American Civil War-era sword belonging to N.B. doctor to go on display in Saint John

A ceremonial sword that belonged to a New Brunswick doctor who served in the American Civil War has found its way back home.

A ceremonial sword that belonged to a New Brunswick doctor who served in the American Civil War has found its way back home, where it will be on display at the Loyalist House museum in Saint John, starting this summer.

Troy Middleton, vice-president of Loyalist House, said he was excited to have Dr. John F. Stevenson’s dress sword as part of the collection of the New Brunswick Historical Society, which operates the museum.

Middleton said he noticed the item for sale on Facebook by a private collector a little more than a year ago. Wanting to bring home this piece of Canadian-American history, the society raised the required $6,200, and the Canadian Museum of History donated the display case, he said.

“Anything from the American Civil War that you can trace back to the owner, you know, it adds a premium to artifacts,” Middleton said in an interview Friday.

“But to be able to physically hold something that a New Brunswicker owned, who served in the war — it’s not something that happens every day … you can physically connect an artifact to a person. It’s just hard to put into words. I was just very excited. Very excited.”

Stevenson was born Nov. 30, 1836, in St. Andrews, N.B., In 1854 he graduated from King’s College in Fredericton — now called the University of New Brunswick — and attended Harvard Medical School in 1859.

He returned home to St. Andrews in 1861 and began practising medicine, but about three years later, in January 1864, he offered his services to the United States Medical Corp. Stevenson, who was white, was assigned as a surgeon with the 29th Connecticut Infantry, one of the African-American regiments that were raised after the Emancipation Proclamation — the announcement in January 1863 by then-president Abraham Lincoln that all people enslaved in the country were free.

Stevenson’s sword is nickel-plated steel with engravings on the blade. As a medical officer, Stevenson was entitled to wear a presentation or dress sword, Middleton added. “It’s decorative. It’s not sharp or anything like that. It’s because doctors, they didn’t fight battles,” he said, adding that ceremonial swords from the 1800s are rare.