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.
George Washington's Battle Sword and Scabbard
- Description
- Physical Description
- Hanger-type sword of forged steel with grooved blade. Grip of green-dyed ivory with silver strip decoration. Leather scabbard with silver trim.
- Specific History
- George Washington wore this simple hanger as his battle sword while serving as commander of the Continental army during the Revolutionary War. Made in Fishkill, New York, by John Bailey, an immigrant cutler from Sheffield, England, the sword has a slightly curved, grooved steel blade, silver-mounted cross guard and pommel, and a green ivory grip.
- The sword was inherited by Washington’s nephew, Samuel T. Washington, an army captain. In his will, Washington admonished his nephew to draw the sword only "in self-defense or in the defense of [the] country and its rights.” Samuel's son donated the sword to the United States government in 1843.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1765
- date made
- ca 1778
- associated person
- Washington, George
- maker
- Bailey, John
- ID Number
- AF*32010
- catalog number
- 32010
- accession number
- 68016
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Andrew Jackson's Sword and Scabbard
- Description
- Physical Description
- Forged steel with metal scabbard.
- Specific History
- Andrew Jackson carried this sword and scabbard while commanding the American forces, which included Tennessee militia, U.S. regulars, and Cherokee, Choctaw, and Southern Creek Indians during the Creek War in the War of 1812.
- 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- used date
- 1812
- associated person
- Jackson, Andrew
- ID Number
- AF*32012
- catalog number
- 32012
- accession number
- 68016
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center