A sword, a cane and an unlikely U.S. Civil War friendship

After the slaughter at the Battle of the Crater, fought in Virginia 155 years ago today, two officers one Union and the other Confederate struck up an unusual friendship that reverberates in New Brunswick even now through a gold-topped ebony cane.

John Beaton of Island View, on the outskirts of Fredericton,grew up hearing the story from his Uncle Winky, the family historian.

Beaton, 77, says he paid close attention because the story of friendship and kindnessinvolved the Civil War and because his great-grandfather John W. Beaton was the Confederate officer.

"The story starts July 30, 1864, and ends in my driveway on the 12th of October, 2011," Beaton said.

His great-grandfather was a captain in the Confederate army when it was entrenched at Petersburg, Va., under siege by the Union army. That summer, Pennsylvania miners dug a tunnel under Confederate lines to plant explosives, which Union forces hoped would blow a hole in Confederate defences and hasten the end of the war.

The explosion was a success, destroying a fort, killing hundreds of Confederate soldiers and creating a giant crater. The rest was a disaster.

The story of a cane, a sword and an unlikely Civil War friendship

5 years ago

Duration 2:51

The story begins in Virginia in 1864 and ends in a New Brunswick driveway in 2011.

Union soldiers moved into the centre of the crater, instead of pushing through at its edges. With no way up the crater's banks, they became sitting targets for the Confederate soldiers who'd rallied above.

Some 1,500 Confederate soldiers and more than 4,000 Union soldiers were killed, wounded or captured during what Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant called "the saddest affair I have witnessed in this war."

Union Capt. John Norris wrote about the battle in his pocket diary: "Cannoning and musketering terrible. Held their lines for several hours, when the enemy made a charge and retook part of their works and I together with a number of officers and men was taken prisoner."

John W. Beaton of the 41st Virginia Regiment took Norris, of the 112th Pennsylvania, into custody and, as was the tradition, seized his horse and sword.

Over the next six months, the two foes became friends, before Norris was sent to a prison camp farther south.

"My great-grandfather more or less had control of him until he, Norris,was transferred to South Carolina," Beaton said.

When the Civil War ended in April 1865,the two men went their separate ways, but Beaton didn't forget his friend. He wanted to give Norris his sword back.

"For the next 37 years, he looked for Capt. Norris in order to return the sword to him no luck," said the great-grandson. "He went everywhere, posted notices, wrote letters, inquired, but no luck."

A break came in 1902, when John W. Beaton gave the sword to his son-in-law, Edwin Rorebeck, in hopes he could find Norris.

Rorebeck was working at the Treasury Department in Washington and by coincidence, so was Calvin Norris, John's son.

Finally, a connection was made, although it was too late for a reunion of the two Civil War veterans. Norris had died in 1868.

Still, since Norris's family had been found, a meeting was organized to return the sword.

John W. Beaton travelled from his Virginia home to Washington and gave the sword to Calvin Norris.

In return Norris presented Beaton with a gift of appreciation an ebony cane with a gold top.

"Engraved with the circumstances of his father's capture by my great-grandfather," Beaton's great-grandson said. "It's engraved in terms of time, what Capt. John W. did and the date of the battle."

On the panels of the stem, near the gold top, are the names of the two players, John W. Beaton and John Norris, their former outfits, "and the fact that the cane was presented to my great-grandfather by the son of Calvin Norris in gratitude for the return of the sword."

The exchange was even documented in the newspapers, includingthe Washington Post.

"Mr. Norris, of course, was delighted," the Post said of the return of John Norris's sword. "Inquiries had often been made by relatives and others about the sword and he never expected to see it again."

Years later, from his Uncle Winky, John Beaton inherited a picture of his great-grandfather holding the black cane.

But the cane itself was no longer in the family. Sometime after 1902, it disappeared.

Meanwhile, in California

Across the continent, James Dillon, a police officer for the Los Angeles Police Departmentbought a house in Pasadena in 1972.

He and his wife were cleaning up the basement of the colonial house built in the 1920s, sorting through debris in the basement, when Dillon found something shiny.

