Swordmaker For
The Confederacy
Th«» armory al kcnansv ill<> made an
imporlanl coni ri bill ion uulil lli«* IVd-
orals
сник».
tty A. BltlC'i: H4RTUKG
On l he 3rd of July. 1X63 a force of
abou ( 640 men of the Third New York
Cavalry left New Bern under ihc
command of Lt. Col. George W.
Lewis. The raid was conducted for the
purpose of destroying communica¬
tions on the Wilmington and Weldon
Railroad and destroying anything else
of military use or value in and around
Duplin County. In a matter of days,
this Federal force was highly success¬
ful in destroying an armory, disrupting
rail service and communications,
burning warehouses stocked with
foodstuffs, and pillaging several
towns.
The reports of Maj. Gen. Foster and
Lt. Col. Lewis may be found in the
War of the Rebellion. Official Rec¬
ords. Scries I. Vol. 27. pp. 859-864.
These reports indicate that the force
departed New Bern on the 3rd and
reached Trenton that night, went via
Comfort and Hallsvillc to Kcnansv ilk-
on the 4th. and on to Warsaw on the
5th. Fearing the arrival of a larger
Confederate force, they then returned
to New Bern. Union reports indicate
that the raid was directed solely at
military targets. Telegraph wires were
Thu oHiccr'i iword
-о»
one
о»
2,700 mode ol Ihc
Conlederolc Stotei Armor» in Kcnonivillo Blodei
were llcnder, slightly curved, ond obout 32 inches
long Allhough the guord on this one hos
о
domoged
"C. these guords -ere cost to form the letter
-CSA-
TME STATE. J**UA*r 1981
cut. railroad tracks torn-up. store¬
houses burned, and an armory de¬
stroyed.
Samuel Ashe, however, in his His¬
tory of North Carolina (Vol. II. p.823)
paints a somewhat different picture.
Ashe states that a Federal force ”. . .
reached Kcnansville. burnt the Froe-
lick sword factory there, and commit¬
ted other depredations. A detachment
of 800 cavalry reached Warsaw the next
morning, cut the telegraph wires, burnt
the depot containing about 20.0(K)
pounds of government bacon, and tore
up a mile or more of track. . . . They
carried from the county about 200 riiles.
took the stores, throwing the contents
to the Negroes, but retained for them¬
selves such money and jewelry as they
could find. In this manner they visited
Hallsville." Thus, apparently, the citi¬
zens of Duplin county as well as the
military targets were subject to the
wrath and depredations of the Federal
troops.
Unfortunate Partnership
Great as the loss of stores and rail
service was to the Confederate cause,
perhaps the greatest loss was the
Confederate States Armory at Ken-
ansvillc. This privately ow ned concern
had begun in Wilmington as the
Kastvan and Froelich sword factory.
Louis Froelich had formed a partner¬
ship with a Col.
В. К
astvan. ostensibly
a Hungarian, in early 1861 and secured
a contract to supply swords to the
State of North Carolina. Kastvan. who
was later exposed as an imposter,
absconded with the partnership's
funds and left Froelich "holding the
bag" and a bad business reputation.
Apparently the quality of their prod¬
ucts. as supervised by Kastvan. left
much to be desired.
Governor Clark wrote to Judah P.
Benjamin, the Confederate Secretary
of War. on March 1 1 . 1862 complaining
that the Nineteenth regiment of Con¬
federate cavalry, a North Carolina
The Confederate Stotei Armory Hood iuif a few
blockt from Liberty Hall, the home ot Thomoi S
Kenan Thu tootory hod no oHiciol oUiliotion with
the Conlederolc government, but »oi
о
privotc con¬
cern owned by Louii Froelich
unit, had not been properly armed.
". . . They are yet without sabres, al¬
though we spared neither effort nor
money. We did engage from the
Kastvan and Froelich sword factory at
Wilmington, and paid high prices, but
three-fourths of the swords proved
worthless.” I Official Records. Series
IV. Vol. I. p.987) Froelich was an hon¬
est businessman and dissolved the
partnership with Kastvan officially,
moved his sword-making operation to
Kenansville. and began making a qual¬
ity product under the name of the Con¬
federate States Armory . This move to
Kenansville probably took place some¬
time during the summer of 1862.
A Sizeable Operation
Froelich undoubtedly was well or¬
ganized and got into production in a
hurry for he is reported to have pro¬
duced 3.700 lance spears. X(X) gross of
military buttons. 6.5(H) sabre bayonets.
11.7(H) cavalry sabres. 2.700 officer's
sabres. 600 navy cutlasses. 800 artil¬
lery cutlasses. 1.7(H) sets of infantry
accoutrements, and 3(H) sabre belts
and knapsacks. It might be
hypothesized that the lance spears
were all made in Wilmington, but that
is not certain. The Confederate States
Armory must have been a sizeable op¬
eration to have produced at least the
majority of this material in about a
year's time.
Of all the items manufactured by
Froelich. only the type of officer's
sabre show n in the photo has been pos¬
itively identified asa Froelich product.
These have a slender, slightly curved
blade which is about 32 inches in length
and has an unstopped fuller on each
side. The grip of a typical specimen has
a swell in the middle and is covered
with leather. The guard appears to
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