Edwin Coe had a premonition and was killed the next day at Petersburg. The Massachusetts officer's sword somehow got to Hawaii. So many questions remain

The Coe sword was briefly placed near his headstone in 2014 (Petersburg National Battlefield)

How 2nd Lt. Edwin I. Coe’s sword ended up at a jewelry store in Honolulu remains a mystery more than a decade after it was subsequently purchased by Petersburg National Battlefield, which has occasionally shown it to the public.

Paul Perrone, a researcher in the Hawaii attorney general’s office, told the Picket in 2015 he was shopping for a wedding ring for his fiancée – now his wife – when he came across the weapon, which had an inscription bearing Coe’s name and indicating it was presented “by his friends in Worcester, Mass.”

Coe, a 19-year-old acting adjutant for the 57^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, died 162 years ago Wednesday – June 17, 1864, during an assault on Confederate positions at the Virginia battlefield. Coe (below) had a vivid dream the night before, and he told comrades it meant he would fall.

An online version of the unit’s history led to the soldier’s photograph and biography. There was now a human connection to this well-crafted piece of steel. Perrone decided to broker a sale between the business and the national park in 2014.

After the blade was shipped to Petersburg, two park employees drove it to where elements of the 9^th Corps made the June 17, 1864, assault, about 200 yards behind park headquarters on the eastern section of the battlefield, near the Army’s current Fort Lee. They also stopped by Poplar Grove National Cemetery, where Coe lies.

“Since 2015, the sword has had brief periods of exhibition primarily in pop-up presentations with the anniversary of the Initial Assaults (June 15-18, 1864),” Emmanuel Dabney, chief of resource management at Petersburg, told the Picket this week.

“We've been clear that we are unaware how the sword got to Hawaii, but we've been grateful that we have the sword and are honored to serve as the stewards of it and Lt. Coe's remains at Poplar Grove National Cemetery.” 

Many mysteries remain: Was Coe carrying the sword when he died? How did it end up in Hawaii? Who were his friends in Worcester, Mass., that gave him the sword?

Perrone and Dabney indicated they have learned nothing new on the matter since 2015.

“I think barring some piece of Coe family letters or an observer in the 57^th Mass, we're in the dark on this one,” wrote Dabney.

Sword and scabbard before they were sent to Petersburg (Paul Perrone)

Hawaii has a lot of ties to military history

The sword came to the Pacific Diamond and Swiss Watch Exchange in Honolulu in 2012. Owner Ted Gonzalez bought it from an estate dealer.

“I thought it was unusual just because I’ve never bought one before. I decided to buy it and I decided to keep it,” Gonzalez told TV station KITV.

(Photos courtesy Paul Perrone)

Perrone took an interest and began his research on the Ames Model 1850 foot officer’s sword. The frosted blade contains patriotic motifs -- eagles, cannon, olive branches and arrows -- and was obviously manufactured and decorated with care.

Coe, the son of a Unitarian minister, was born in Medway, Mass. He moved to Worcester and joined another regiment when he was just 17 or 18. He then joined the 57^th Massachusetts.

According to the regimental history, written by John Anderson in 1896, the young lieutenant was “of excellent character, fond of military service, zealous and ambitious in the faithful performance of duty, loved and esteemed by all who knew him.”

It’s not known when the sword was presented to Coe. The inscription said it was a gift “by his friends in Worcester.” 

Coe was struck by a spent musket ball at Spotsylvania Court House on May 12. He threw up both hands and fell; his comrades believed he was finished. “But in a few moments he rejoined the regiment,” according to the unit history,” saying that he had only been stunned for a few seconds.”

Just before the charge at Petersburg, Coe told comrades he would be killed. The premonition proved correct: He was struck in the head during the early part of the advance. Ten enlisted comrades died in the battle.

Coe left no wife or children. His mother applied for a pension in 1891.

His brother, who served in another Federal unit, took charge of his remains and Edwin was buried near where he fell. He was disinterred after the war and placed in the national cemetery now managed by the park.

How did it wind up at a jewelry store?

If the weapon was used used for ceremonial purposes, it might have been in the fallen officer’s tent at the time of the time. Or if Coe carried it during the charge, it could have “ended up in practically anyone’s possession,” Perrone said in 2015.

“With every branch of the service having at least one base in Hawaii, and with so many government contractors and retired military personnel living here, all kinds of interesting things turn up,” said Perrone (left), adding the story is the sword belonged to a retired serviceman.

Gonzalez, the jewelry store owner, told KITV that he and his wife “agreed to do the right thing” with the sword, rather than sell it for several thousand dollars, and he enlisted the help of Perrone.

