National Museum of African American History and Culture

Class Label Copy: General Pat Cleburne was given this presentation sword, a symbol of
privilege, which never saw battle. The sword, inscribed with a shamrock and Harp of Erin,
represented his status as an Irish immigrant and gave him a unique perspective on the goals of
the Confederacy. In 1863, Cleburne made the controversial suggestion that the South should
enlist and emancipate enslaved persons, cutting off Union access to contraband soldiers. 

(Invented) Exhibit: Segregation in War: The Conflicting Experiences of African American

Soldiers and General in the U.S. Civil War

Concept statement: African Americans were kept from leadership in both armies during the U.S.
Civil War, resulting in differing experiences of the war that were a microcosm of the social
segregation which was to persist for more than a century.

New Label Copy:

Why do we remember? Confederate General Patrick Cleburne’s Presentation Sword.

CSA General Cleburne’s sword was a symbol of privilege, unlike the other swords displayed
around you, which African American and white soldiers used to defend their lives in combat.
Cleburne’s sword remained only something to admire, yet given its emblematic status this sword
survived and kept his legacy alive. This is a complicated legacy, of a man who wanted to
continue to exploit African American bodies and labor by using enslaved as soldiers.

This sword reminds us that the weapons of African American soldiers, and therefore their stories,
did not survive. Look around the gallery and consider what is missing. Whose stories did not
survive, and why? Is it because there are no objects left to tell their stories? Or is there a missed
opportunity in the stories presented?