Springfield Model 1892-99 - History

History

Like many other armed forces, the U.S. Army searched for a new rifle in the early 1890s to replace their old Springfield Model 1873 "trapdoor" single-shot rifles. A competition was held in 1892, comparing rifle designs from Lee, Krag-Jørgensen, Mannlicher, Mauser, Schmidt-Rubin, and about 40 other military and civilian designs. The trials were held at Governors Island, New York. Despite protests from domestic inventors and arms manufacturers — two designers, Russell and Livermore, even sued the U.S. government over the choice — the Krag-Jørgensen design was chosen by the board of officers.

Approximately 500,000 'Krags' were produced at the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts from 1894 to 1904. It was the U.S. Army's primary rifle from 1894 to 1903 (when it was replaced by the M1903 Springfield rifle with its ballistically similar .30-03 cartridge), and found use in the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War. In this later war the rifle was referred to in a song popular with U.S. troops, a parody of "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!", with a verse running:

"Damn, damn, damn the Filipinos!
Cut throat kha-ki-ak ladrones!
Underneath our starry flag,
Civilize 'em with a Krag,
And return us to our own beloved homes."

The Krag's complex design was outclassed by the Spanish Mauser during the Spanish American War, and proved ill-suited for use in tropical locales such as Cuba and the Philippines. Slower to load than Mauser-derived designs, American soldiers found themselves unable to match the volume of fire displayed by the Spanish 1893 Mauser rifle, whose high-velocity 7mm bullet was quickly dubbed the 'Spanish Hornet'. During the American assault on the strategic Cuban city of Santiago, a small force of 750 Spanish troops armed with Model 1893 Mauser rifles defended positions on San Juan and Kettle hills. The attacking force consisted of approximately 6,600 American soldiers, most of them regulars, armed with the then-new smokeless-powder Krag-Jorgensen rifle and supported by artillery and Gatling gun fire. Though the assault was successful, the Americans soon realized that they had suffered more than 1,400 casualties in the assault. A U.S board of investigation concluded that the casualties were primarily due to the superior firepower of the Spanish Model 1893 Mauser rifles. With the Krag's replacement with the Mauser-derived M1903, the rifle is tied for the shortest service life of any standard-issue firearm in US military history (1892–1903).

The Krag was completely phased out of service in the Regular Army by 1907, as M1903 Springfields became available, however, the Krag was issued for many more years with the National Guard and the Army Reserve, including service in World War I with rear-echelon U.S. troops in France and as training arms at various Stateside bases. Later, many were issued to veterans' organizations such as the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars for use in military ceremonies. Still others were sold to civilians through the Civilian Marksmanship Program.