Stonewall Jackson's sword

[wolfie]

Here's a puzzle that I've seen a number of times. Each time, however, while the "solution" did give enough information to prove the artifact was a fake, it always contained a serious error. Let's see if you guys can figure out how the expert knew it was a fake, and avoid the error that always seems to accompany this puzzle.

A museum hires an expert to evaluate a sword that someone is offering to sell them. The sword bears the engraving "Presented to General Thomas Johnathan Jackson on September 3, 1861, in recognition of his standing like a stone wall at the first battle of Bull Run". Needless to say, a sword which had actually been owned by a famous general would be an extremely valuable artifact, but the museum does not want to be stuck with a forgery.

Less than a minute after being handed the sword, the expert proclaims "Someone ruined a perfectly good Dog River by turning it into a bad forgery".

How did the expert know that the sword was a fake?

[csquared]

Jackson was promoted to Major General on October 7, 1861

ETA:
One other thing I forgot, Southerns refer to the battle as First Manassas. only a Yankee (like myself) would call it Bull Run.

ETA2:
It wasn't called the First Battle of Bull Run until AFTER the Second Battle of Bull Run, August 28, 1862.

[Silvercat]

They wouldn't be calling it 'the first battle of Bull Run' before the second one happened.

[csquared]

Strike my first point. He became a Brigadier General on July 17, 1961.

[dalesys]

... 1961.

Posthumous, obviously.

[MoonCat]

"Johnathan" is misspelled. Should be "Jonathan." But I think Silvercat hit the main point that's wrong.

[Crossbow]

Two points to tell it's fake.

The classic riddle solution is as Silvercat said. The Second Battle of Bull Run wasn't fought until August 1862, so there would be no reason to call it the "First" battle yet.


Almost as big an error, though, is that the Confederate forces never called it the "First Battle of Bull Run". They always referred to it as "First Manassas." Only the Union forces called it "Bull Run."

So Silvercat and csquared both hit it on the head.

[wolfie]

Csquared got it - both parts. Nothing (or nobody) becomes "the first" until there is a second. This puzzle is similar to one about a forged letter ostensibly signed by Elizabeth I Regent - the "Petticoat Pirate", Henry VIII's daughter, became Queen Elizabeth the First in 1952 (at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth the Second).

What the published accounts missed is that many battles in the U.S. Civil War were known by 2 names - the South referred to a battle by the name of a nearby community, while (unless the battle took place in the town itself, such as the siege of Vicksburg) the North referred to it by the name of a nearby body of water. Since Bull Run is a creek near Manassas VA, and Jackson was a Confederate general, a legitimate artifact would have referred to the Battle of Manassas (or, if inscribed after the second battle, would have referred to the First Battle of Manassas). Clearly the books presenting this puzzle were written by Yankees.

[BroSCFischer]

This was actually in an Encyclopedia Brown book.

Bugs Meany is trying to convince another kid that the sword is genuine, and Leroy (Encyclopedia) Brown provides the evidence that it is not.

SC

[Dave1982]

Damnit, BroSCFischer beat me to the punch. I was going to point out that this was in an Encyclopedia Brown book as well. Hewck I knew what the answer was before I even saw the words "First Battle" in the OP.

[wolfie]

This was actually in an Encyclopedia Brown book.

Bugs Meany is trying to convince another kid that the sword is genuine, and Leroy (Encyclopedia) Brown provides the evidence that it is not.

SC

Can't recall if it was Encyclopedia Brown where I saw it, or elsewhere, but the printed source made no mention of the 2 names for the battle.

I guess that in this series of books, at least, Leroy Brown is the baddest detective in the whole damn town.