WANTED- Spanish-American War Identified arms

For anything related to Trapdoor era U.S. martial arms collecting.

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John S.
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WANTED- Spanish-American War Identified arms

Post by John S. »

Wanted- longarms, handguns, edged weapons or related items used by U.S. forces or the enemy with connections to specific units or individuals. SRS listed items especially, but unit marked arms also wanted.

Everything from rifles salvaged from USS Maine, arms of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry ("Rough Riders") to arms used by state volunteer forces who enlisted, went to stateside camps and were discharged without ever leaving the U.S. Arms from the Philippine Insurrection also wanted.
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Dick Hosmer
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Re: WANTED- Spanish-American War Identified arms

Post by Dick Hosmer »

Boxer Rebellion??
John S.
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Re: WANTED- Spanish-American War Identified arms

Post by John S. »

Boxer Rebellion? Sure, that is pretty close, so I'd like some ID'd guns from that too. Not the same as "Under the starry flag, civilizing with a Krag" in the Philippines, but same general era, and off in the same general part of the world. A bit newer than trapdoors, but still collectible.

It is also a forgotten conflict where U.S. and several of our foreign friends fought our way into the Chinese capitol, and then kept a lot of U.S. troops in Peking/Beijing as embassy guards for the next several decades, as well as larger forces manning the port controlling access (Tientsin and Chinwangtao).
And, we had gunboats patrolling major rivers in China, some several hundred miles from the coast, to protect American and allied business interests and missionaries. Sort of similar to a foreign nation having gunboats up the Mississippi and Missouri as far as Bismarck, ND. Although most U.S. forces withdrew around the start of WW2, final withdrawal was not until 1946-47.

This is not intended to be a political discussion, but background of a period few people know much about. Of course, back then China was not a unified nation, but a vast geographic region with very many local warlords and armed thugs ruling their own little plot of ground against all the other warlords and an occasional emissary from far away Peking claiming they were in charge. Americans really need to understand our own history, especially regarding China, to understand the Chinese view of the United States today.

For more reading on the post Boxer period: Charles Finney- The Old China Hands (15th Infantry in the interwar period); Richard McKenna- Sand Pebbles (fiction but pretty solid historical foundation); a few things by ADM Kep Tolley (Naval matters); or John Thomason (great USMC story teller and artist).
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Dick Hosmer
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Re: WANTED- Spanish-American War Identified arms

Post by Dick Hosmer »

I have a documented Krag carbine, which I MIGHT part with, for big bucks. Maybe not RR money, but close . . .
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