Name/Title
United States Infantry Officer [Sword Guard]Description
1830s American Infantry officer's gold plated sword clamshell guard with eagle and liberty cap decoration in relief. Found at Goliad.Context
This sword guard is attributed to Joseph M. Chadwick who was admitted to the United States Military Academy at West Point on July 1, 1829 and resigned on April 30, 1831. Of the officers executed on March 27, 1836, only Colonel James W. Fannin and Chadwick had both the formal US military training and the means to purchase such a sword.
Notes:
• Fannin came to entered the United States Military Academy at West Point on July 1, 1819, under the name James F. Walker, but withdrew in November 1821. He returned to Georgia and several years later married Minerva Fort, with whom he had two daughters. In the autumn of 1834 he and his family moved to Texas and settled at Velasco,
• Lt. Colonel William Ward had the wealth: he armed, supplied, and transported the unit to Texas at his personal expense and with the aid of the State of Georgia arsenal.
• John Sowers Brooks had the training: he served in the United States Marine Corps eleven months before leaving New York for Texas on November 5, 1835, to volunteer for the Texas army.
Not enough biographical information:
1st. Lt. Memory B. Tatom
1st Lt. Thomas B. Rees
1st Lt. Wiley Hughes
Lieutenant Samuel Wilson
Lieutenant William Jefferson Merrifield
Lieutenant John C. Grace
2nd Lt. William A. Smith
2nd Lt. J. B. McManomy
