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September 6, 2023
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Hello all, thank you for allowing me to join the forum.
I’m trying to find out where to look for information on a Winchester rifle, Model 1895 that may have been gifted by Roosevelt to 12 select members of the Gatlin gun detachment 5th Army corps at Santiago.
I searched the eBook “History of the Gatling Gun Detachment, Fifth Army Corps, at Santiago” and could not find mention of this event.
Would getting a letter from Winchester provide any info other than the production date of the rifle?
Thanks for any ideas.
Tmax.
April 15, 2005
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Thad Deye said
Would getting a letter from Winchester provide any info other than the production date of the rifle?
Yes and No. Yes, in that it will provide the original “as built’ configuration of the Winchester in question, but NO, it will not provide any information concerning who or where the gun was sold to.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
November 1, 2013
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Surprised there’s such a thing as the e-book you found! Might find mention of this incident in one of TR’s bios–assuming it really happened, about which I’m rather skeptical, if there’s no record of it in the e-book. I’ve read several TR bios but never heard of this story. There’s a TR Memorial Assn you might contact, & also the Sagamore Hill National Park, but I”d say both are very long shots.
November 7, 2015
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Sounds like a great story but in today’s market it would take some pretty solid provenance to convince a serious collector. With all that has been written by and about TR and his adventures down south I have little doubt that a gift like this would have been documented.
Mike
March 15, 2020
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wouldn’t Winchester records show a shipment of 12 1895 rifles to Roosevelt or some governmental agency?
November 7, 2015
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86Win said
wouldn’t Winchester records show a shipment of 12 1895 rifles to Roosevelt or some governmental agency?
Ledger would not but that doesn’t preclude other possible records. Research of the ledger may turn up a group of rifles shipped on the same order but there’s no guarantee TR ordered them from the factory, he may have purchased them from dealers. McCracken library would be a good place to start, much of the archives can be searched online. A large portion of company records have been lost over the years and some are in private hands. Brad Dunbar spent some time in the library researching the 1895, maybe he can shed some light on what records of this event may exist there.
Mike
November 1, 2013
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TR’s family was “well off,” but by no means in the Astor or Vanderbilt category of wealth, & the cost of 12 ’95s was not insignificant. So I’m wondering what service the Gatling gun detachment provided that would have warranted this extravagance?
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