Civil War U.S. Model 1850 Foot Officers' Sword Identified to Captain Charles Walter Sawyer, 4th Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers, Mortally Wounded at Drewry's Bluff, Virginia, May 16, 1864. 
A regulation 1850 Foot Officers' sword with a bright 30 1/4-inch slightly curved blade. No maker's marks present. The counterguard is bent, a rather hard feat to accomplish under normal circumstances. One wonders if Capt. Sawyer was carrying the sword at the time he was wounded and the damage sustained as a result. Leather scabbard with brass mounts. Upper mount period engraved on the obverse "Capt. C. W. Sawyer / 4th Regt. N.H.V."
"Charles W. Sawyer was the son of the Hon. Thomas E. Sawyer, and was born in Dover, N. H., May 19, 1832. He was educated in the public schools of his native city and early in life was for a time editor of a temperance journal. At the outbreak of the war he resided in Boston, where he was employed as clerk in the post office. He had served on the school board and been a member of the General Court. April 30, 1861, he was offered the first lieutenancy of Co. B, First New Hampshire Regiment, which he accepted, serving till the regiment's time expired. He was instrumental in raising Co. A, 4th New Hampshire, and was appointed captain, and was made the ranking captain of the regiment. Very often while in the department of the South, he was detailed as judge advocate of the military department and was offered a permanent position as such with rank of major, which he declined, preferring to follow the fortunes of his comrades of the Fourth Regiment. During the many months when we were without a chaplain. Captain Sawyer acted as such at the funerals of our deceased comrades, reading the Episcopal burial service, so that the dead might have a Christian burial. On the first of December, 1863, he was promoted to major of the regiment and performed the duties of the position until his fatal wound, which occurred May 16, 1864, at Drury's Bluff, Va., where he was wounded in the right shoulder. He was removed to the hospital at Fort Monroe, Va., afterwards to Concord, New Hampshire, where he died of his wounds, June 22, 1864, a brave soldier and beloved officer. As a mark of honor, General Butler named one of the forts on the James River Fort Sawyer, as a recognition of his faithful and devoted services in the field."
from: "Roster, Fourth New Hampshire Volunteers" Biography found at findagrave.com.

Condition: Very good. Blade with modest scabbard wear. Leather scabbard exhibiting honest use, the brass drag has become detached.