This Confederate cavalry saber, along with its scabbard, was captured by Private George W. Buswell, Company B, Seventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, at Fort Blakely, Alabama, April 9, 1865.
Mortar barrel made from the trunk of a gum tree and bound with iron bands. The mortar was made by a member of the Seventh Minnesota Infantry Regiment and used during the siege of Spanish Fort, Alabama, part of the March–April 1865 campaign against Mobile.
The Seventh Minnesota Infantry served on Minnesota's frontier in the troubled summer of 1862 and through the first half of 1863. The regiment eventually headed south, taking part in a key battle that virtually destroyed a major Confederate army. They also participated in one of the final campaigns of the war.