"The more I looked at it, the more I cleaned it, the more it revealed to me that it actually had a gold oh, what do I want to say, it was a gold knob on a black ebony cane," said Dillon.

The engraving on the cane referred to the Battle of the Crater.

"The prior residents of the home had no idea where it came from, so I didn't know what to do with it, so I just kept it, " Dillon said.

He did take it to an antique dealer and turned down an offer of $50. He had no interest in the Civil War but thought he might donate it to a museum someday.

After retiring, Dillon became friends with a retired police officer, Bob Thomas, from Anaheim, Calif. And Thomas was fascinated by the Civil War.

One day, Dillon pulled out the ebony cane he'd found in the basement.

"He showed it to me and wanted to know if I wanted it, what he should do with it," said Thomas, who didn't take the cane that day.

Two years later, Dillon asked Thomas to try to find the descendants of John W. Beaton, so he could return the cane.

Thomas remembers the day Dillon asked him to start the search.

"You know, 'You're always on the computer, you're somewhat computer savvy and see what you can do.'"

In September 2011, Thomas went online, looking for sites that helped find artifacts and Civil War associations.

He found a place to start and sent an email: "I have knowledge of a cane dated 1902presented to a Captain John W. Beaton, trying to give same to a family member if you have any information, it would be appreciated."

The next day, Thomas received a note online from someone named Daryl, who said he might be able to help but would need another day. About an hour and a half later, Thomas received this note: "Bob, didn't take as long as I thought."

Daryl said he had an email from a John Beaton, who had a photo of Capt. Beaton holding a cane, presented to him by the family of Union army Capt. John Norris, who surrendered his sword at the Battle of the Crater.

"I was very, very shocked and surprised that I got such a quick response," Thomas said.

By coincidence, John Beaton had been on a genealogical site in August 2011 and responded to someone requesting information about Capt. John W. Beaton. That's why the connection was made so quickly.

Next, emails were exchanged and John Beaton in Island View called James Dillon in California.

"Ecstatic he couldn't believe it," said Dillon. "At first I thought, he thought I was, you know, pulling his leg, but I said 'I have no idea about, you know, the history of this cane, but I've got it and if it belongs to you or someone in your family member, you're more than happy to have it."

The cane was sent by courier to Island View. Beaton still remembers its arrival onOct. 12, 2011.

"It was a Wednesday, my wife broke down in tears when UPS came in the driveway with it," said Beaton.

James Dillon, a veteran of the Vietnam War, said the experience, touching, "pretty cool," and an honour.

"I know the importance of memorabilia and the relationship with comrades, you know,members that you actually fought with," he said.

"It's something I really appreciate and I was more than happy to do it for him, and he was more than gracious. Like I say, he was almost in tears when I spoke to him."

The kindness shown by Thomas and Dillon echoes the kindness of John W. Beaton in giving the sword back to the Norris family in 1902.

"People are inherently kind," Beaton said. "They knew the cane belonged to somebody and they wanted to return it It's an act of kindness, just like it was an act of kindness my great-grandfather showed in returning the sword."

During his genealogical investigations online, John Beaton also connected with descendants of Capt. Norris and discovered his great-great-granddaughter still has the sword. Sheused it to cut her wedding cake.

Beaton, whose forebears wound up in New Brunswick after one of them married a Saint John woman, is grateful to Dillon and Thomas for returning the cane. He sent books by New Brunswick authors to his new friends in California.

"I look back on this and I say that he's American, I'm Canadian we live on opposite sides of the continent and I've often thought, and this proves the fact that borders may separate nations but not people and their gesture is evidence of that.

"War may separate people but not in this case."

The ebony cane is back in the Beaton family and displayed underneath the photograph of John W. Beaton.

"It's remarkable that something that happened in 1864 closed the circle in 2011," his great-grandson said.

The cane will remain in the family and so will the story of the sword, the cane and the kindness that connected families in different countries, on opposite sides of the continent and opposite sides in the Civil War.