HIGH-GRADE PRESENTATION SWORD GIVEN TO BLACK REGIMENT COMMANDER & ADVOCATE FOR EQUALITY 

Engraved Inscription to scabbard: Presented to / Col. A Watson Webber / 1st Miss. Inft. A.D. (African Descent) / by the Officers of his Command as a token of their appreciation of his Character as a Commander and a Gentleman.

Blade etched with maker’s mark and patriotic motifs within foliate panels along its length. Half‑basket guard decorated with scrolling foliage and a Union shield. Pommel cap engraved on an impressed ribbon: “Colonel A. W. Webber.”

Born in Lockport, New York, on 17 February 1839, Alonzo Watson Webber entered Union service in St. Louis immediately following the volatile Camp Jackson Affair of May 1861, a critical confrontation that secured Missouri's strategic arsenal for the Union. Commissioned first lieutenant in the 1st Missouri Infantry on 18 May 1861, Webber's early service included the pivotal First Battle of Boonville, which effectively secured Missouri River control and prevented the state from joining the Confederacy.

After brief service with the 5th Missouri Infantry, including the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Webber joined the 3rd Missouri Infantry as first lieutenant and adjutant in October 1861. His 18 months with this regiment encompassed extensive operations throughout the trans-Mississippi theater: the pursuit of Confederate General Sterling Price through Missouri and Arkansas; the Battle of Pea Ridge, which confirmed Union control of the Mississippi region; the Yazoo River Expedition and the assault on Chickasaw Bluffs; the capture of Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post; and the Steele's Bayou–Deer Creek expedition. Webber participated in Grant's prolonged Vicksburg campaign and was present at the city's surrender on 4 July 1863.

Following Vicksburg's fall, Webber received promotion to lieutenant colonel and transferred to the 1st Mississippi Infantry (African Descent), formally re-designated the 51st United States Colored Troops on 11 March 1864. His promotion to full colonel of the 51st USCT on 15 March 1864, the occasion likely commemorated by this presentation sword, placed him in command of one of the Union Army's most significant African American regiments.

Under Webber's leadership, the 51st USCT defended Vicksburg and conducted operations throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. The regiment faced the brutal realities of Confederate policy toward Black soldiers, notably when Company G suffered casualties in February 1864, with Confederate cavalry killing Union soldiers and pinning their bodies to the ground with bayonets — an atrocity that prompted Lincoln's threat of reprisal against Confederate prisoners.

Interestingly, Webber's younger brother, Alfred Thomas Webber (1841-1872), served as captain of Company B in the same regiment. Together, the brothers led their troops through the war's final campaigns, including the March 1865 movement via Pensacola to the Mobile campaign. The 51st USCT participated in the siege and capture of Fort Blakely on 9 April 1865 and the occupation of Mobile on April 12.

Webber received brevet promotion to brigadier general on 26 March 1865, recognition of his distinguished service commanding Black troops through the war's conclusion.

The regiment continued occupation duties in Montgomery, Alabama, and along the Rio Grande in Texas before mustering out on 16 June 1866. Webber's postwar years included legal practice in Lockport and editorial work for the Mississippi Weekly Pilot, a Republican newspaper supporting President Grant and expanded rights for freedmen. He died prematurely on 5 July 1876, in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 37.

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[Civil War, Union, Confederate]  [Relics, Militaria] [Medals, Corps Badges, Badges][Swords, Knives, Bowie Knives, Knife, Blades]