My, how times have changed since the Spanish-American War

[bamboomaster]

I thought it interesting to find some historical information pertaining to the Spanish-American War which occurred in 1898.

For those who may not be familiar with history - it indeed has a tendency to repeat itself. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish...93American_War)

"The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. American attacks on Spain's Pacific possessions led to involvement in the Philippine Revolution and ultimately to the Philippine–American War.[8]"

Anything like that happening around the world today as a result of American intervention?

But I digress.

Washington was so concerned about armaments at the state level since it was going to war that it sent inquiries via letters and telegrams to state attorney generals regarding the same. The interesting responses were summarized below. The Springfield rifles they're referring to at the time wasn't the recently adopted (in 1892) main battle rifle, the Krag-Jorgensen in .30-40 caliber and referred to in the summarized responses as "Krag", but the venerable single-shot Trapdoor Springfield in .45-70 caliber and referred to as "Springfield" in the responses.

"Records related to the Spanish-American War (3 inches (comment - "thick?")) Letters and telegrams from state AGs in response to call for troops for the Spanish-American War and COO inquiry regarding the status of the states, arms and equipment. Most contained request for uniforms and equipment and many did not give details on their arms. Notable documents:

SC-- Had 2047 Springfield rifles (Trapdoors)
ND-- Had 350 Springfields and wanted 300 more
WI-- Had 4000 Springfields and 100 .38 caliber Colts
FL-- Needed 220 Springfields and 75 more Colt .45 revolvers
MS-- Had only 300 serviceable Springfields
AR-- Had 700 Springfields
IA-- Asked for 1500 Springfields
TN-- Had 1050 Springfields
MO-- Had 1080 Springfields (models 73 and 84) and 23 Colt .45 revolvers
KY-- Had 800 Springfields, wanted 3000 more and 200 Krag carbines and pistols
PA-- Had 7500 Springfield rifles and 360 carbines
MN-- Had 1790 Springfield rifles and wanted 1810 more
CO-- Had 1058 Springfield rifles, 140 carbines and 140 Colt .38 revolvers. Wanted another 58 Springfield rifles.
LA-- Had 1500 Springfields

Capt. James Rockwell, Jr. was Chief Ordnance Officer, 1st Army Corp at Chickamauga. A Chief of Ordnance letter to him referred to a telegram from General Brooke dated 6/17/98 (comment - that's 1898) that had stated the condition of the volunteer regiment's arms was very poor and that 14189 of them were doubtful. The COO stated it would be impossible to replace all of them and cautioned Rockwell about condemning arms."

Sourced from http://www.trapdoorcollector.com/TDNews.html

Clearly there have been multiple policy shifts at the federal level within the last few decades that resulted in newer and better armaments that aside from Homeland Security, have now trickled down to many apparently militarized local PD's.

Yeah, I know: "That's an astute grasp of the obvious...."

Yet I am surprised at apparently how comfortable states felt with their arsenals at the time. Perhaps they were overly-cautious about stepping on Constitutional rights, wary of creating budget deficits, viewed themselves as public servants, recognized an armed society was a polite society, and trusted their citizens? One thing for certain - that was a time before the Federal Reserve was established in 1913 and 50-70 years later when federal and state deficit spending became the new "normal and customary".

Perhaps the only apparent boogeyman was the one that roamed the cornfields at night...

I'm sure forum members would benefit from reading your thoughtful remarks and how we got from there to here.

Other references consulted:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krag-J%C3%B8rgensen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapdoor_Springfield

[Jhaydeno]

A great post OP! It's a sad fact that today's big city police forces have far more firearms than 95% of the states did only 100 years ago!

[father-of-five]

The Spanish American War helped the military (the hard way) realize that they needed a better rifle. The Krag's cartridge feeding system is cool, but did not do well against the mauser-armed Spanish military.

It's a bit scary that the states' back-up weapon was basically the trapdoor springfield!

[PAMedic=F|A=]

What you have to keep in mind is the trapdoor replaced in the 1870 what we would consider better, more modern lever action rifles in tr United States Army.

That rifle was only 20/30 years old, not long in the Army inventory; and bought because that is what the Feds wanted.

This months American Rifleman talks about this rifle.

[father-of-five]

What you have to keep in mind is the trapdoor replaced in the 1870 what we would consider better, more modern lever action rifles in tr United States Army.

That rifle was only 20/30 years old, not long in the Army inventory; and bought because that is what the Feds wanted.

This months American Rifleman talks about this rifle.

I know. The government was apparently worried about the military wasting too much ammunition using lever action rifle. I think having a 15 round repeating rife in the middle of the 19th century was an amazing technological feat.

[Yellowfin]

We really should have annexed Cuba. Maybe if Raul Castro dies and we have a decent person in the White House next time we can offer them to join as a territory?

[markshere2]

our methods of dealing with jihadis have been far less effective,also.

Perishing and Alexander were quite effective, as was Pres. Reagan.

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/pershing.asp

[PAMedic=F|A=]

We really should have annexed Cuba. Maybe if Raul Castro dies and we have a decent person in the White House next time we can offer them to join as a territory?

Ironic you mention this. Many of the founders always assumed we would.

Check this out:
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
Jul 25th episode talks about it.

[TaePo]

The Spanish American War helped the military (the hard way) realize that they needed a better rifle. The Krag's cartridge feeding system is cool, but did not do well against the mauser-armed Spanish military.

It's a bit scary that the states' back-up weapon was basically the trapdoor springfield!

I happen to have a Krag. The magazine is interesting. You can open it on the side of the rifle and throw some cartridges in. As long as they are facing forward you are good. The problem is they didn't feed well as there is no mechanism pushing the cartridge or separating them to feed properly. You sometimes have to turn the rifle over so the mag is on the top and shake or tap it then work the bolt again. Not so fun if people are shooting at you!

One would think that each state would have enough weapons to field at least one division each. But I guess the population was much less then, too. At least PA had 7500.

[PAMedic=F|A=]

I happen to have a Krag. The magazine is interesting. You can open it on the side of the rifle and throw some cartridges in. As long as they are facing forward you are good. The problem is they didn't feed well as there is no mechanism pushing the cartridge or separating them to feed properly. You sometimes have to turn the rifle over so the mag is on the top and shake or tap it then work the bolt again. Not so fun if people are shooting at you!

One would think that each state would have enough weapons to field at least one division each. But I guess the population was much less then, too. At least PA had 7500.

PA is the only State that fields it's own Division NOW! (Bloody Bucket) In addition we have a sizable of State troops not part of the Div. (Pony patch); & the whole SARC team (heard, stars & horseshoes).