Military - Overview
The Museum's superb military collections document the history of the men and women of the armed forces of the United States. The collections include ordnance, firearms, and swords; uniforms and insignia; national and military flags and banners; and many other objects.
The strength of the collections lies in their enormous depth. Some 3,000 military small arms and 2,400 civilian firearms document the mechanical and technological history of the infantryman's weapons from the beginning of the gunpowder era to the present. Among the 4,000 swords and knives in the collection are many spectacular presentation pieces. The collections also include Civil War era telegraph equipment, home front artifacts from both world wars, early computers such as ENIAC, Whirlwind, and Sage, and materials carried at antiwar demonstrations.
"Military - Overview" showing 2 items.
Chaumont HQ Battle Map
- Description
- Gen. John J. Pershing commanded the American Expeditionary Force in World War I. When he arrived in France, he established his headquarters at Chaumont, where his war room included this large situation map. During the course of operations, the map was regularly replaced by another map peeled from a block of identical maps. Identical updated maps were distributed to all subordinate commands, allowing a degree of coordination never before achieved. This map sheet shows troop dispositions on the Western Front the day the war ended, November 11, 1918.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- associated date
- 1918
- user
- Pershing, John J.
- American Expeditionary Force
- ID Number
- AF*35016
- catalog number
- 35016
- accession number
- 182935
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
General Pershing Entering St. Mihiel
- Description
- Charcoal sketch with ink wash. The work depicts General Pershing greeting crowds of people in a square in Saint-Mihiel, France. Behind the general is a line of French soldiers, both mounted and on foot, in formation.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-09
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- date depicted in sketch
- 1918-09-13
- associated person
- War Department
- depicted
- Pershing, John J.
- artist
- Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
- ID Number
- AF*25828
- catalog number
- 25828
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center