As
the 18th century closed, treaties were signed and the frontier moved
west. Among the Americans who
volunteered from Kentucky in the War of 1812 were many veterans of the
Revolution and the bloody frontier conflict that consumed the Ohio Valley and
southern Appalachians for years afterward. Isaac Shelby served as a
soldier in Lord
Dunmore's War, the Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812. While governor of
Kentucky, at age 63 he personally led the Kentucky militia
in the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813, an action that was rewarded with
a Congressional Gold Medal. His 64 year old friend, William Whitley volunteered as a
private and would fall on the same part of the Thames battlefield as
Tecumseh. Fifty-eight year old
Simon Kenton also accompanied the expedition as a scout and interpreter.
Shelby’s fondness for John Dickinson's The Liberty
Song is
believed to be the reason Kentucky adopted the state motto "United we stand,
divided we fall"
Glenn
Mock has recreated an enigmatic and classic “old veteran” knife from the
frontier. The original was
featured in Madison Grant’s “The Knife in Homespun America” and is on permanent
display at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris, Tennessee. It is attributed to the old Wilderness
Road area in Lee County in southwestern Virginia and likely dates to the 1770s
era, and according to Grant saw service on the Ohio Valley frontier. Unlike the gilded and engraved
presentation swords passed down to museums by families of the well-known
leaders in the War, this knife seems to embody the spirit of those old soldiers
who never stopped volunteering, were trusted and followed by others in their
day, but whose story we will never fully know now. There is a deadly efficient and simple yet well-made look to
this dagger. A definitive “long
knife” its size and features leave no question as to its intended purpose, and
set it apart as something intended for a warrior – rather than an everyday
tool. It shows decades of use but
obvious great care as a prized possession; unlike most period knives it looks
to have never been relegated to the smokehouse or barn; never repurposed or
used hard as a farm tool. One can easily imagine such a knife being carried and
used by Shelby, Whitley, Kenton, and others - whether on their first trips beyond the mountains or on the
last campaign hundreds of miles north of the Ohio; perhaps being retired after
that last battle.
GLEN
MOCK
“I have been shooting black powder since 1968 and since childhood have
had a deep love for the past. I spent the 1970's into the 80's making a living
as a scrimshander, horner and silversmith.The last twenty some years my wife
Connie and I have ran a guest ranch in Northern Missouri, offering a taste of ranch
life to city folks. I raised and broke horses and ran a small cattle operation.
We are now retired from the guest ranch and I spend my time blacksmithing and
knife making, along with still running the cattle operation.
The
knife I made for this year’s auction is not a bench copy but a good likeness of
a knife, circa 1770, featured in Madison Grant’s book, “The Knife in Homespun
America”. I choose this knife as I wanted to create knife like one made by a
frontier blacksmith. The blade was forged out of 1095 steel and the guard out of
mild steel. The handle I made from an old oak plank I pulled off a fence here
on the ranch. The sheath was made from an old piece of
leather donated by Tom Bowen, and I made a brass tip like the one in the book.
Everyone
needs a good story to tell, so I felt I needed to come up with a good one to
put with this knife. Isaac Shelby
of Kentucky has been a longtime hero of mine and since Shelby was a
frontiersman and Indian fighter, a veteran of the Revolution, and fought as a
Colonel at King’s Mountain, just an all-around frontier hero – I thought I
might make a knife in his honor– this type of old plain knife might be what he
might have carried during his early years, when he was fighting Indians at
Point Pleasant…Possibly even carved his initials “I.S.” in the handle. In his older years, Shelby was called up again to fight for
his country, this time in the War of 1812. What’s this knife got to do with a War of 1812 auction
theme? Even though he was a pretty old man by 1813, he served under
General Harrison at the Battle of
the Thames in 1813 and this type of knife might just have been one carried by
him at that time, left over from his younger days.
Shelby
was found of the saying, "United we stand, Divided
we fall" from a favorite song of
his so I thought it would be appropriate to add that on a brass plate and attach
it to the handle. Kind of a commemoration to his many years of service to his
country.
I
really feel honored to be able to
donate to the auction this year and help this great organization to keep alive
this great time in American history. Thanks to all the other artists for their hard work in
their donations this year, too. Glad to be a part of a great group of artists.”
Glen can be contacted at:
P.O. 473
Mercer, MO 64661
(660) 382-5862
Glenn Mock (mock@grm.net)
This is a really great recreation of a frontier fighting knife. It is exactly what Glen set out to do.
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