This Model 1840 sword wields a remarkable story. A Union sergeant bestowed it at war's end to a Confederate prisoner with whom he shared the name Lemon

Model 1840 sword, blade detail and leather frog (Picket photos), Capt. Lemon during the Civil War

Capt. James Lile Lemon might have walked with a limp to shield what he was carrying in his trousers. Or perhaps he somehow covered the gift as he left Fort Delaware for freedom after serving years in Union prisons.

Whatever the circumstances, the Confederate officer was determined to bring the item back to his home in Acworth, Ga. And that’s where it is kept today – 160 years later.

I visited the Lemon house recently during events marking two new Civil War markers out front, one describing Lemon’s service and the other the Federal occupation of the town in June 1864. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman used the residence as his headquarters for a couple days.

I asked Mark Lemon, who was sitting in a rocker on his front porch, whether I could see any of the captain’s belongings. Lemon’s second great-grandfather was remarkable for not only his military service, but his penchant for saving nearly everything he owned during the Civil War.

Most of the artifacts are in the collection of the Atlanta History Center, which purchased them in 2020 from the widow of a Macon, Ga., collector.

But one that stayed in the family is an NCO sword given to James Lemon at Fort Delaware in June 1865 after he finally took an oath of allegiance to the United States. The Confederate had earned the respect of one of the prison staff, who also had the name Lemon -- Sgt. Lemon Kline of the 215^th Pennsylvania Infantry. It’s easy to speculate whether the shared name had anything to do with their apparent friendship.

I don’t know whether the two men – who were both in their 30s during the Civil  – maintained a friendship after the war, but Mark Lemon said the story goes Kline told James Lemon, “Tell your family you once knew a good Yankee.”

Mark Lemon showed me the sword and a framed piece of paper written by James Lemon, who routinely made notes on his belongings. The note mentioned how he came to receive the sword.

(Civil War Picket photo)

One side of the blade (above) records it was made by Ames Manufacturing of Chicopee, Mass., a significant provider of weapons and tools for the Union. Some consider Ames the Cadillac of US military sword makers during the period.

The reverse has the stamp:

U.S.
ADK
1863

I am no sword expert, so I turned to the Authentic Campaigner Facebook group for help.

Built for combat, used mostly for presentation

I quickly learned the weapon is a Model 1840 sword for use largely by infantry and artillery NCOs. The initials ADK indicate the name of the manufacture inspector. The handle is made of brass.

When I examined the blade, I noticed it was quite light and not sharpened. Some commenters compared it to the spadroon, a light sword with a straight-edged blade.

One commenter said this model was mostly a symbol of rank and authority. The military used the sword, based on French and English models, for about 70 years.

So it is understandable Kline, as a sergeant, would have carried one. (At left, a Union NCO holds a Model 1840 sword, Library of Congress). Some of the weapons were issued to musician NCOs.

Another commenter presented a brief history of the weapon and a different take on its usefulness.

“Don't believe the hype where folks say that swords were unimportant to the war. This particular model sword may not have been frequently used in combat, mostly because sergeants would be using their bayonet in hand-to-hand combat before resorting to the sword.

"Regardless, this design of sword was intended for combat, with a design used for over a century, and not exclusively for presentation.”

The Model 1840 also could have been useful in “directing traffic” by keep troops and inmates in a straight line. 

Interestingly, the scabbard of Lemon's sword is made of leather. A few Authentic Campaigner commenters noted the "frog," a piece of leather which allows the wearer to carry a sword for a short time, likewise was in very good condition and at least as valuable as the sword.

Lemon items will get big play in next exhibit

Two years ago, the Atlanta History Center invited Lemon descendants to see the amazing collection, which is not currently on display. Mark Lemon showed the sword to AHC senior military historian and curator Gordon Jones.

Mark Lemon (left) brought the sword to the Atlanta History Center in 2023. (Picket photo)

The Lemon collection – which features  a captured drum, revolver, letters, canteen, photographs and much more -- will be showcased in its own case after a revamp of the center’s aged “Turning Point: The American Civil War” exhibit. (The sword will remain with the family).

“That story has a lot to say about Confederate soldiers' wartime experiences,” Jones recently told me.  

The historian said the new exhibit is set to open in June 2026. It will go deeper into “causes and results,” including slavery, politics and Reconstruction. There will still be plenty of weapons and military items on display in that space and the Goldstein gallery, Jones said.

