Community Corner
Dec 31, 1798 Cutting-Edge Teamwork Turns A Starr Into A Star
Middletown's Nathan Starr
On December 31, 1798, Middletown's Nathan Starr received a payment of $2,000 from the federal government for his delivery of 2,000 quality sabers, delivered well ahead of schedule thanks to his method of “piecing out” the manufacturing process to skilled local craftsmen.
As a major in the Continental Army, Nathan Starr forged and repaired weapons as part of his service during the Revolutionary War. After the war was over, Starr returned to his hometown of Middletown, Connecticut, and made a living manufacturing blades of a different sort: mostly agricultural tools like scythes for local farmers.
In 1798, however, Starr found himself once again forging tools of war, receiving the federal government’s first-ever contract for sword production. In response to increased international tensions between the young United States and the empires of Britain and France, the U.S. government sought Starr’s assistance in producing 2,000 cavalry sabers. In order to meet his deadline, Starr subcontracted out various stages of manufacturing to other local craftsmen — men he knew and with whose work he was familiar.