Museum curators Corrine and Ron Bloomfield Evaluate Birney Sword Here on Approval Hero of Gettysburg . . .
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One of the most famous moments of the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War came July 3, 1863 at Hanover, Pennsylvania, when Gen. George A. Custer led the Michigan Cavalry Brigade against Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's stately, plumed Virginia cavalry. A 19-year-old Bay Cityan, Capt. James G. Birney IV, made history that day with Custer.
Birney was the son of Judge James Birney, whose father, James Gillespie Birney had been the first anti-slavery Presidential candidate in 1840. The senior James Birneyhad moved to what was called Lower Saginaw in 1842 and founded the new community of Bay City. Young Birney's enlistment papers state his residence as "Hampton City," actually Hampton Township. Bay County had been established in 1858 through the efforts of his father, then a state senator. He was 19 years old and was one of about 550 men from Bay County to serve in the Union Army in the Civil War.
That glorious service, virtually unknown to all but Civil War buffs, now is about to be revealed to local residents through the efforts of a committee headed attorney Gerald Pergande, Tony Dearing, editor of The Bay City Times, and WNEM-TV newscaster Eric Jylha, also president of the Bay County Historical Society. The committee is spearheading a drive to raise the $7,500 to purchase Birney's sword, found in a basement in Philadelphia and placed for auction on a website, Blue Grey Relics.
"If we can acquire it, this will be one of the few artifacts of national status in the museum," said Ron Bloomfield, curator of collections and research of the Bay County Historical Museum. Other national artifacts are the anchor from the gig boat of the U.S.S. Maine, torpedoed in Havana harbor in 1898, acquired by the City Council after the Spanish-American War, and a U.S. Army Ambulance from World War I recently acquired through the efforts of Michigan National Guard Gen. Richard DeMara of Bay City. The sword, if acquired, would become one of the centerpieces of a new main gallery at the museum, for which planning is underway.
"There is no question that this sword needs to be here in Bay City and that it is an artifact of national significance," said Mr. Pergande. "We hope to be successful in fund raising so we can acquire it and put it on display tohonor the gallant officer from Bay City, Capt. Birney."
"Come on you Wolverines!" Custer is reputed to have shouted as his men surged forward with drawn sabers, colors fluttering, to stop the Confederate assault. The charge by Michigan troops foiled Stuart's attempt to turn the Union right on the last day of the battle. "It was the cavalry combat of the war," one observer stated later.
Serving in the Seventh Michigan Cavalry, the smallest regiment but the one which suffered the highestcasualties, was Capt. Birney. Birney's exploits are recounted by Asa B. Isham, in his 1892 book "Seventh Michigan Cavalry of Custer's Wolverine Brigade," reprinted in 2000 by Blue Acorn Press of Huntington, WV. "Capt. Birney valiantly led his men in a charge and was severely wounded by a slash to the head from a Confederate's saber. Minutes before his color bearer had been shot and Birney had dismounted, took the colors and continued the charge. After emptying his revolver and having his horse shot out from under him, Capt. Birney used the flag staff as a pike and continued in hand-to-hand combat. After his wounding he was captured. He escaped, returned to his regiment and continued to fight."
For that heroism, in 1865 Capt. Birney was transferred to the regular army's 1st Michigan Cavalry and was presented a field and staff officer's sword by Gen. Custer. In a hand-written letter of commendation, Gen. Custer glowingly praised his deeds and recorded for all time Capt. Birney's heroism.
After the war, Birney came back to Bay City for a short time, then was sent to Fort Davis on the Texas frontier where he commanded a company of the famed buffalo soldiers against hostile Apache and Comanche Indians. He died at Fort Davis of disease in 1870, age 26.
How the sword got to the basement in Philadelphia is not known, but Capt. Birney's uncle, Gen. David Bell Birney, also a hero at Gettysburg as well as Fredericksburg, was a resident of Philadelphia. He died there in 1864 of malaria contracted in the service. Other offspring of James G. Birney who fought in the Civil War were sons Gen. William Birney, who recruited black troops and led a final assault against Robert E. Lee at Appomattox, Capt. Fitzhugh Birney who was killed in the Battle of Cold Harbor and Dion Birney, a captain and physician, who died of disease early in the war.
"Few families can match the record of sacrifice of the Birneys and we at the museum hope to honor their memory permanently by placing this sword on display and recalling the heroism of Capt. James G. Birney IV and the service of many men from Bay County who served in the Civil War," said Mr. Jylha.
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