“I wanted to literally return the sword to Lt. Coe, and Petersburg is where he has been for the past 150 years,” said Perrone, who contacted then-park curator Jimmy Blankenship and the discussions on the sword commenced.

Chris Bryce, chief of interpretation at the time, said the park, using donations and sales proceeds from bookstores operated by a private concessionaire, paid Gonzalez $1,600 for the Coe sword.

Bryce, at the time, said he was unaware of any surviving Coe descendants. Bryce and Blankenship no longer work for the park.

At the 'right place at the right time'

Coe was among tens of thousands of men in blue and gray who were in the area during the Petersburg campaign and siege. “We don’t have a great number of items that we can put to one person, let alone have an image of an individual,” Bryce told the Picket in 2015.

The 57^th Massachusetts was supposed to be in reserve, but took part in the charge. Casualties mounted quickly.

The park believed the Coe weapon is a combat, rather than a presentation, sword. (Jimmy Blankenship, right, with the Federal weapon)

“Chances are good he was carrying it in battle,” said Bryce. “By carrying it,” they (his friends) are with him in battle.”

It's possible the young officer had both a combat and presentation sword, and the one found in the Hawaii shop was the latter. No one knows for sure; Coe may not have even wielded a blade that day.

Students at Worcester State University in 2016 researched the lives of 398 area residents who were killed during the Civil War. Coe was among them.

Perrone told the Picket in an email Monday he and his wife discussed the story just a couple of weeks ago.

“I still feel like returning that sword is something I was meant to do. I'm very grateful to have been in the right place at the right time to do the right thing.”  

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park expands by 21 acres with the help of the Trust for Public Land and the National Park Foundation

Kennesaw and Little Kennesaw mountain rise behind the 21 acres (TPL)

A 21.4-acre tract on which Union troops advanced upon Little Kennesaw Mountain has been added to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, a victory amid the continued threat of residential development, the Trust for Public Land says.

The national nonprofit recently announced it had closed on the property that belonged to the Hensley family of Marietta, Ga., which previously sold 34 acres to the National Park Service in 2008.

George Dusenbury, Georgia director for the TPL, said the NPS paid the fair market value of $2.58 million using funds from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. The parcel is north of Burnt Hickory Road.

“TPL worked in partnership with NPS to complete the necessary property due diligence and secure the federal funding needed for the acquisition,” he told the Picket.

The property is largely meadow with some woods. A stream that flows through the property was dammed in the 1950s to form a small pond; it will remain as a fire suppression resource. The property is surrounded on three sides by land already owned by the NPS.

The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain occurred on June, 27, 1864.

Union troops that moved through the parcel were part of the extreme left of Logan’s XV Corps, said Ray Hamel, park ranger and chief of interpretation at Kennesaw Mountain. Troops serving under brigadier generals Harrow, Williams and Fuller and the 64^th Illinois skirmish line were among those present. (See Logan's, Harrow's and others' names at left, map courtesy American Battlefield Trust)

“Troops here did not take part in the assault on Pigeon Hill,” said Hamel. “Confederate defenses were east of the property. Nearest was a skirmish line of the 9^th Texas."

The TPL said “The newly acquired property, now under National Park Service ownership, safeguards not only the rural, open character of the area but also any Civil War-related archaeological resources that may lie beneath its surface."

The park said the acquisition "furthers the preservation of historically significant sections of the original battlefield from modern development."

The Picket reached out to the Hensley family for comment but has not yet received answers to questions about the transaction.

The National Park Foundation provided funding to assist with associated costs, such as the demolition of an old barn, said Dusenbury.

The park -- the most-heavily visited national battlefield in the country -- recently commemorated the 161^st anniversary of the Atlanta Campaign battle in Cobb County.

Click to enlarge to see details of newly acquired tract in orange; park boundaries in green (TPL)

Charlie Crawford, president emeritus of the Georgia Battlefields Association, told the Picket, “We appreciate landowners who are committed to preservation and will wait on the slow federal government process for acquiring additional land for the National Park Service.”

The TPL said is goal is to help create a cohesive park that “supports public exploration and learning.”

“This acquisition isn’t just about adding acreage -- it’s about preventing the fragmentation of this irreplaceable landscape and keeping it from being lost to suburban development,” Dusenbury said in the announcement.

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield spans 2,923 acres, including three battlefield areas and 11 miles of preserved Civil War earthworks.

The TPL said its land additions to the park include:

Early 2000s: Approximately 50 acres to expand park access and continuity.

2008: Acquisition of 34 acres from the Hensley family, featuring forests, fields and a lake.

