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Payne had originally enlisted as a private,
served as a captain in the Black Horse Cavalry under J.E.B. Stuart, and then major in the 4th Virginia Cavalry. He led the 4th at the Battle of Williamsburg during the Peninsula Campaign and was captured by the Union for the first time after being seriously wounded. In the letter noted above, he describes the incident: “Early
on the morning of the second day’s battle,
I was ordered to move to the field near Fort Magruder. In the engagement, I was wounded
- indeed reported by Gen. Stuart as killed; and his report has never been altered...I was left between the lines, and was almost drowning in my own blood. One man remained with me- Dr. Pendleton, of Louisiana, who, when he saw me fall, immediately sprang from his horse, and, being a physician, thrust his fingers into my mouth and caught the arteries that had been broken by the ball which had torn out my right upper teeth, glancing along through my tongue and passing out over the jugular veins.” When he was removed from the field, “Pendleton walked by my side with the arteries of my tongue in his hand...” He was pronounced “hors de combat” (out of action due to injury) and was paroled and allowed to go home to recover. He said he only weighed 100 pounds and had to wear a rubber mask that a Union surgeon had made him to hold his jaw together and could only consume liquids when he was exchanged. Given this, its amazing that Payne returned to the fight, but
he did and said he captured two videttes shortly after being exchanged. After the affair, he fainted and fell from his horse having overtaxed himself while he was still recovering from his wound. Apparently with a name like Payne, he couldn’t let a bullet to the face slow him down. While still unable to eat, he was in command at Lynchburg and then returned to the 4th Virginia Cavalry as their commander. He fought in hand-to-hand combat with a Union officer at the Battle of Kelly’s Ford. This is both noted in Payne’s letter and in General Fitz Lee’s reports. Payne then took command of the 2nd North Carolina Cavalry and led it through the Gettysburg Campaign and suffered tremendously. His horse was shot out from under him and suffered a saber wound and fell into a vat of tanning liquid at the battle of Hanover and was captured a second time. This
time, he was not paroled and sent home. He was sent to Johnson’s Island. Once exchanged, he returned to command of his regiment in time for General Early’s Valley Campaign in the fall of 1864 and fought at Third Battle of Winchester (September 19), Fisher’s Hill (Sept. 21-22), and Cedar Creek (Oct. 19). This was followed by
the raid noted above in which this sword was captured, and Payne was shot and severely wounded again at the Battle of Five Forks (April 1, 1865), but he was able to return to lead a cavalry brigade at the end of the war near Richmond. He claims he was arrested in relation to the assassination attempted of Secretary of State William H. Seward as part of the grand
plot that included Booth’s assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Lewis Powell had operated under the alias Lewis Payne, and that had apparently led to suspicion that General Payne had been involved, but he was paroled after being held at Johnson’s Island until June of 1865. Both Payne and Rosser returned to civilian life and worked for railroads following the war and wrote to each other. Writing to Rosser, Payne said, “I always see you, figure you, ready to push into battle. Cheerful, darling, full of expedience, knowing no difficulties, arbitrary and despotic too. . . Restless, ambitious, but on the battlefield with more of the ‘Guadi certaminus [joy of
the fight] than any man I ever knew.” Rosser’s fighting spirit led him back to the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War, bringing
him in a sense full-circle from when he had left West Point to fight for the Confederacy, but Payne remained a hardened “reb.” In his letter to the Virginia Military Institute, Payne wrote, “I am as true a Confederate to-day as when I first rode from Warrenton to Manassas. I have never ceased to regret the loss of the cause; I have never sought any favors for myself; I think that the greatest calamity that has ever befallen the country is the wreck of the Confederacy.”The millions of men, women, and children freed from bondage by the “Yankee” victory no doubt saw things differently, but Payne was clearly a dedicated supporter of the “Lost Cause” into
his old age. A poem in the biography of Payne noted above is listed as found among Payne’s records and written in his hand and expresses his thoughts after the “Yankee” victory more
fiercely: “Oh I am a good ole Rebel. Now that’s just what I am. For this ‘fair land of freedom’ I do not care a damn...And
I don’t want no pardon
For anything I’ve done. I
hate the Constitution, The great republic too. I hates the Freedman’s buro An’ uniforms in blue... I hates the Declaration of Independence too. I hates the Glorious Union...tis drippin’ with our blood. And I hates their striped banner, and I fit it
all I could... I killed a chance
o’ Yankees, and I’d liked to
kill so’ mo’. Three hundred
thousand Yankees is stiff in
Southern dust. We got three
hundred thousand before
they conquered us. They
died of Southern fever and
Southern steel and shot, But
I wish we’d got three million
instead of what we got...I do
not want no pardon for what
I was and am. And I wont be reconstructed, and I don’t care a damn.”
CONDITION: Fine with very bright blade displaying distinct etching, a few small spots of staining, and minimal wear; traces of gilt finish on the hilt and otherwise attractive aged patina that is also on the grip and brass fittings of the scabbard, somewhat aged coloration on the scabbard body along with a few dents, and the crisp historical inscription. This is an incredible Civil War sword captured from a blundering Union officer during a daring Confederate raid fairly late in the war and clearly proudly owned by a hardened Confederate into his later years. Estimate: 50,000 - 70,000
Brigadier General William H. Payne
Historic and Extremely Rare Confederate Presentation Inscribed Civil War Sword
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