A Loss of Support and a Challenge from Within

The late nineteenth century obstacles confronting the NRA heralded a difficult future. In 1880, New York’s Governor Alonzo B. Cornell withdrew his support as “riflery was (seen as) unnecessary since the world was entering a glorious age of peace.”104 With no war on the

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Governor Cornell was not alone in his assessment of the need for a military force. As mentioned earlier, the U.S. Congress limited the size of the regular Army to less than 30,000 from 1874 to 1897.

visible horizon, the Governor saw rifle marksmanship as an excessive cost and therefore cut all funding related to transporting Guardsmen to Creedmoor Range. He also withdrew all tents and other state-owned material being used by the NRA’s on the range. Additionally, he cut ammunition allowances to the Guard and replaced the time allotted to marksmanship training with drill and marching exercises. Further economies in the state military budget were

recommended by subsequent governors, to include Grover Cleveland, who, as president, "recognized the importance of sustaining the NRA, and in a very practical way, contributed financially as well as by expressing his interest in the success of the object of the Association." In a letter to the Secretary of the NRA, President Cleveland wrote, "I desire to contribute, to the extent you indicated, to the success of the objects of the Association, and enclose herewith my check for twenty-five dollars, the amount of the prize to be offered for the second stage of the President's match."105 Cleveland's enthusiasm for the NRA as President was appreciated but his ambivalence as the governor of New York was reflective of the environment in which the NRA struggled for legitimacy.

With U.S. