Military
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.
4,913
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Model 1872
- Location
- Currently not on view
- used date
- 1872 -
- wearer
- Brady, Major
- ID Number
- 1978.0971.11
- accession number
- 1978.0971
- catalog number
- 1978.0971.11
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Elgin Patent Cutlass Pistol
- Description
- Physical Description:
- This .54 caliber U.S. Navy Elgin patent percussion cutlass pistol was made by C.B. Allen of Springfield, Massachusetts. It still has its original scabbard. It is a boxlock type frame with a five inch octagonal barrel. There is an 11” Bowie type blade underneath.
- On the left side of the pistol, “C B ALLEN/SPRINGFIELD/MASS” is stamped. The barrel is stamped “ELGINS/PATENT”.
- History:
- C. B Allen was the other manufacturer besides Morrill, Mossman and Blair that created cutlass pistols because of the spreading popularity of the Bowie Knife.
- James Bowie became a folk hero because of his reckless nature, contribution to the Texas Revolution and his death at the Alamo, but it was the Sandbar Fight in 1827 that made Bowie famous. After being shot and stabbed, Bowie killed Norris Wright, the Sheriff of Rapides Parish with a large knife that came to be known as the Bowie Knife.
- The knife became legend and George Elgin patented the Bowie Knife on July 5, 1837. With this patent, Allen produced this type of pistol. It was the first percussion handgun officially used by the U.S. military and the only knife pistol used by an U.S. military service. There were only 150 produced on Navy Contract – some being used by the Wilkes-South Sea Expedition.
- References:
- Flayderman, Norm. Flayderman’s Guide to Antique American Firearms…and their Values, Gun Digest Books, Iola, 2007. 9th edition.
- Gardner, Robert E. Col. Small Arms Makers: A Directory of Fabricators of Firearms, Edged Weapons, Crossbows and Polearms, Crown Publishers Inc, New York: 1963, p. 2.
- Texas State Historical Society. “Bowie, James,” The Texas State Historical Association. < www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbo45>.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1838
- associated
- Wilkes, Charles
- maker
- Allen, C. B.
- ID Number
- 1985.0783.17
- accession number
- 1985.0783
- catalog number
- 1985.0783.17
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Plate 25. Pontoon Bridge, Across the Potomac at Berlin
- Description
- Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by Alexander Gardner, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.
- Berlin is a quiet little village on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, twelve miles from Point of Rocks. A fine bridge connected it with the Virginia shore until June, 1861, when the Confederates sacrificed it to the spirit of destruction that ruined Harper's Ferry and laid waste the pleasant places of the border. Its inhabitants, numbering about five hundred, are dependent principally for support upon the business of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, which passes the place, and during the war, from the interruption of navigation necessarily suffered much hardship. The bivouac of the Army of the Potomac in its vicinity in 1862 first introduced its name to the country, and it has fallen again into the partial oblivion that has hidden much more pretentious villages. Here McClellan had his headquarters after the battle of Antietam, and the troops crossed into Virginia, marching down through London to Rectortown and Warrenton, and thence to Fredericksburg.
- The Photograph only shows the village and a small portion of the Maryland shore, from which no adequate impression can be formed of the beauty of the surrounding scenery. The river at this point is obstructed by scattered rocks, and with the wooded hills that slope precipitously to the water's edge, forms one of the most charming pictures of the Potomac. Game and fish abound, many objects of interest are close at hand, and the summer fugitive from the ills of city life finds here a pleasant halting place in his journeyings for recreation.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1862-11
- maker
- Gardner, Alexander
- ID Number
- 1986.0711.0334.25
- accession number
- 1986.0711
- catalog number
- 1986.0711.0334.25
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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St George Ribbon
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1770
- associated person
- Catherine the Great
- ID Number
- NU.NU70299
- catalog number
- NU70299
- accession number
- 245705
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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medal
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- NU.NU84200
- catalog number
- NU84200
- accession number
- 257688
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
medal
- Location
- Currently not on view
- associated person
- Louis XVIII King of France
- ID Number
- NU.NU84298
- catalog number
- NU84298
- accession number
- 257688
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Shoshone Range, S.E. of camp, 1943
- Description
- Pencil sketch of Shoshone mountain range.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1943
- ID Number
- 2008.0105.02.01
- accession number
- 2008.0105
- catalog number
- 2008.0105.02.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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drawing, brown charcoal, two Japanese prison barracks with men doing laundry, unknown camp, 1943
- Description
- Brown charcoal sketch of Heart Mountain Relocation Center barracks.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1943
- ID Number
- 2008.0105.02.04
- accession number
- 2008.0105
- catalog number
- 2008.0105.02.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Soldat Belge
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1914-1919
- 1914
- associated date
- 1914 - 1918
- 1914
- ID Number
- ZZ.RSN82658W73
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Fort Marion
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1920s
- maker
- Keystone View Company
- ID Number
- 2010.0182.0084
- catalog number
- 2010.0182.0084
- accession number
- 2010.0182
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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badge, press
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1988
- wearer
- Diaz-Balart, Jose
- issuing authority
- U.S. Department of Defense
- ID Number
- 2016.0336.06
- accession number
- 2016.0336
- catalog number
- 2016.0336.06
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Portrait of Lance Corporal LeAnne Neal, U.S. Marine Corps
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 2010
- photographer
- Pflaeging, Sascha
- ID Number
- 2012.0167.24
- accession number
- 2012.0167
- catalog number
- 2012.0167.24
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Army Combat Uniform - Fighting Load Carrier
- Description
- Army Combat Uniform (ACU) worn by SGT Joseph Guenther while serving with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan as a forward observer in 2007-2008 and 2009-2010. The ACU is the current combat uniform worn by the United States Army, instituted in 2006 to succeed the Battle Dress Uniform (BDU). Both the camouflage pattern and the design of the ACU are different from the BDU. The camouflage pattern, known as "Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP),” is a mixture of tan, grey and green.
