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 3 items.
USS Carondolet Model
- Description
- Physical Description
- Wooden model with plastic parts.
- Specific History
- Model built to the plans of William Geoghagen.
- General History
- USS Carondolet was a 512-ton ironclad gunboat in the style of the Cairo. It was built in Saint Louis and commissioned in January 1862. Within a month it had contributed to the capture of both Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. The Carondolet fought in more engagements than any ship until World War II, including the capture of a Confederate fortress at Island Number Ten, operations against Fort Pillow, near Memphis, and a major campaign against Vicksburg, Mississippi. The only real opposition the Carondolet faced was in the Yazoo River when it engaged the Confederate ironclad CSS Arkansas. On July 15, 1862, the Carondolet was severely damaged by the Arkansas. After repairs, the Carondolet and the other ships of the army’s Western Gunboat Flotilla were transferred to the U.S. Navy. It was decommissioned in 1865.
- Date made
- 1961
- associated date
- 1862
- decommissioning
- 1865
- made original plans
- Geoghegan, William Earle
- maker
- Tragle, Thomas E.
- ID Number
- AF*58945N
- catalog number
- 58945-N
- accession number
- 241885
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Lambert Engineering Co.]
- Date
- 1900s
- Company Name
- Lambert Engineering Co.
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_25558
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Mercantile Sales Co.]
- Date
- 1900s
- Company Name
- Mercantile Sales Co.
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_30730
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries