Louis Froelich Arms-Maker to the Confederacy John W. McAden, Jr. Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr. SlapDash Publishing, LLC Carolina Beach, North Carolina LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONTROL NUMBER: 2008930192 John W. McAden, Jr. and Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr. Louis Froelich – Arms-Maker to the Confederacy Carolina Beach, N.C., SlapDash Publishing, LLC. in memory of 96 pp. International Standard Book Number 978-0-9792431-4-1 © 2008 John W. McAden, Jr. and Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr. First Printing: August 2008 311 Florida Avenue, Carolina Beach, NC 28428 910.232.0604 • [email protected] www.carolinabeach.net Designed and produced by Daniel Ray Norris (SlapDash Publishing, LLC). Cover photo by Jack W. Melton, Jr. Title typefaces: No. 2 Type, No. 1 Type (The Civil War Press, The Walden Font Company) Body typefaces: Adobe Caslon, Adobe Caslon Pro and Gotham Software: Adobe InDesign CS3, Photoshop, Illustrator and other Adobe products Apple Macintosh computers, Xerox printers and Canon imaging products were used in the proofing and production of this book. All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means – electronic, me- William J. Nicholson III chanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without written permission from the publisher or author(s). No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use December 9, 1945 - October 2, 2007 of the information contained herein. Trademarks: All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Slap- husband, father, collector, friend Dash Publishing, LLC or the author(s) cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. Warning and disclaimer: Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty of fitness is implied. The information is provided on an “as is” basis. The author and the publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the information contained in this book. ii LOUIS FROELICH • Arms-Maker to the Confederacy LOUIS FROELICH • Arms-Maker to the Confederacy iii Contents Acknowledgements Staff and Field Sword iv CSA 50 Foreword v Officer’s Cavalry Saber 56 Introduction 2 Enlisted Man’s Cavalry Saber The American Society of Arms Collectors, after 58 review by its Publications Committee, has found Endnotes Louis Froelich - Arms Maker to the Confederacy by 32 Short Swords John W. McAden, Jr. and Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr. to 64 Bibliography be a useful reference book in the field of Confederate 36 Bowie Knives edged weapons. 68 Froelich Employees It is a factual and informative work for both 38 Saber Bayonet collectors and historians and is recommended for 72 this field of American arms history. Nomenclature 40 Lances 76 Robert M. Holter, President Staff and Field Sword J. Craig Nannos, Chair, Publications Committee LF 1861, CS and Star Belts and Buckles 42 78 July 2008 Staff and Field Sword Buttons CSA on a Ribbon 80 46 Miscellaneous 82 iv LOUIS FROELICH • Arms-Maker to the Confederacy LOUIS FROELICH • Arms-Maker to the Confederacy v Acknowledgements Foreword This project was made possible in large part by the generous assistance of conscientious collectors and Perhaps no other subject holds our interest with such vice-like grip as the War Between the preservationists of surviving examples of Louis Froelich’s edged weapons and military products. We extend States. More books and articles have been written about this great and tragic conflict than any a special thank you to Frederick R. Edmunds, John T. Frawner, Jr., Shannon Pritchard, Tim Terrell, and other in the human experience. Clifford M. Young, all of whom went “above and beyond the call of duty” in contributing to Louis Froelich: Arms-Maker to the Confederacy. Thanks also to Jack W. Melton, Jr., for his superb photography and The Civil War has remained front and center in American society, but interest in it is world- Daniel Ray Norris of SlapDash Publishing, LLC for his excellent design and graphics artistry on this project. wide in scope. It is fascinating, to say the least. With much appreciation, we also recognize the assistance of the following people, businesses, and public institutions. Much attention has been paid by historians and collectors to the advances in weaponry and Gary Albert Ben Michel technology developed and employed during the war. Indeed, there have been many excellent American Society of Arms Collectors Bill Moore studies on Confederate edged weapons, including those by Richard D. Steuart, William A. Tom Belton Butch Myers Albaugh III, and Fredrick R. Edmunds, to name just a few. North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh Jo-Anne Nicholson Dan Binder The early publications were invaluable to collectors and enthusiasts interested in Confederate David Norris swords, bayonets, knives, and cutlasses, by aiding them in identification and nomenclature. There Peggy Joe Braswell Precision Press, Wilmington, North Carolina were errors and misidentifications made early on, but these were largely corrected in subsequent Cliff Cobb (Nan Pope, Lisa Harrison, Richard Corcoran) studies. Robert J. Cooke John Sexton Michael DeAngury Joseph Sheppard, New Hanover County Public Library One of the most recognizable and popular Confederate swords was manufactured by a German Wilmington, North Carolina Robert DeRosset immigrant named Louis Froelich. It featured an open brass guard with the letters CSA cast into the knucklebow. Jeff Dickens Stephen W. Sylvia North South Trader’s Civil War Bobby Dixon Froelich arrived in the United States shortly before the Civil War began. He was most industrious Don Thorpe Franklin E. Fussell and inventive, producing a wide variety of swords, knives, buttons, and other products for the Lewis Leigh, Jr. Confederacy. Until now, however, the story of his edged weapons’ business operations has not Greensboro Museum of History Greensboro, North Carolina Leon H. “Sonny” Sikes been fully examined. Halifax County Library Gary Smith Halifax, North Carolina John W. McAden, Jr. and Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr. have provided us with an interesting, well Henry Higgins Photography researched, and accurate account of the life and times of Louis Froelich and his genius as an entrepreneurial Confederate industrialist. Betsy Huggins Jack W. Melton, Jr. Donna E. Kelly and Anne Miller www.jwmelton.com, [email protected], 770-633-4446 North Carolina Historical Review Frederick R. Edmunds Daniel Ray Norris - SlapDash Publishing Vero Beach, Florida Don Koonce www.carolinabeach.net, [email protected] September 2007 Judy Labbe, James D. Julia, Inc. Bill Reaves - Images Photography Danny Lee Wilson, North Carolina 2 LOUIS FROELICH • Arms-Maker to the Confederacy LOUIS FROELICH • Arms-Maker to the Confederacy 3 Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr. Introduction Department of History, UNC Wilmington The Confederacy needed men like Louis Froelich, a Fear historian Robert J. Cooke has compiled scarce States. Whatever Froelich’s reason for making the settled in, with Mina giving birth to a yet another North Carolina-based manufacturer of military arms business and personal information on Froelich, but voyage, he arrived in America during the crisis of the son, William, in October 1861. Well before then, and equipment. Froelich’s swords, bayonets, and knives until now the few studies on Confederate industry Union. One bright spot soon thereafter was the birth however, Froelich, who spoke only broken English, once filled the scabbards of many gray-uniformed and manufacturing by professional scholars—Frank of their third son, Charles, while they were staying in had found employment in town as director of a small, soldiers and today are coveted and prized by both Vandiver’s Ploughshares Into Swords: Josiah Gorgas New York. By the spring of 1861—perhaps as early newly established button-making firm owned by private collectors and public museums. His edged and Confederate Ordnance, Richard Goff ’s Confederate as April, but certainly by May—Froelich, along with Jacob Loeb and Lewis Swarzman. The two German- weapons have intrigued Civil War enthusiasts for Supply and Harold S. Wilson’s Confederate Industry: his wife and their three young boys, were living in born entrepreneurs were already partners in a grocery, decades, but professional historians have overlooked Manufacturers and Quartermasters in the Civil War— Wilmington, North Carolina.3 coal, and wood business when they established the the important role Froelich played in supplying North have omitted any mention of Froelich and other small Wilmington Button Manufactory in mid-May Carolina and the Confederacy, largely because so Confederate industrialists.1 On the eve of the Civil War, Wilmington was North 1861.4 few extant records document his business operations Carolina’s busiest seaport and largest city, boasting a and personal life. The lack of large-scale industrial Froelich began his career as an arms-maker to the population of 9,552 residents, one quarter of whom Impressed with their skilled new employee, Loeb facilities in the South compelled Richmond and Confederacy in Wilmington, North Carolina, a were foreign-born. A thriving German community of and Swarzman announced in the Wilmington Daily state governments to contract with small, privately seaport on the Cape Fear River. How he got to 400 to 500 people comprised the city’s largest ethnic Journal that the Wilmington Button Manufactory was, owned weapons manufacturing enterprises, including the Tar Heel town, however, is unclear. His trek minority and may have attracted the Froelich’s to the as of May 16, “under the direction of Mr.