BOSTON (AP) — The sword that belonged to the commanding officer of the first all-black regiment raised in the North during the U.S. Civil War has been recovered after being lost to history for more than 150 years.
The British-made sword carried into battle by Col. Robert Gould Shaw was stolen after he was killed during the 54th Massachusetts Voluntary Infantry’s doomed attack on Fort Wagner, South Carolina, in 1863.
The regiment’s story was told in the 1989 Oscar-winning movie “Glory.”
It was found recently in the attic of a home of one of Shaw’s sister’s descendants and is scheduled to go on display at the Massachusetts Historical Society on Tuesday, the anniversary of his death.
Society President Dennis Fiori called it the “holy grail of Civil War swords.”
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