Lost Civil War sword returns to The Citadel

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - The lost sword of The Citadel's first honor graduate has been returned.

The sword belonged to Capt. Charles Courtnay Tew, and it was taken away after he was killed in one of the first battles of the American Civil War.

Tew was also the first president of the Alumni Association in 1852 and the first Citadel alumnus to be declared missing in action.

The sword was given to Captain Tew by his fellow cadets in 1858.

When he was wounded at the Battle of Antietam in Maryland, it's believed that a Union solider took it.

You can find pictures of Tew holding the sword in the Citadel Library.

Before the sword came back to the Citadel, it was in an Odd Fellows' lodge in Ohio, in the possession of a Canadian solider and was later turned over to a Canadian regiment.

Director of Daniel Library Citadel Archive and Museums David Gobel is thankful to have the sword back home.

"We got a call from a gentleman, Mike Martin, of the 33 Signals Regiment in Ottawa, Canada and he explained that they had the sword and they wanted to bring it back to us," says Gobel. "That's one of the the parts of the story that's so amazing because the Canadians, they didn't have to do this."

The sword is now permanent property of The Citadel.

Copyright 2015 WCSC. All rights reserved.