By: Hal K. Litchford
One of my earliest reference books, A Photographic Supplement of American Swords, features a sword that has always intrigued me. Manufactured by the College Hill Arsenal in Nashville, this particular cavalry officer’s saber is inscribed with the name “A. A. Dysart.” He is identified in the book as Capt. Alfred A. Dysart of Co. D, 4th Tennessee Cavalry, who was killed in action at Thompson’s Station in March 1863.
The sword also appears in Confederate Presentation and Inscribed Swords and Revolvers. Little else is known about this Confederate officer.
Growing up in Middle Tennessee with a keen interest in Nashville swords, and knowing that the Battle of Thompson's Station was a notable victory for Forrest, I made it my personal mission to learn more about Captain Dysart and rescue him from historical obscurity.
Alfred Allen Dysart was born on October 9, 1832, in Marshall County, Tennessee. When the war began, he was a 28-year-old bachelor living alone in the northern part of the county along the Duck River. In the 1860 census, his occupation is listed as “gentleman.” Like many young men in the area, he was an accomplished horseman. In November 1861, Dysart and a group of cavalry volunteers from the region rode to Camp Cheatham, a major recruiting and training base near Nashville, where they enlisted in Company D of what would become McLemore’s 4th Tennessee Cavalry, Confederate States Army. Dysart was elected lieutenant.
At the same time, College Hill Arsenal offered several varieties of finely etched officers’ swords for private purchase. These swords featured a blank panel in the etching, allowing the buyer to have his name engraved. Surviving examples of these swords are almost exclusively traced back to officers at Camp Cheatham. Dysart was one of the new officers who purchased a College Hill sword and had his name etched into the panel.
The early history of Dysart’s regiment is somewhat convoluted in 1862. The regiment took part in the Kentucky Campaign under Gen. Kirby Smith, and Dysart was promoted to captain in June of that year. By November, the regiment was serving under Gen. Nathan B. Forrest and participated in his West Tennessee expedition, which culminated in the Battle of Parker’s Crossroads.
Edmund Kirby Smith, ca 1862
Public Domain
Dysart’s next major engagement came on March 5, 1863, at the Battle of Thompson’s Station, Tennessee. The Confederates, commanded by Gen. Earl Van Dorn, left their base in Spring Hill to confront a federal reconnaissance force advancing from Franklin. The two sides clashed at Thompson’s Station, with Forrest holding the Confederate right. Dismounted, the 4th Tennessee Cavalry assaulted the Union line east of the Franklin Pike. Before the attack, Dysart had a premonition of his death. He told one of the company’s horse holders, Sgt. D. M. Stegall, that he would be killed and entrusted him with his watch and pocketbook for delivery to his family. Tragically, Dysart’s premonition proved accurate. He was mortally wounded in the front yard of the Elijah Thompson house, near a cedar tree.
Dysart died three days later and was buried in Round Hill Cemetery in Belfast, Marshall County, just 35 miles from Thompson's Station. Today, his name is inscribed on the Confederate Memorial in the court square of Lewisburg, Tennessee, among the county’s native sons who perished during the Civil War. His inscribed sword now resides in the collection of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, formerly Battle Abbey, in Richmond, Virginia.