- The components of the Army Combat Uniform are: coat, trousers, headgear, t-shirt and footwear. The coat features a Mandarin collar, zip front with velcro reinforcement, shoulder pockets, chest pockets and elbow pad pouches; velcro above chest pockets for insignia. The trousers have a drawstring waist, cargo pockets and ankle drawstrings. The trousers are worn with a two-inch nylon web belt and have pouches for knee pad inserts. The t-shirt worn under the coat is sand-colored. Tan Army Combat boots and an Advanced Combat Helmet complete the uniform shown here.
- Also shown is a Fighting Load Carrier (FLC) vest with three magazine pouches and one canteen pouch, part of the MOLLE (Modular Lightweight Load-Carrying Equipment) System used by the U.S. Army and the Marines. The vest is designed to accommodate various pouch configurations according to usage: Riflemen, SAW gunners, Medics, to name a few. The H-Harness back is designed to allow air circulation, reducing heat buildup.
- Location
- Currently on loan
- wearer
- Guenther, Joseph
- ID Number
- 2011.0267.03
- accession number
- 2011.0267
- catalog number
- 2011.0267.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Portrait of Staff Sergeant Laweeda Blash, U.S. Army
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 2010
- photographer
- Pflaeging, Sascha
- ID Number
- 2012.0167.02
- accession number
- 2012.0167
- catalog number
- 2012.0167.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Portrait of Sergeant Katharine Broome, Virginia Army National Guard
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 2010
- photographer
- Pflaeging, Sascha
- ID Number
- 2012.0167.03
- accession number
- 2012.0167
- catalog number
- 2012.0167.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Portrait of Religious Program Specialist Second Class Rachel Doran, U.S. Navy Reserve
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 2010
- photographer
- Pflaeging, Sascha
- ID Number
- 2012.0167.09
- accession number
- 2012.0167
- catalog number
- 2012.0167.09
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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The American Volunteer, aka The American Soldier
- Description (Brief)
- black and white stereograph mounted on yellow cardstock; photograph by Butler; printed on verso "Photo. by Butler, Westerly. / James W. Pollett, Sculptor. / Antietam Colossal Granite Statue. / Sculptured at Batterson's Quarry, Westerly, R.I. / Weight, 30 Tons. Hight [sic], 21 1/2 Feet. Gun, 18Feet. Shoe, 3 Feet."; monument aka The American Volunteer, The American Soldier, Private Soldier Monument and nicknamed 'Old Simon'; image of a colossal statue of a Civil War Statue; man in military uniform standing next to statue; buildings in background
- date made
- ca 1876
- ID Number
- 2012.3033.0633
- nonaccession number
- 2012.3033
- catalog number
- 2012.3033.0633
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Portrait of a Soldier
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- last quarter of 1800s
- original artist
- Fortuny y Carbo, Mariano
- graphic artist
- Ferris, Stephen James
- Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
- ID Number
- GA.14442
- accession number
- 94830
- catalog number
- 14442
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Shell jacket
- Description
- As cloth grew scarce in the South, the long frock coat gave way to a shorter sack coat or more often to a shell jacket, which became standard issued in the Confederate Army. This jacket belonged to George William Ramsay of the 17th Regiment of the Virginia Infantry.
- associated date
- 1861-1865
- ID Number
- AF.67633M
- catalog number
- 67633M
- accession number
- 220760
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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M1 Garand Semiautomatic Rifle Springfield Armory
- Location
- Currently on loan
- associated person
- Garand, John C.
- maker
- Springfield Armory
- ID Number
- AF.67821M
- catalog number
- 67821M
- serial number
- 46023
- accession number
- 247765
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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