West Point 1899 .38 Special

[mikepriwer]

This revolver was shipped to a graduating senior at West Point, in June 1900.
It was shipped two days before graduation, so presumably it was a graduation
present. These pictures are my first experiment using the webcam in my
laptop - clearly I need some more practice !

This first picture shows the factory-installed butt swivel. The gun was
ordered this way. You can see that the swivel is installed right through
the 4-digit serial number. This happens when an already-completed gun was
taken out of inventory, and then the butt swivel is installed.

These next two pictures are of the entire gun - or as close as I could get !

The gun was shipped to Leroy Hillman, the graduating senior. He stayed with
the Army for the rest of his life, rising to the rank of Colonel in 1918.
His speciality was Ordnance and Artillery. His final station was Rock Island
Arsenal. He died in the great flue epidemic of 1918, at the age of 39.

Curiously, the age group suffereing the greatest mortality from that epidemic
was 20 to 40 .

This next picture is his graduation photo, taken from the yearbook :

And this last picture is the cover of the 1900 yearbook. This tradition was started
only four years earlier, with the class of 1896.

Later, Mike Priwer

 

[mikepriwer]

This revolver was shipped to a graduating senior at West Point, in June 1900.
It was shipped two days before graduation, so presumably it was a graduation
present. These pictures are my first experiment using the webcam in my
laptop - clearly I need some more practice !

This first picture shows the factory-installed butt swivel. The gun was
ordered this way. You can see that the swivel is installed right through
the 4-digit serial number. This happens when an already-completed gun was
taken out of inventory, and then the butt swivel is installed.

These next two pictures are of the entire gun - or as close as I could get !

The gun was shipped to Leroy Hillman, the graduating senior. He stayed with
the Army for the rest of his life, rising to the rank of Colonel in 1918.
His speciality was Ordnance and Artillery. His final station was Rock Island
Arsenal. He died in the great flue epidemic of 1918, at the age of 39.

Curiously, the age group suffereing the greatest mortality from that epidemic
was 20 to 40 .

This next picture is his graduation photo, taken from the yearbook :

And this last picture is the cover of the 1900 yearbook. This tradition was started
only four years earlier, with the class of 1896.

Later, Mike Priwer

 

[DWFAN]

Excellent Michael. From what I can make out it has the flat under the ejector rod? How did you come about the year book?
Paul

 

[larkworthy]

Nice gun! I am sure a West Point graduate would love to have that in their collection!! Hint, Hint!

Regards,

Lyle Larkworthy

 

[mikepriwer]

Paul

Yes - the barrel has the flat area, hanging down below the rounded portion
of the barrel. This was "standard" on all the lengths, and I think it
measures 1 1/4", or 1 1/8" . This gun has the 6 1/2" barrel, which was the
longest standard length. Some of the 6" barrels have a shorter flat, like
a bit over 1/2", which would suggest that a 6 1/2" had been cut to 6".
There are also some 6" guns that have no flat. I don't know what that suggests!

I don't have a copy of the book. I received a lot of help, from Lyle and from
researchers at the Academy, and they gave me the links to all the on-line
information. There is a pdf-version of the book, on-line, as well as a
jpg image of the cover. What you are seeing is that jpg image of the cover.

Lyle

I got the hint ! By the way, I spoke with Eric Archer today, and he
apparently has a copy of the 2000 yearbook. That year marked the centenial
year for the class of 1900, and the book contains information about the
1900 class.

Regards, Mike

 

[digi-shots]

Mike,

Great looking gun and a great history to go with it!

 

[mikepriwer]

To get some perspective on the era, here is one page from the 1903 yearbook.
Note the picture in the lower left corner :

Later, Mike Priwer

 

[gunbarrel]

Fascinating story. Sad, too. Here are some more notable West Point grads:

http://www.usma.edu/NotableGrads.asp

GB

 

[DHENRY]

Mike,
Great-looking gun and some super research and history.
I find that sort of 'ephemera' as compelling as the guns themselves.
Thanks for sharing that neat gun and its background.
Don

 

[mikepriwer]

Here is something else that is interesting. As you all know, we went through the
Y2K mess at the turn of the century. Everyone in the information processing
business was worried about computers crashing, airplanes crashing, etc, because
most computer dates were only using the last two digits of the year. Ie, the
date Apr 10 1994 was commonly displayed as 94-04-10 . What was going to happen
when we rolled around to 2000 ? It would look like 00-04-10, and that would
appear to be earlier than 94-04-10 when they were sorted.