The George Wray Jr. collection of rare Confederate weapons will be in the Goldstein space.

Confederate captain reluctantly took oath

Mark Lemon keeps this note by his ancestor near the Model 1840 sword (Picket photo)

James L. Lemon served with Company A, 18^th Georgia Infantry, part of John Bell Hood’s Texas Brigade. He enlisted as a second lieutenant in 1861 for a three-year term. Lemon was described as having a “light complexion, dark hair, blue eyes, [and] 6 feet” in height.

The regiment fought in numerous Eastern battles – including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Second Manassas and Chancellorsville. The farmer and merchant from Acworth had a close call at Gettysburg, when a Yankee bullet struck his canteen, causing it to strike his head.

His combat days came to a close in November 1863, when Lemon was severely wounded by a Minie ball in the pharynx and taken prison after an assault on Fort Sanders in Knoxville, Tenn. .

By the time he arrived at Fort Pulaski, Ga., in October 1864, Lemon had already been in at three Federal prisons: One in Louisville, Ky; Camp Chase in Ohio and Fort Delaware, Delaware. He kept several diaries. The officer etched his name onto a wall at Pulaski.

Capt. Lemon etched his name and regiment into a wall at Fort Pulaski (Picket photo)

In March 1865, the Rebel officers, including Lemon, were returned to Fort Delaware, where they were held until the end of the war. Shortly after their return to Delaware, the captain’s diary describes harsh conditions at Fort Pulaski and alleged mistreatment by his captors. 

“We have recently returned to this place after a most brutal & cowardly outrage against humanity. I cannot now speak of the sufferings & deprivations & humiliations we were subjected to. Many among us are now dead from starvation, disease, shot or beaten to death and the rest of us are about used up from the shameful journey forced upon us by the Yanks. I know not of the reason for this but we are told it is for some reported offense against a few of their prisoners in Charleston.”

He held off taking the oath for two months after Appomattox but finally relented.

In his journal, Lemon wrote: “I have done the unspeakable but I am now paroled & today set out for home. My duty to my country is done, mine to my family remains.”

Lemon returned to Acworth and had 11 children with his wife Eliza. He was a retail merchant and then a bank executive. He was serving as president of the bank when he died on June 12, 1907, at age 71.

Mark Lemon has lived in the house for 30 years and with the help of friends, has been restoring the home’s exterior and side buildings, with plans to turn to the interior.

The house is painted in bright yellow (a suitable color?), but he says it was clad in white for at least a short time in the 19^th century.

Illness sidelined Lemon Kline in two great battles

I have been unable to learn a great deal about Kline, beyond service and pension records. The blue-eyed farmer lived in York County before and following the Civil War.

Much of what I learned comes from a Findagrave page, which lists his birth as July 24, 1830.

Sgt. Lemon Kline's Pennsylvania veterans card via Fold3

Rosters indicate he first enlisted in the 30^th Pennsylvania Infantry

“Admitted to a Washington hospital on September 9, 1862, for illness, he almost certainly missed the battle of Antietam. He returned to duty but was again hospitalized January 18 through July 1, 1863, thus missing the battle of Gettysburg,” says the page.

He was transferred to the state’s Veteran Reserve Corps and honorably discharged in June 1864.

Kline reenlisted in late March 1865 in Lancaster, joining the 215^th Pennsylvania. Presumably at Fort Delaware, he was promoted to first sergeant on April 21. He was mustered out with his company on July 31.

He apparently got a disability pension in 1878. The 1880 census lists the veteran, his wife, Catharine, and three daughters and three sons. Kline died at age 69 in November 1899 and his widow received a pension. She died in 1904.

The York County History Center has not been able to locate a photograph of the soldier.

“However, it does seem we have some information on him and his family, including census abstracts, his marriage record, and cemetery record,” said library assistant Emma Streb.

(At right, Findagrave photo courtesy ajtarman710)

A view of the sword and scabbard on the porch of the Lemon house in Acworth, Ga. (Picket photo)

For her (and his) eyes only: Candid correspondence between brigadier general and his young bride are donated to Virginia Tech. Their honesty still resonates

A letter exchanged by the Whartons (Virginia Tech) and a 2022 book about them

The recent donation to Virginia Tech of more than 500 letters exchanged by a Confederate general and his young wife is all the more remarkable because those she sent survived.

Civil War historian and author William C. “Jack” Davis explained why in an interview about the correspondence between Brig. Gen. Gabriel C. Wharton and Anne “Nannie” Radford Wharton from early 1863 to July 1865.

