General Sherman's Sword, Bible and Personal Copy of Grant's Memoirs to Auction

Fleischer’s Auctions will sell a collection of personal effects that belonged to Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman. 

Important items in the sale’s catalog include:

• Sherman’s wartime sword
• his personal copy of Ulysses S. Grant’s memoirs featuring Sherman’s own annotations and laid-in notes (estimate: $7,500 - $15,000)
• his uniform’s rank insignia worn during the Civil War
• the Sherman family bible with meticulous records written by General Sherman himself (estimate $1,500 - $30,00)
• Sherman’s copy of Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign, George Barnard’s definitive photographic record of Sherman’s 'March to the Sea'

Presented by the direct descendants of General Sherman, this collection has never been offered before.

Sherman reshaped the course of the Civil War. Coiner of the phrase “War is hell,” his application of scorched earth warfare inflicted strategic and psychological blows that shattered Southern morale. General Sherman’s capture of the city of Atlanta is widely credited for securing Abraham Lincoln’s re-election in 1864.

The Sherman collection will be offered as lots 78 through 128 in Fleischer’s Auctions’ spring sale, Civil War & African American History: Featuring the Collection of General William T. Sherman on May 14. The auction also includes relics of the Revolutionary War, the African American experience, the Civil War, and the Wild West. 

Highlights include:

• a 1733 document signed by Benjamin Franklin
• a c. 1857 unpublished photograph of Senator Charles Sumner
• an unpublished portrait of Geronimo
• a rare document recording the votes of Abraham Lincoln as an elector in the 1840 Presidential election
• the scrapbook and effects of a Tuskegee Airman who was killed in action during World War Two
• a portrait of members of the 62nd United States Colored Infantry who would later found Lincoln University
• two rare photographs of Sojourner Truth
• a recruitment broadside written by Frederick Douglass encouraging African American men to enlist during the Civil War
• the eleventh known, recently discovered c. 1790 'free' badge which was issued to a formerly enslaved person living in Charleston, SC

The auction will be held live in person and online at the Fleischer’s Auctions office in Columbus, Ohio on May 14.