West Point never worried about that problem. Here is the 1886 yearbook cover

and here is the 1986 yearbook cover :

You will note that they are both without the century . Just Class of '86 !

Later, Mike Priwer

 

[Smithhound]

Douglas MacArthurs' grad picture? He looks about as smug as ever. Probably just got through telling the cameraman how his machine should operate.

Cool pics indeed, I too love the 'ephemera' aspect of collecting, when you can pair up something of a bygone era with documentation it just means more.
Thanks for posting that.
RD

 

[Olddave]

Mike, great gun and a great story.

 

[Belfastman]

Great story some very interesting history.

 

[flop-shank]

Nice gun and story. Has it been fired?

 

[LadyFed]

Mike, I am reading your post from Colorado Springs, about 20 minutes from the Air Force Academy. When I return home to NY I will help Chuck try and see what can be discovered about the personalities surrounding this really nice revolver. I must tell you though, seeing photos of my fellow members of the Long Gray Line gives me an appreciation of my own experiences there.
Eliza

 

[mikepriwer]

Eliza

This is my first exposure to West Point, and I must say that I was very
impressed with everything that I came across. One researcher in particular
has been very very helpful in pointing me to the various publically-available
files. The information content is extraordinary - the academic accomplishment
of each cadet, each year, is very impressive to follow. The career records
following graduation are very complete - much more so than what is
available from typical universities. I was most impressed with the pictures
of the Academy in the yearbook - not a car in sight ! Of course, it was 1900!

I have received a lot of help in researching this gun. Lyle Larkworthy,
Charlie Pate, Eric Archer and Roy Jinks have been invaluable. As well, the
researchers associated with the Academy deserve commendation. The job is not
yet done, however !

As to the revolver itself, it's probably a 98% gun, if not a bit more. The
cylinder has a very fine drag line, and there is a bit of accumulated debris
around the exterior of the barrel at the forcing cone. The cylinder face shows
no signs of burning, and the recoil shield shows no signs of case impact. I
would presume that it has been fired, but it's been well cared for, and shows
no signs of abuse. There is no flaking of the early blue finish.

Regards, Mike

 

[mikepriwer]

One of the researchers at the Rock Island Arsenal Museum sent me a copy of
the front page from "The Arsenal Record" published every Tuesday .This page is
dated July 9, 1918. Two of the three front-page stories are about Col Hillman.
I only have page 1 for this one story - it is continued onto page 2, which I
do not have. Its a very interesting story. Bear in mind that WW1 is still
going on.

"Col. Hillman Hands Honor Medals To Winners"

Almost 6,000 employees of the Rock Island Arsenal received the bronze medals
given for perfect attendance during the period from June 4 to July 4, at the
hands of Col. L T Hillman this week. Colonel Hillman, accompanied by members
of his staff, began the presentations at the Armory shop at 2:30 o'clock
Monday afternoon and spent several hours each day until the entire plant had
been visited.

At the Armory the men were assembled in front of the building and Colonel
Hillman spoke in part as follows :

"It is a source of much gratification to me to be able to present the medals to
the 'honor employees' of Rock Island Arsenal. It was my intention when the plan
was first proposed to pin each of these medals upon the winners and congratulate
him. However, the task has risen to such proportions that it will be
impossible to carry out these plans and I must be content to hand out the
medals as you pass.

"However, I want to congratulate each one of you for your efforts. You are
the people who are win-

(Cont'd on page 2, column 3 )

The next article on this front page is titled :

"Attendance Record To Begin July 15 at Arsenal "

Local "Army of Sweat" to aid "Army of Swat" for Silver Honor Badge

The Rock Island Arsenal, through the direction of the commanding officer
Col L T Hillman, will present a silver Victory Service Medal to every
employee who is not absent more than 25 hours from July 15 to October 15,
both dates inclusive. This three months period will be known as The Victory
Service Medal Drive .

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[pace40]

What a great gun and provenance. Thank you, Mike.

 

[WPWarhawk]

Just over a year from now, my youngest will graduate from the US Air Force Academy.

I'm already working on a suitable graduation present, the boy likes revolvers.

 

[mikepriwer]

This image is from the Class of 1900 West Point yearbook.

Regards, Mike Priwer