Bass Trombone Wauchope: Oliver, Saratoga, Springfield Armory

A weekend spent in Saratoga Springs, visiting grandson Oliver, in college at Skidmore. We planned to see the total eclipse at Ken's cabin in upper Vermont, but was told the driveway was impassable, so came back home on Sunday, and on a whim stopped at a military arms collection housed at the Springfield Arsenal, one of the most famous manufacturer of weapons for the US military.

We had a delightful time with Oliver; we met for dinner at Druther's on Friday night, I met him for breakfast at the Country Corner cafe, and then Susan joined us for a tour.

This is the New York State Military Museum, with exhibits throughout US history with
emphasis on New York state's contributions. Small, but very much worth the visit.

And a quick stop at the Batcheller Mansion, one of the more
extravagant houses in Saratoga, and unfortunately closed for repair.

Back to school for Oliver and homework, and the to dinner at Wheatfields. Then Sunday AM I met Oliver again for breakfast, Country Corner, and then I took off to visit the Saratoga Battlefield while Susan packed for the trip home.

On the way to the battlefield, I came across a flock of Common Mergansers

And then, a rare sighting, a American Kestrel, dining on a Killdeer.
I saw him next to the road, backed up, but he flew across a field and landed
quite a ways away.

A British canon from the battle.

"The Assault on the Breyman Redoubt"
3D diorama at the visitor center.
(The American took the redoubt)

Officer's pistol from the battle

"Brown Bess" standard issue rifle for the British infantry

Looking towards the battlefield. Susan and I will have to come back and take the tour.

On the way back on the Mass Pike, I saw signs advertising the Springfield Armory Museum, a
National Park site. The museum holds thousands of weapons from all eras and countries, and the huge collection on exhibit was only 11% of what the museum has in storage.

Some of the historic weapons produced at the Springfield armory include the M1795 flintlock for the Continental Army, the M1861 for the Union Army; the very famously accurate M1903, of which 265,620 were produced during WW1; The Krag-Jorgensen, present during the Spanish-American war, and considered the smoothest bolt-action rifle ever made; the M1 Garand, developed by John Garand,
incredibly reliable, and produced in larger numbers than any other rifle in US history: 4.5 million; and finally the M14, produced from 1959-until 1964.

M1795

M1895 Krag-Jorgensen

Susan and our docent and guide, Carl, terrific and insanely knowledgeable
In the case, on the left, a SpringfieldM3, a Garand, and a M14.

Springfield M3 and a Garand

The Armory also made thousands of the M1911 45 caliber pistol

A soldier loading a experimental Garand, Cal. .276
April 29, 1930

Working on the line, Mrs. P. Recor (mother of 18 children)(!).
April 1942

The original Blanchard Lathe was significant in industrial history, as the first machine able to
reproduce exact duplication of irregular shapes, such as gun stocks.

Another innovation, cutting M1911 pistol frames from metal stock rather than
forging them.

The stages of making an M14 stock. The M14 replace by the M16, with a plastic stock,
and reportedly hated by US troops in Viet Nam, but much cheaper to make.

A gunstock on the lathe mentioned earlier

An arial view of the armory

This gentleman joined the army in 1917, and was issued a Springfield M1903 with the serial number one; when he arrived in France, it was taken away from him, and sent to the troops on the front line, and he was issued an Enfield, which he disliked. Many years later, touring the Armory, he found the serial number one weapon in the collection.

The top weapon was in the arms of a sentry on duty (confederate) when it was struck by lighting!
The sentry survived, and the paper cartridge in the barrel did not explode (shown on the right in the display case).

In the remarkable collection of machine guns, a early Gatling gun.

The German M42 machine gun, one of the most feared weapons of WW2. With a rate of fire of
1200 rounds per minute (or 20 per second) it was reported to sound like a zipper.