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August 6th, 2013, 08:31 PM #1
My, how times have changed since the Spanish-American War
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_SpringfieldLast edited by bamboomaster; August 7th, 2013 at 06:39 AM.
- bamboomaster
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August 6th, 2013, 09:30 PM #2
Re: My, how times have changed since the Spanish-American War
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!
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August 6th, 2013, 09:51 PM #3
Re: My, how times have changed since the Spanish-American War
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!...and they have a plan...
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August 7th, 2013, 09:35 AM #4
Re: My, how times have changed since the Spanish-American War
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."Cives Arma Ferant"
"I know I'm not James Bond, that's why I don't keep a loaded gun under the pillow, or bang Russian spies on a regular basis." - GunLawyer001
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August 8th, 2013, 01:31 PM #5
Re: My, how times have changed since the Spanish-American War
...and they have a plan...
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August 10th, 2013, 01:25 AM #6
Re: My, how times have changed since the Spanish-American War
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?
"You can't stop insane people from doing insane things by passing insane laws--that's insane!" -- Penn Jillette
"To my mind it is wholly irresponsible to go into the world incapable of preventing violence, injury, crime, and death. How feeble is the mindset to accept defenselessness. How unnatural. How cheap. How cowardly. How pathetic." -- Ted Nugent
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August 11th, 2013, 06:46 PM #7Grand Member
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Re: My, how times have changed since the Spanish-American War
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.aspAmerican by BIRTH, Infidel by CHOICE
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August 11th, 2013, 09:58 PM #8
Re: My, how times have changed since the Spanish-American War
"Cives Arma Ferant"
"I know I'm not James Bond, that's why I don't keep a loaded gun under the pillow, or bang Russian spies on a regular basis." - GunLawyer001
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August 12th, 2013, 11:45 AM #9Grand Member
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Re: My, how times have changed since the Spanish-American War
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.It is you. You have all the weapons that you need. Now fight. --Sucker Punch
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August 12th, 2013, 08:28 PM #10
Re: My, how times have changed since the Spanish-American War
"Cives Arma Ferant"
"I know I'm not James Bond, that's why I don't keep a loaded gun under the pillow, or bang Russian spies on a regular basis." - GunLawyer001
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