Silver Hilt Sword carried by Colonel William Fountain

Silver Hilt Sword carried by Colonel William Fountain

Silver hilt Revolutionary War Sword attributed to silversmith Freeman Woods, New York, New York. Woods apprenticed as a silversmith and goldsmith to William Garret Forbes of New York, New York in 1772 to 1778 after which he opened his own shop until 1784 when he moved to New Bern, North Carolina. As a captain, William Fontain raised a company of minutemen in Hanover County and commanded his company in the second Virginia Regiment of regular troops commanded by Col William Woodford and that on the 9th December they fought together in a Battle at the Great Bridge.  He soon was promoted to a Colonel in the Continental Line with a role for his longrifle company at the Battle of Saratoga. He returned to guard the prisoners at Albemarle Barrack in Charlottesville, Virginia. In the summer of 1781, he assembled a company of longrifle men from Amherst County, Virginia and marched them to Yorktown where his company of longrifle men participated in the Siege of Yorktown.

Provenance: Fontain Family, Atlee, Virginia; Governor’s Antiques, Mechanicsville, Virginia;                                                                                                                                                                                                               Dr Frances Amos, Rocky Mount, Virginia; Gordon Barlow, Swoope, Virginia (2024)