2013: Addition of the 42-acre Hays farm, home to Nodine’s Hill, with remnant Union entrenchments, rifle pits and cannon placements.

Another view of the 21 acres recently added to the NPS park (TPL)

Sam Hensley, a former Georgia legislator, once owned the land involved in both family transactions. The property includes trenches built by Federal Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s forces in June 1864.

“Our parents never let us forget that we stand on hallowed ground. They always told us that it was never going to be developed and that we would never see rooftops on this property,” said Sam Hensley Jr. during a ceremony in 2008 concerning the 34 acres. (Sam's brother Shuler is a notable Tony Award-winning actor and singer.)

“That became a very difficult thing to accomplish over the years. There was not a week that went by that my father did not have an unsolicited call from a developer or somebody that wanted to build a subdivision out here.”

A Gettysburg shop called the National Park Service after it found a human remain in a collection it bought. Now the forearm bone, believed to be from a Union soldier at Spanish Fort in Alabama, will be buried at battle park

Note and display case holding the forearm bone, field that will hold grave (Historic Blakeley State Park) and Robert Knox Sneden map showing battle zones in and around Mobile (Library of Congress)

Early this year, employees at a shop in Gettysburg pored through relics it purchased from the family of a collector. Normally, such merchants in the Pennsylvania town synonymous with Civil War collectibles might receive display cases containing a belt buckle, bullets, unit badges or something rarer that turned up on a battlefield.

But this one was different, very different.

Tucked inside a box protected by bubble wrap was a handwritten scrap of paper, reading: “Found in Extreme Northern end of Union Army lines at Spanish Fort (near Basin Batteries). December, 1973.”

The note refers to the Federal siege and capture of Spanish Fort in April 1865. Back-to-back  victories at Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley led to the surrender of Mobile, Ala., a vital Confederate port.

With the note and in the box was a human bone -- part of a forearm.

The Gettysburg shop, of course, had no intension of putting the relic up for sale.

What to do?

In this case, you contact a subject matter expert for advice. If you live in southern Pennsylvania, that expert is Greg Goodell, longtime museum curator at Gettysburg National Military Park.

After being contacted, Goodell acted as a middle man to ensure the bone would find a home and be laid to rest in a respectful way.

The curator contacted sites in the Mobile area, eventually reaching Mike Bunn, director of Historic Blakeley State Park, home to the Fort Blakeley battlefield. Bunn stepped forward and said he would bury the bone in a field and place a granite marker that reads “Unknown Soldier, Civil War.” (design at left)

Next to the headstone will be an engraved interpretive plaque.

The Gettysburg business sent the item to Alabama a couple months ago.

Bunn wants to place the grave near a main park road and impressive remnants of Confederate defenses. He anticipates a Veterans Day ceremony to dedicate the memorial.

“We know not every person in the (Mobile) campaign has been found and marked,” Bunn told the Picket of his aim to honor them.

There’s plenty of mystery about the bone remaining, despite a story that appears to have a good ending.

The arm bone is believed to belong to a soldier, mostly likely Federal. What happened to the rest of him? No one knows. Officials see no need for DNA testing of the remain at this point.

I asked Gettysburg communications specialist Jason Martz how often such a thing has happened at the federal park.

“In plus-20 years, it has happened fewer than five times,” Martz replied.

Federal siege paid off in two Alabama battles

Although Union Adm. David Farragut had bottled up Mobile in summer 1864, the city remained in Confederate hands. 

The arrival of additional Federal troops in early 1865 brought about the campaign to take Fort Blakeley, Spanish Fort and other guardians east of Mobile. Historic Blakely State Park interprets the entire Mobile campaign.

Union troops, a third of which were U.S. Colored Troops regiments, laid siege of Blakeley for about a week. A similar operation against outnumbered Confederates took place at Spanish Fort, just to the south.

The forces under Federal Maj. Gen. Edward Canby (right) first surrounded Spanish Fort on March 27, 1865. Most of the Confederate troops escaped to Mobile or Blakeley and the fort fell on April 8.

Two Union commands combined to storm Fort Blakeley the following day, unaware of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender in Virginia. They carried the field.

Confederates evacuated Mobile and the mayor surrendered the city on April 12.

The Union lines at Spanish Fort were mostly to the east and north of the Rebel defenses.

Most of the battlefield lies within Spanish Fort Estates, a large residential community dating to the late 1950s and early 1960s. While most of the fortifications are gone, there are several discernible lines of breastworks running through front yards.

A chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans has helped to preserve Battery McDermott.

Bone was found in future subdivision land

Bunn said he believes the forearm bone was found by a relic hunter in or near a Federal trench at Spanish Fort with other artifacts. The park director (below) said he does not know the finder’s name but believes he died several years ago. “He had a pretty big collection.”

