A Captain’s Sword Recalls A Newtowner’s Civil War Adventures

By Jan Howard

Forty-seven years after it was taken from a captured officer, the sword a Newtown man carried into battle during the Civil War was returned in 1910 to his daughters and to Newtown by a man in Texas.

The sword, presented to Capt Julius Sanford in 1862 by friends in Newtown, was taken from him when he was taken prisoner during a battle in Louisiana. It was returned to Ellen Louise Thompson and Gertrude Bolmer by Daniel Hensley, whose brother brought the sword home to Texas while on furlough.

Through the postmasters of Newtown and Leadbetter, Texas, Mrs Thompson was placed in communication with Mr Hensley of Leadbetter, who had the sword in his possession.

In a letter to Mrs Thompson, Mr Hensley wrote, “My brother, Mount Hensley, was a Confederate soldier in Company 2, Texas Cavalry, Queen’s Brigade, and was stationed in Louisiana in 1863.

“My brother, while scouting, took some federal soldiers prisoner, among them Capt Sanford. Shortly after, he came home on furlough and brought the sword with him. My brother was killed in March 1864. The sword has been hanging in our house nearly 47 years, and is a bad specimen of its former beauty.”

During the Civil War, Capt Sanford, who enlisted on September 10, 1862, helped raise a company and was elected captain of Company C, 23rd Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers. The company was made up predominantly of men from Newtown and Sharon. The sword, which was presented to him in October 1862 by citizens of Newtown, was taken from him when he was taken prisoner on June 24, 1863, at Bayou Beouf, La.

According to the Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut, “There was no braver nor more respected a captain in the 23rd Connecticut Regiment than Capt Sanford of Company C.”

The 23rd Regiment was raised in Fairfield and New Haven counties, with Charles E.L. Holmes of Waterbury as colonel. The various companies, including Company C, gathered at Camp Terry in New Haven. Assigned to General Nathan Banks’ expedition, on November 17, 1862, with 848 men, the regiment proceeded to camp at Centreville, L.I. and then, via vessels, to the New Orleans area of Louisiana. On January 11, 1863, the regiment left Camp Parapet under the command of Col Holmes by boat for Algiers, which was opposite New Orleans. There they took the train to Berwick Bay where they did guard duty at Brashear.

On February 9, they were ordered to march to the railroad. The regiment was then distributed as a guard the length of the Opelousas Railroad, from Berwick Bay to Jefferson, almost opposite New Orleans. The headquarters was established at La Fourche, about midway.

At this time Company C, under Capt Sanford, was stationed at Bayou des Allemands, where his company was reinforced about March 1 by Company A. They remained there for two months, occupied with guard and picket duty, which did not allow much time for drill or discipline.

Since the main body of Gen Banks’ army was at Port Hudson, Confederate General Richard Taylor was determined to sweep western Louisiana during its absence. The small union force remaining in western Louisiana was concentrated to meet him, but Gen Taylor’s forces were ultimately victorious.

Capt Sanford was ordered to take command at Bayou Boeuf near Brashear, where Gen Banks had a base of supplies, and valuable stores remained there. While the company was there, a battalion of Texans attacked, rushing the federal line at Brashear, and soon the area was swarming with rebel soldiers. Capt Sanford and some of the men in his command were taken prisoner, but not before they destroyed some of the stores they had been guarding.

The prisoners were marched to a fort at Brashear City and during the two to three days following enlisted men were paroled and returned to New Orleans. The officers, however, were moved across the river and two days later began a march of 200 miles to Alexandria on the Red River. Here they took a boat up the river 300 miles to Shreveport where they again marched 125 miles to Camp Ford, four miles from Tyler, in the northeast corner of Texas.

Camp Ford, which became the largest Confederate prison west of the Mississippi, had been a training facility for Confederate conscripts. Early in 1863 the first 72 permanent prisoners arrived. In late summer and early fall, they were joined by 461 men, including Capt Sanford, who were captured during Confederate raids in southern Louisiana.