“Typically, the woman’s letters -- wife, mother, whomever -- didn’t survive because they got carried around in a soldier’s knapsack, got wet or were read or reread until they fell apart,” Davis said in 2022. “But General Wharton kept her letters, and every few months he would send them all back to her, and he told her to put them all together into a book to preserve them.”

Virginia Tech on Monday announced the donation of the letters and other 19^th century papers by Sue Heth Bell (left), a 1988 alumna and great-great-granddaughter of Wharton. She lives in Wellesley, Mass. (Virginia Tech photo)

When Gen. Wharton passed away in 1906 (Nannie died in 1890), he left the papers in steamer trunks and boxes in his Glencoe Mansion in Radford. The family sold the property in the 1980s (it is now a museum). Bell’s mother took the boxes to Florida, unaware of their contents, according to the Roanoke Times. Sue Bell located the letters in 2012.

“Buried under what seemed like a pile of forgotten papers, were over 1,000 Civil War era documents, including deeply personal letters that offer an unfiltered glimpse into history,” Bell said in a Virginia Tech article about the correspondence, much of which was stitched together.

Bell spent years going over what was inside. She and Davis collaborated on a 2022 book, “The Whartons’ War,” featuring many of the candid letters. It covers their courtship (He was 37, she 19 when they married), the course of the war, life at home, news from the front, the general’s superiors and more. Bell and Davis spoke Saturday night at Virginia Tech about the southwest Virginia couple.

One bit of correspondence must have been particularly difficult.

According to the Roanoke Times, Gabriel wrote Nannie to say her brother, Col. John Taylor Radford, had been wounded. Radford later died.

“One of the most powerful moments came on Nov. 15, 2018, when I opened a letter from Nov. 15, 1864,” Bell told Virginia Tech. “My heart stopped as I read that Nannie’s brother Johnnie had been shot -- presumed mortally but not confirmed. I forced myself to wait until the next day to learn his fate just as his family had to wait for the news. I kept reminding myself that these people had been dead for over 160 years but in that moment, their anguish felt so real. I can still feel my own emotion as I read that terrible letter.” (Virginia Tech photo of a letter)

Bell discovered signed orders of the day from Gens. Jubal Early and John C. Breckinridge, both of whom Wharton fought alongside, and documents reflecting Confederate roll calls of troops and sick calls, according to the Roanoke newspaper.

Davis, in his interview with “America’s Civil War,” said the letters collection “opens the door on southwestern Virginia itself -- on what was going on in one of those overlooked backwaters that was, in fact, vitally important to the Confederacy, in part because it was home to the only east-west railroad, and it was a major source of lead, coal, and other such essentials.” (At right, Sue Bell with Aaron Purcell of VT University Libraries)

The article was titled “A Confederate Love Affair: Was This the Most Romantic Couple of the Civil War?”

Davis describes Nannie as shrewd and direct.

“Whereas General Wharton is all about feeling. It’s like someone today who at the drop of a hat will start gushing about how he’s feeling. I’m not saying he’s not manly. He doesn’t seem hung up in the male ethic of the time. He’s willing to be very sensitive and vulnerable, and his openness with her is pretty striking,” Davis told the magazine

The officer served in Virginia and Tennessee, and his regiments included the 45^th and 51^st Virginia Infantry. As a brigade commander he fought at New Market, Cold Harbor and during Early’s raid on Washington, D.C.

After the war, Gen. Wharton was involved in mining and became instrumental in the development of a railroad line. He served in the state legislature and with Virginia Tech boards in the 1870s. The campus is in Blacksburg.

William C. "Jack" Davis and Sue H. Bell talk about the Wharton letters (Virginia Tech)

The couple’s correspondence will be cataloged by and preserved by Virginia Tech's  Special Collections and University Archives. Some of the letters will be digitized and be made available to researchers. (The Davis and Bell book includes transcriptions of much of the correspondence).

The materials also contribute to the African American history of the region, detailing the lives and experiences of enslaved individuals associated with the Wharton family, said the school.

“Unlike official records or polished memoirs, these letters were never meant for public eyes,” Bell told Virginia Tech. “The people who wrote them were simply corresponding with loved ones, sharing their thoughts, fears and daily struggles with raw honesty. Reading them 160 years later, I don’t just see history, I meet real people. And what is most striking is how much they resemble us today.”