Fleischer said a “conservative” estimated sale price for the saber is between $40,000 and $60,000 and an estimated sale of Sherman’s entire collection could reach $300,000.

“As Americans, we live with the aftermath of the Civil War whether we knew it or not,” Fleischer said, “and if you removed William Tecumseh Sherman from history, the war could have ended very differently .”

Sherman’s relics were provided to the auction house by his direct descendants, according to Fleischer.

The auction also includes relics such as a 1733 document signed by Benjamin Franklin, the eleventh known 1790 “free” badge issued to a former slave, a Tuskegee Airman’s scrapbook and other effects, according to a press release from Fleischer’s Auctions.

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