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 8 items.
Fragments of the Star Spangled Banner
- Description
- Physical Description
- Three wool bunting fragments with raveled edges.
- Specific History
- These three fragments were cut from the flag that flew from Fort McHenry in 1814. This was the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner. In 1880 the fragments were presented to William Carter by Eben Appleton, the grandson of the commander of Fort McHenry. Carter, a local historian, carried the Star Spangled Banner in a parade during Baltimore’s Sesquicentennial Celebration on 13 October 1880. As the flag was being packed for shipment to New York, Appleton cut three pieces and gave them to Carter. Carter’s daughter gave them to the Maryland Historical Society who donated them to the Smithsonian.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1814
- associated date
- 1880 - 1889
- maker
- Pickersgill, Mary
- ID Number
- AF*35573
- catalog number
- 35573
- accession number
- 93535
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Creek War Flag
- Description
- Physical Description
- Cream-colored silk, with thirteen stars above an eagle. Just inside the border is an embroidered floral pattern of pink roses, green leaves, and gold-brown stems. Near the lower border is the motto "God Armeth The Patriot."
- Specific History
- Captain David Deaderick is credited with risking his life in the thick of combat to save this flag when it fell from the hands of a wounded standard bearer.
- General History
- The Creek War began on August 30, 1813, when a faction of Creek known as the Red Sticks attacked a contingent of 553 American settlers at Lake Tensaw, Alabama, north of Mobile. The British were believed to be a main ally of the Indians. In response to the Alabama attack, Jackson led 5,000 militiamen in the destruction of two Creek villages, Tallasahatchee and Talladega. The fighting lasted into the next year, culminating in Jackson’s troops destroying the Creek defenses at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
- On March 27, 1814 the battle ended with 800 Creek warriors killed and 500 women and children captured. On August 9, 1814, Major General Andrew Jackson signed the Treaty of Fort Jackson ending the Creek War. The agreement provided for the surrender of twenty-three million acres of Creek land to the United States. This vast territory encompassed more than half of present-day Alabama and part of southern Georgia.
- date made
- 1813
- used date
- 1813
- ID Number
- AF*35696
- catalog number
- 35696
- accession number
- 100522
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Marvin E. Hall]
- Date
- 1800s
- Company Name
- Marvin E. Hall
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_18417
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Smith Mfg. Co. (NY)]
- Date
- 1800s
- Company Name
- Smith Mfg. Co. (NY)
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_20469
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from William Read & Sons]
- Date
- 1800s
- Company Name
- William Read & Sons
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_9575
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Clarence A. Hart]
- Date
- 1800s
- Company Name
- Clarence A. Hart
- Related companies
- Clarence A. Hart & Co. ; Wm. G. Mintzer ;
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_19432
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Builders Iron Foundry]
- Date
- 1800s
- Company Name
- Builders Iron Foundry
- Related companies
- Builders-Providence Inc. (Div.) ; see record for Omega Machine Co. (div.)
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_9186
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from B. Pasquale Co.]
- Date range
- 1800s-1900s
- Variant company name
- established 1854
- Company Name
- B. Pasquale Co.
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_29026
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries