French Officer's Sword
date: label: Date made
content: 1750-1770
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description
label: Description
content: French silver-hilted officer's small sword with silvered guard and knuckle bow.
label: Description
content: Specific History
label: Description
content: This artifact is part of the large collection of firearms and militaria from the Charles Bremner Hogg Jackson collection.
label: Description
content: Brem Jackson (1910-1979) was by all accounts a modest and intensely private individual. He was unknown as a collector to neighbors and other military connoisseurs. Born in New York, he was raised with a French governess who told him stories of the Napoleonic Era and instilled in him an early fascination for the French emperor.
label: Description
content: His family moved to Florence, Italy, for 14 years. While there he studied and became fluent in French, German, and Italian. While traveling Europe, touring battlefields and military cemeteries, he began collecting and making miniature model soldiers. After World War II, he moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where his collection further grew with the addition of original uniforms. He collected enough antique gear and uniforms to field a small army. He began but never completed cataloging his collection of items ranging in date from Classical Greece through World War I and housed in a large barn known locally as "Brem's Place." The barn, wagon shed, and ship studio contained not only the collection but also a master craftsman's studio and forge and an outstanding military reference library. From here Jackson gathered, restored, and researched his world-class holdings of militaria. He had an underground firing range on the property and occasionally even fired off cannons outside the barn. Although he occasionally corresponded with the Smithsonian's curators of military history, he never met with them and gave no notice of his intended bequest to the nation.
label: Description
content: Much of his collection was part of a large bequest to the Smithsonian at his death in 1979.
label: Description
content: General History
label: Description
content: This type of sword was used by both French and American officers during the American Revolution.
place: label: associated place
content: France
label: used
content: United States
topic: label: related event
content: American Revolution
label: related event
content: Revolution and the New Nation
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: Exhibition
content: Price of Freedom
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Charles Bremner Hogg Jackson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1980.0399.0227
label: accession number
content: 1980.0399
label: catalog number
content: 1980.0399.0227
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Sword
label: Other Terms
content: Sword; Edged Weapons; Army; Officer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal, silver (hilt material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal, steel (blade material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 in x 37 in x 3 1/2 in; 10.16 cm x 93.98 cm x 8.89 cm