TWO IMPORTANT AND HISTORIC SWORDS PRESENTED TO MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM SCHOULER, ADJUTANT GENERAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR.

TWO IMPORTANT AND HISTORIC SWORDS PRESENTED TO MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM SCHOULER, ADJUTANT GENERAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. The following two presentation swords, offered separately, represent an important and rare opportunity to own Civil War period general officer’s swords belonging to Major General William Schouler (1814-1872) of Massachusetts. General Schouler was a Scottish born politician, editor and historian who was appointed Adjutant General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on the eve of the American Civil War. Prior to the war Schouler served in the Massachusetts legislature and was editor of the Lowell Courier and Journal and the Boston Globe. It was he who mustered the initial troops in the Spring of 1861, who were among the first to respond to Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers to preserve the Union. It is reported that he notified President Lincoln of the loss of five sons of a Massachusetts woman to whom Lincoln was purported to have written a masterfully consoling sympathy letter: To: Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Mass. November 21, 1864 Dear Madam, I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be your to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.Yours very sincerely and respectfully, A. Lincoln General Schouler is said to have delivered this letter from President Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby personally. Curiously, of Mrs. Bixby’s five sons, three turned up later very much alive. Two were actually lost on the field of battle, one was captured at Gettysburg and later exchanged, another joined the Confederate Army and the fifth deserted and went to sea. Following the Civil War, Schouler distinguished himself as an able historian writing the landmark work A History of Massachusetts in the Civil War. (1868). General Schouler died in 1872 and is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery, Jamaica Plain, Boston. (0-0)

Auction: Firearms - Spring 2003

Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

Image	Lot	Price	Description
	489	$0.00	TWO IMPORTANT AND HISTORIC SWORDS PRESENTED TO MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM SCHOULER, ADJUTANT GENERAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. The following two presentation swords, offered separately, represent an important and rare opportunity to own Civil War period general officer’s swords belonging to Major General William Schouler (1814-1872) of Massachusetts. General Schouler was a Scottish born politician, editor and historian who was appointed Adjutant General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on the eve of the American Civil War. Prior to the war Schouler served in the Massachusetts legislature and was editor of the Lowell Courier and Journal and the Boston Globe. It was he who mustered the initial troops in the Spring of 1861, who were among the first to respond to Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers to preserve the Union. It is reported that he notified President Lincoln of the loss of five sons of a Massachusetts woman to whom Lincoln was purported to have written a masterfully consoling sympathy letter: To: Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Mass. November 21, 1864 Dear Madam, I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be your to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.Yours very sincerely and respectfully, A. Lincoln General Schouler is said to have delivered this letter from President Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby personally. Curiously, of Mrs. Bixby’s five sons, three turned up later very much alive. Two were actually lost on the field of battle, one was captured at Gettysburg and later exchanged, another joined the Confederate Army and the fifth deserted and went to sea. Following the Civil War, Schouler distinguished himself as an able historian writing the landmark work A History of Massachusetts in the Civil War. (1868). General Schouler died in 1872 and is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery, Jamaica Plain, Boston. (0-0) Auction: Firearms - Spring 2003 Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

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