The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1912-06-04
CIVIL WAR RELIC.
Saber'BayOnet FOHnd Years Ago on
Cove Mountain, now in Possession
of D. NJ. Kendall.

OllC VI JllS Olu dCkeTS dJIS Oll
Cove Mountain, which was a curl
osity even to those who had pass
ed through service in the army,
and were familiar with the diff
ferent kinds of weapons used for
warfare. The weapon is COM
bination saber and bayonet, 26
inches in length, including a five
inch brass hilt and guard. The
guard is made with a hole large
enough to admit the end of a
musket, and a spring in the hilt
is intended to lock it fast to the
gun. David M. Kendall, a vete-
ran of the Civil War was so much
interested in it, that he procured
it from Mr.. Carbaugh, sent it to
his brother Howard in Altoona,
who had it reburnished and clean
ed up. 1t was then sent back
to King Post where it remained
until a few weeks ago, when it
passed back into Mr.. Kendalls
possession.
Cashier Merrill w. Mace, sew
eral years ago, heard Mr.. Nose
by, who was in the Confederate
service, tell the late w. Harvey
Nelson, of his expeditions over
our mountains and through our
valleys during the early part of
Civil War making maps of the
territory, noting the mountain
passes, the condition of the roads,
and getting other information
useful to an army that might |
afterward make an invasion.
Knowing Mr.. Mosebey to be a
man we'll versed in history, and
having a practical knowledge Of
war equipments, Mr.. Mace wrote
Mr.. Mosebey a letter of inquiry
concerning the strange weapon,
and received the following letter
in reply:
WELLS TANNERY, Pa,
May Is, 1914.
M. w. Mace, Esq,
Dear Sir:-in reply to
yours of the 11th inst. will say
that the bayonet you describe is
of French manufacture.
The only Confederate regiment
equipped with them was the 2nd
Alabama, commanded by Col.
Hannigan, a big burly Irishman.
In the Federal army, the red
petticoated Zouaves were equip
ped with such weapons. After
the battle of Bull Run, the Zou-
aves were used only for garrison
duty; neither the Alabamans nor
the Zouaves ever reached any of
the mountains in Pennsylvania.
| am of the opinion that it is a
weapon that John Brown used at
Harpers Ferry. He and his men
were armed with just such weap-
ons placed on poles, and they
were called John Browns pixies.
On the 18th day of April, 1861,
when we the Confederates took
Harpers Ferry, we found several
boxes of such pixies in the arsen-
al. The boxes were addressedt to
Cook, Browns son-in-law. Cook
was captured on the South Noun
tain.
Samuel Brumbaugh, of Nut
tontown State Line told me in
1861 or '62 that John Browns
men passed through that village
on their way over through the
Corner south of Mercersburg,
where some negroes piloted them
across through Little Cove, Tus-
carora mountain, and Big Cove,
to the turnpike on Scrub Ridge
west of McConnellsburg. John
Mcllvain, who, at that time lived
on the eastern slope of Rays
Hill, told me in 1865 that a party
of Browns men staid with him
three days just after the Har-
pers Ferry insurrection in Octo-
Der 1859, and that the late DR..
S. E. Duffeld, of McConnells-
burg, gave them assistance.
Brumbaugh told me that they
were carrying one of their disa-
bled men and got him as far as
Sidellng Hill mountain, where he
died and was buried near the
roadside. Just where the spot is
will, probably, never be known.
In conclusion. | would saw that