The prison consisted of four to five acres enclosed by a stockade 16 feet high. Prisoners constructed their own shelters, ranging from log huts and burrows called “shebangs” to brush arbors and tents made of blankets.

A spring furnished an ample supply of good water. Meager rations usually consisted of beef and cornmeal, which were sometimes supplemented by vegetables from nearby farms.

Capt Sanford was confined in the prison at Camp Ford for 14 months where he suffered the hardships of prison life, mitigated to some extent by the kindness of Masonic brethren and some of his fellow prisoners. He was released on July 22, 1964, and discharged from service on August 8, 1864. He died November 1, 1879 from disease resulting from this imprisonment, leaving his widow and two daughters. He is buried in Village Cemetery.

Capt Sanford, one of eight children of Josiah and Polly (Johnson) Sanford, was born August 27, 1819. He was educated in Newtown’s public schools. He and Mary Elizabeth Parsons, daughter of Moses and Huldah (Adams) Parsons, were married by the Rev S.S. Stocking on October 4, 1847. They had two daughters, Ellen Louise, born January 22, 1850, who married Sherwood Stratton Thompson on December 24, 1878, and Gertrude, born on July 28, 1866, who married Clarence Bolmer on October 5, 1897. A daughter, Kate, died young.

His father had a cabinet-making business in 1830 and began manufacturing broadcloth, cassimere and satinets with handlooms at Sandy Hook. From 1830 to 1842 he carried on a large and profitable business and built a large part of the village. Besides the mill, he conducted a general store, owned large tracts of land, and had a farm.

Fonder of machinery than his brothers, early in life he became familiar with his father’s business. At the age of 18 he began an apprenticeship to learn the trade of machinist in the shops of Warner and Isbell at Naugatuck. After he served his time, he returned to Sandy Hook and learned the hatters’ trade under Moses Parsons, his father-in-law.

He worked for Mr Parsons for several years before beginning to manufacture hats on his own. Nap, fur, and silk hats were then in fashion, but eventually he made a specialty of wool felt for men’s soft hats and enjoyed a large and flourishing business.

 Capt Sanford was active in the community and in 1866 became a charter member and first master of Hiram Lodge, No. 18, AF & AM.

The Mason’s first meeting place was provided by Mr Sanford in his building on Church Hill Road near Foundry Pond, which was near the present I-84. The first installation of officers, including Mr Sanford, was held there on June 25, 1866. Meetings continued there through 1873 when they were moved to the Glover Building on Berkshire Road.

The charter of Hiram Lodge was granted in New Haven on January 6, 1791, and extended to 1848. Its charter had been revoked in 1851 and was restored in 1866.

Capt Sanford took charge of a music store in New Haven after the war, but never recovered his health. He was described in Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut as a “kindly and charitable man, intensely fond of his home and family, and beloved by all who knew him.” He was a Republican in politics and belonged to the Episcopal church.

In August 1910 during an annual reunion of the 23rd Regiment, a notable feature of the day was the exhibiting of his sword, then in the possession of his daughter. The newspaper article regarding the event noted, “This sword was wielded successfully by Capt Sanford in many battles and is now highly prized.”

An undated newspaper article in the possession of the C.H. Booth Library tells of the presentation sometime in 1911 of the sword to the Library Association by Charles F. Beardsley on behalf of Capt Sanford’s daughter, Mrs S.S. Thompson of New Haven. At that time, the sword was to be placed in a case and hung in the Newtown Library.

The sword, in the collection of the C.H. Booth Library, bears this inscription, “Capt Julius Sanford, Co C, 23rd Regt CV [Connecticut Volunteers]. Presented October 1862, by many friends of Newtown, Conn., as a token of respect.”

Other Civil War artifacts in the C.H. Booth Library’s military collection include a hat belonging to Dr Ralph Betts of Sandy Hook, a tobacco box of Peter Keeler, a canteen of Arthur Fairman, and a knapsack and cutlery items, among others.

Some of the information for this story was found in Johnson’s history of Newtown, Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut, and History of Connecticut During the War of 1861–65 by W.A. Croffut and John M. Morris.