A water artillery battery near the end of the Yankee line was in swampy ground at a body of water called Bay Minette. “All of that stuff is gone,” Bunn said of this part of the siege line.

Relic hunters frequently pored over the area, which is on private land, as the subdivision was built in stages.

The paper indicates the bone discovery in December 1973. “I can’t confirm all the details, but I don’t believe the section this came from was developed at the time. Probably dug as they were clearing land for it, though,” Bunn added.

It’s possible the bone was part of a mass grave. Bunn doesn’t know whether the rest of the skeleton was left intact, scattered by animals or taken by other collectors.

Relic hunters today are more likely to report human remains or leave them in place, officials said. “At least they did not chuck it. I am sure others have,” Bunn told the Picket of this bone.

Bunn said the exact circumstances regarding the bone and its precise location are impossible at this point to pin down.

Siege operations at Spanish Fort, note map is not displayed north-south (Library of Congress)

“If it was a burial, it probably would have been a shallow grave.” Circumstantial evidence points to a Federal soldier, though the U.S. military after the war worked diligently to relocate such remains to new national cemeteries.

“There could be a chance he was a Confederate,” said Bunn.

Shop knew the park service would have an answer

Martz, with Gettysburg National Military Park, said the local business – which he and Bunn did not identify -- had a conversation with Goodell (below) after the discovery.

“The shop was basically in a position to be a good Samaritan and didn’t know what to do with” the bone, Martz told the Picket.

“When someone in the position of the local shop doesn’t know where to start, they start with an organization like the National Park Service. It is easily one of the most recognizable and trusted organizations in the country come to,” he said.

In this case, there was no need to go to law enforcement.

Martz described the man who had the bone as an avid Civil War artifacts/relics collector. “When he passes, the family doesn’t know what to do with a collection. They find a reputable shop.”

Then the shop’s inventory process begins.

“They start to go through it piece by piece. ‘Oh wait a minute.’ There is one extra thing they are not comfortable with.”

Martz said there is no indication a law was broken. The only consideration would be the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which protects indigenous remains.

Nothing in this case has any connection with NAGPRA “as far as we know,” said Martz.

The takeaway is the Gettysburg shop did the best thing by reaching out to Goodell so the bone could be sent to the best place – Alabama, said the park spokesman.

Remains not eligible for state veterans cemetery

Bunn turned to the Historic Blakely Foundation and a GoFund me campaign to raise money for the headstone and plaque. So far, $350 of the estimated $600 expense has been raised.

The new grave will be in a field that holds a cemetery that dates to 1819. It will be in a separate area and will be viewable from the road. Bunn expects a ceremony in November, with a gun salute and presence of a U.S. flag. “It is a long overdue, proper respect,” he added.

The state cemetery contains about 5,000 graves (Alabama Dept. of Veterans Affairs)

The park director consulted with Joseph Buschell, director at the nearby Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Spanish Fort. Alabama operates the location because the U.S. cemetery in Mobile is closed to new interments and the closest national cemeteries are in Biloxi, Ms., and at Barrancas near Pensacola, Fla., each more than 70 miles away.

The Spanish Fort cemetery would not have been able to accept the remains without a name and proof of military service, including an honorable discharge, Buschell said.

On behalf of Historic Blakeley, Buschell contacted a company in Pensacola to make a government-grade marker. “It is assumed to be a soldier.”

Regarding Bunn, Buschell told the Picket: “I think what he is going to do with this is pretty noble.”

McAfee House outside Atlanta is sold for $1 to couple who own a wedding venue. They will move Civil War site to Cherokee County and make it a private residence

The McAfee house was built around 1840, when Cobb County was mostly farms (Cobb Landmarks)

An Atlanta-area home that was caught in the middle of Civil War cavalry clashes and briefly served as headquarters for a Union general has been sold for $1 and stipulations to a couple who will relocate the residence to a neighboring county.

Lee and Brittani Lusk, who operate The Wheeler House wedding and events venue, purchased the 1840s Robert McAfee House -- situated in a congested corridor -- for $1 from Cobb Landmarks

The nonprofit group had long worked with the owner of the historic house and developers to save it from the wrecking ball, but things did not work out until now.

While Cobb Landmarks had hoped the McAfee House would stay in Cobb County, the proposal put forward by the Lusks -- who live in Ball Ground in Cherokee County -- was a clear choice for a committee looking at nearly 40 proposals to relocate the empty dwelling.

