Recovery of a family sword

[Mark]

Rick asked in another thread to hear the story of how I secured a saber that belonged to my great-great-grandfather, who was a Captain in the Union Army during the Civil War. BEWARE, what follows is a long self-involved treatise on some family history and my own rather less interesting doings in getting a hold on this sword. No apologies, though.

By an absolutely random turn of fate, I happened to Google the name of my ancestor, whose name was Charles Pickering Bowditch (hereinafter referred to by the internal family moniker of "CP"). There is a law firm in Boston, MA of the name of Dewey and Bowditch, and someone asked if there was a family connection. I knew that CP was a successful trustee in Boston, but was not sure if his firm was, or became, this law firm. So I Googled him, and among the hits I got was to an auction up in Manchester, NH, that was taking place the very next day. I checked the on-line catalogue, and low and behold among the lots were CP's saber, his cavalry uniform, what is called a "carte de visite" of CP (those neat studio photographs that people got in those days and gave to friends, family and social contacts), the uniform and saber of his brother, Henry Pickering Bowditch, a second saber of HP's (http://www.amoskeag-auction.com/50/100.html), and a number of smaller Civil War items that once belonged to HP.

The story given in the lot description accords exactly with family lore & documents. We also know that CP basically ran away to join the army against his father's wishes. His father (Joseph Ingersoll Bowditch) forbade CP, who was at Harvard at the time, from enlisting in what he maintained was "not his war." Joseph also felt that he had already given a son to the Union, as his eldest son Henry was already an officer. CP's responses were very passionate, because he felt that it was a just war and that it was not only the patriotic thing to do, but also his moral responsibility. It was a very touching insight into his personality, because in later years he developed (at least within the family) the reputation of being rather a bastard. There is an amazing series of letters leading up to his enlistment, and reporting home about his military activities, that document this. CP describes his early activities, which consisted mainly of blockading a port, but he did see some action later on apparently. He first enlisted in a "colored" infantry regiment, and I think this was his command during the blockade. His letters went on at length about the pride and confidence that he had in his men, and how they were soldiers of the highest caliber. He later transferred to a "colored" cavalry regiment, the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), which was his older brother's regiment. I have often wondered whether there was any connection between the 5th Mass. Cavalry (Colored) and the 5th Mass. Infantry (Colored), which was very famous and the subject of the movie “Glory.” The 5th cavalry evidently didn’t get wiped in the battle that made the 5th Mass. Infantry (Colored) famous, at any rate.

After retiring with the rank of Captain, CP went on to found a trust firm (trustees handle other people's money, usually under the provisions of a will). He also was an active business investor and amateur archeologist. He underwrote a number of expeditions to Mexico, which resulted in important finds at Teotiuacan, Chizen Itza, and other places, the most famous of which was the Mayan calendar. He helped decipher that as well. HP went on to a successful medical career and was instrumental in a lot of medical reforms and modernization. So both were pretty well-known and prominent men in their time, additionally for the reason that their grandfather was Nathanial Bowditch, who was the foremost mathematician and astronomer in the US in his time (recognized in contemporary Europe as just about the only "real" scientist in the US), the author of the American Practical Navigator, the first and still most important treatise on celestial navigation (still used today – he is known in nautical circles as “the father of modern navigation”), and a trustee of Harvard University where he got the near-bankrupt University onto a sound financial footing (the University President had to give up his yacht, though). So, the auction lots were primo material for CW collectors because of provenance, backstory on the owners, and their post-service notoriety.

Back to the present. I tried to convince my father, who lives a couple of hours north of Manchester, to go down and bid, but he didn't get the point and was unenthusiastic about the drive. After failing to contact a collector in Connecticut who I was hoping to try and convince to go up and bid for me, I called the auctioneers and got all the scoop on making phone bids. What followed was an interesting series of screw-ups and coincidences. The auction house was pretty excited to have a family member involved in the auction, and faxed me the forms to register as a telephone bidder. They came to my office's mail-room, and got to my desk around 5pm. I immediately saw the note on the cover sheet that my contact was going to leave by 4:15pm, in case I had any questions. I filled out the form anyway, then realized that I could not remember my new phone number, which of course was needed if the auction was going to call me to make phone bids. So, I decided to wait until I got home, and fax it from there (8pm was the cut-off for receipt). I did so, but the auction house's fax number kept returning an "out of service" message. So, in desperation, I e-mailed an explanation and all the information to the owner of the auction house (which was the only e-mail address I could find). No access to a scanner, so I couldn't attach a scan of the signed form. The day of the auction I waited hopefully for a call, but didn't think it was likely. The auction started at 10am, and my lots were expected to come up around 11-11:30. The call didn't come. Much later in the day I was rummaging around in my e-mail and happened to look in my "sent" folder -- I was stunned to see that my e-mail had not gone out Friday night, but rather at precisely 10:01 am Saturday (one minute after the start of the auction, by which time the man I had addressed the e-mail to, as well as my contact, were already on the floor running the auction). I have no idea why my computer waited like 14 hours to send my e-mail, but obviously even if there were a chance it could have worked to get me qualified to bid by phone, that was the end of it. The fates were conspiring against me.

Now the good news, and positive twists of Fate. I got a call Monday after the auction. Of all of the "Bowditch" lots, CP's uniform and saber had not sold because the reserve prices were not met! I was offered to buy them at the reserve price. Apparently no one had yet even seen my late e-mail, but I was informed that my absence was particularly noticed by the owner of the auction house. With a cooler head I decided to buy only the saber, and not fork out $20K for the uniform.

I hope you all don’t mind by long, egocentric ramblings about the former glory of my family, but I am in general very sentimental, and it meant a great deal to me even to have found these things that I were sure were lost forever to the family. I will post photos when I get the sword. Though it was a separate lot in the auction, it is at least pictured in the on-line photo of CP’s uniform.