Book excerpt: This history documents a rare silver-hilted dog head sword of the Revolutionary War in New Jersey. It leads the reader on a search for its original owner and maker. Following a sometimes elusive trail, the author reconstructs the history of the sword that reveals the Revolution often as a civil war between patriots and loyalists. The story of the sword details its eighteenth-century social meanings, its craftsmanship, the symbolism of its designs, and its subsequent celebration in Fourth of July ceremonies, art, song, and popular literature. The sword as material culture exemplifies the complex and trying times of the American Revolution.