Confederate Colonel C. W. Broadfoot’s Sword , Pistol and Photograph.

His sidearm is the Model 1842 Navy .54 caliber smooth bore pistol manufactured by N. P. Ames Springfield Massachusetts and dated 1845. With the pistol is its period holster that likely was part of a set of saddle holsters and appears to have been modified for wear on a belt. This pistol would have been either an early war private purchase or an issue firearm during his initial enlistment.

His sword is a Federal Period saber of large proportions with a very unusual blade having an Hussar style extra wide false edge tip. The blade is engraved Warranted at the ricasso and decorated with blued and gilt military motifs with a beautifully rendered U.S. Federal style eagle.

Col. Broadfoot’s CDV image shows him in civilian attire. These weapons and photograph had been preserved and handed down through his family until acquired by me.

Eighteen-year-old Charles W. Broadfoot enlisted from Cumberland County in June 1861 as a private in Company H (Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry), First Regiment North Carolina Volunteers. When the regiment disbanded in November, Broadfoot reenlisted in Company D, Forty-third Regiment North Carolina Troops. Promoted to lieutenant, he was assigned to General Theophilus H. Holmes’s staff. In 1864 he became lieutenant colonel of the First Regiment North Carolina Junior Reserves (Seventieth Regiment North Carolina Troops), made up of seventeen- and eighteen-year-old boys. The regiment fought at Bentonville and surrendered near High Point on May 1, 1865. http://moh.ncdcr.gov/exhibits/civilwar/about_section7d.html

Charles Wetmore Broadfoot commanded the 1st North Carolina Junior Reserves at the Battle of Bentonville(March 19?€”21, 1865) …”It looked like a picture and at our distance was truly beautiful … But it was a painful sight to see how close their battle flags were together, regiments being scarcely larger than companies and a division not much larger than a regiment should be.” Col. Charles W. Broadfoot, 1st North Carolina Junior Reserves, describing the attack by the Army of Tennessee

Birth: Nov. 13, 1842
North Carolina, USA
Death: Nov. 24, 1919
Fayetteville
Cumberland County
North Carolina, USA

Link to image of his grave stone:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=59474939
(CSA Col. C. W. Broadfoot Sword & Pistol)