“There were a couple (proposals) from Cobb (but) they were not fleshed-out applications,” Cobb Landmarks executive director Trevor Beemon told the Picket. “We needed to get to someone who already knows what they are doing.” The house must be removed by May 15 to Ball Ground, about 25 miles to the north.

Click to enlarge map of several Civil War clashes in Cobb County (ABPP)

The Robert and Eliza McAfee House served a few weeks in June and early July 1864 as the headquarters for Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard and his three brigades during the Atlanta Campaign. The Federal troopers clashed almost daily near Noonday Creek with Confederates led by Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler. The house is said also to have been used as a field hospital.

Cobb County was the scene of significant combat action and troop movement as the Confederates tried to stall Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s relentless campaign on Atlanta, which began in May 1864 in North Georgia.

After the seizure of Big Shanty (Kennesaw) by Federal forces on June 9, Garrard’s cavalry division was posted on the left flank during operations on the Kennesaw Mountain front. While there were some small towns, including Marietta and Big Shanty, most citizens lived on farms. The farm was believed to have been occupied by Confederates, too, during the action around Kennesaw Mountain.

Buyers reportedly renovated many historic structures

The Wheeler House website says CEO and owner Lee Lusk, a native of Canton in Cherokee County, purchased and renovated his first home at age 18. “Since, he has remodeled multiple historic homes in the North GA. He has also bought, sold and developed land in Cobb and Cherokee counties.”

His wife Brittani Lusk serves as operations and marketing director at The Wheeler House, which was built in 1906 by a local lumber businessman.

The Lusks told the Picket they will move the McAfee House to a lot near their home in Ball Ground. They had not decided whether it will be used as a house or museum for the community.

No one has lived in the home for more than a decade (Photos, Cobb Landmarks)

Lee Lusk said they expect to have the house out by the end of April.

“They are anxious to get in there," Beemon said. “They are excited about it.”

The couple have moved a couple properties in the past and have the knowledge and wherewithal to make the deal happen, Beemon said. It could cost up to $150,000 to move the dwelling up Highway 5 and another $200,000-$250,000 for renovations.

Lee Lusk said in a 2021 interview he was 25 when he bought The Wheeler House. The couple built a barn for events a couple years later, in 2012. He recalls finding two old photos in a hidden compartment in the house.

This old house was well-built but needed protection

A deal to turn the McAfee House property at Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway into a car wash (even if the house stayed) fell apart in 2023. Preservationists used the time to come up with something else with the property owner, who decided to donate the home to Cobb Landmarks so it could be moved and make way for a commercial venture.

The developer purchasing the land lived in the home as a child and is expected to build a multi-tenant development, Beemon said.

The home and outbuildings were vulnerable to development because the property owner did not seek historic protection from Cobb County. Beemon said the Lusks will be required to obtain a preservation easement and adhere to Department of the Interior standards for the home exterior while they may renovate the interior as they please.

This state marker did not provide protection (Photo by Michael Cruce / HMdb.org)

The house is built of pine timbers joined with wooden pegs. It has original heart pine floors (currently under carpet) and plank walls and ceilings beneath modern additions. The residence features a central hallway. It has not been occupied for many years, said Beemon.

“When you walk through it the floorboards don’t creak. The timbers are two feet thick under this thing. It is sitting on stone piers. It is really a solid structure.”

The couple may have to separate the structure into two or three pieces for the move.

“As serial restorers, they are putting a lot of passion into these things,” said Beemon.

The home is the last remaining pre-Civil War structure in the busy Town Center corridor of the county. Cobb Landmarks has worked for about five years to save it. Previous plans and deals fell through, Beemon told the Picket.

“I won’t believe it until it is up on a trailer. It has been such a roller coaster over the years," he said.

Carol Brown, co-founder of Canton Road Neighbors, a nonprofit that keeps a close eye on zoning issues in the area, told the Picket she had hoped the house would have remained in Cobb County. “But I am glad the house will be preserved.”

“I wish that Cobb County could have recognized the value to the community by acquiring the two-acre historic property and restoring the house onsite," Brown said Thursday. “It presented a unique opportunity, now lost in an area that becomes more impervious, less livable and less pedestrian friendly every year.”

Beemon said the cost for the three acres in a highly desirable area was likely too expensive for the county.

Dalton agrees to sale of historic depot

By the end of 2020, the historic railroad depot in Dalton, Ga., could once again be a center for dining and nightlife. Members of the City Council voted 3-1 this week to approve a $300,000 bid from Dalton's Barrett Properties for the depot. The depot -- which needs extensive remediation and upgrades inside -- had its moment of fame on April 12, 1862 – during what became known as the Great Locomotive Chase. • Article
• More about the Civil War history of the depot.