In April 1861, Bavarian immigrant Louis Froelich began manufacturing uniform buttons in Wilmington for North Carolina soldiers. With his Hungarian partner Col. Bela Estvan, he operated his first arms factory for the Confederacy from November 1861 until March 1862, when the partnership was dissolved. Froelich continued alone until yellow fever closed the armory in September, when he bought 2.5 acres here from Alsa Southerland. Although he reopened the Wilmington facility in November, a fire closed it for good the next month. In March 1863, Froelich moved here and opened the Kenansville armory by May. On July 4, however, Lt. Col. George W. Lewis’ 3rd New York Cavalry burned it down while raiding Confederate lines of communication. Froelich rebuilt it and continued producing military equipment, forming a partnership with Jacob H.N. Cornehlson in January 1864. The armory is last known to have operated that June. After the war, Froelich turned to agriculture, selling scuppernong wine and other farm products, later moved to Halifax County, and died in 1873. The Kenansville Sword, identified by the letters CSA in the hand guard, is the best known of the Froelich swords and the only one clearly identifiable as having been produced by him; the few that survive are in museums and private collections, and Liberty Hall Plantation in Kenansville displays a Froelich sword once owned by Col. Thomas Kenan.