This E. J. Johnston foot officer’s sword has an etched presentation panel which reads: "S P Corbin to J P May. 1861” It is also etched with "E. J. Johnston & Co. Macon Ga” and a very large "CS”

Samuel P Corbin was a rich, Taylor County, Georgia planter living in the 768 Georgia Militia District. He was born in Ireland, 1762.[i]And died in February of 1863 at 101 years old.[ii]

In 1861, he presented J. P. May with this beautiful sword. May, may have been a rich Planter in Sumter County, Alabama, but I cannot be certain he is the correct recipient.

Edward J. Johnston, was a wealthy 40 year old merchant and jeweler in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia. E.J. Johnston & Company worked during the War making high quality edged weapons. All of the company’s products are rare, and highly sought after. The company’s most desirable product was their beautifully etched and finely made officer’s sword. According to William Albaugh they were turning out 40 naval and artillery cutlasses (which appear from the wording to have been one and the same pattern, as they referred to them both as cutlasses), 40 infantry swords and 40 cavalry swords per week as of April, 1862. If this was the case, it is odd that more of their products did not survive. I think it likely that Mr. Albaugh took the production figures from a newspaper article and it was inaccurate. Neither the surviving records, nor the number of surviving specimens are indicative of such a large output.

The sword is in beautiful, original condition,with the exception of the throat washer. There is a little bit of play in the guard, but otherwise the polished wooden grip (love those wooden grips) and guard are original and perfect. The blade is beautifully etched, but the scabbard is a reproduction for display purposes only. This gives me the opportunity of pointing out the importance of original scabbards; this sword would quickly sell for 30k if it had its original E.J. Johnston scabbard!

Still, if you want a beautiful E.J. Johnston sword and you don’t care about the scabbard, this is a great opportunity

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