Strong Vincent's Sword
name: label: associated person
content: Vincent, Strong
label: maker
content: William H. Horstmann & Sons
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description
label: Description
content: Forged steel with decorated scabbard.
label: Description
content: Specific History
label: Description
content: Strong Vincent used this sword at Gettysburg. The Model 1850 Staff and Field Officers sword was made by W.H. Horstmann & Sons of Philadelphia. Vincent's widow had brass plagues placed on the scabbard to commemorate her husband's service and sacrifice.
label: Description
content: General History
label: Description
content: Strong Vincent was a young lawyer when he volunteered for the war. He married on the day he enlisted and as he served, he wrote to his wife, “If I fall, remember you have given your husband to the most righteous cause that ever widowed a woman.” Vincent went into battle carrying her riding crop as a keepsake. At the Battle of Gettysburg, the Union saw the value of securing a rocky outcropping called Little Round Top. Vincent seized the opportunity, taking the boulder and brandishing his wife’s riding crop as he yelled to his men, “Don’t give an inch.” As he uttered the words a bullet tore through his thigh and lodged in his body. The line held, but Vincent was mortally wounded. He lingered for five days before succumbing to his wound. Major General George Sykes wrote, “Night closed the fight. The key of the battlefield was in our possession intact. Vincent, Weed and Hazlett ... sealed with their lives the spot entrusted to their keeping, and on which so much depended."
place: label: used
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Gettysburg
topic: label: related event
content: Civil War
label: related event
content: Battle of Gettysburg, 1863
label: related event
content: Civil War and Reconstruction
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: Military
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content: ThinkFinity
label: Exhibition
content: Price of Freedom
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Elizabeth Carter Vincent
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AF.14438
label: catalog number
content: 14438
label: accession number
content: 55740
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sword
label: Other Terms
content: sword; Edged Weapons; Army; Field Grade Officer; Staff Officer; Officer; Presentation
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 1/2 in x 37 1/4 in x 3 1/2 in; 11.43 cm x 94.615 cm x 8.89 cm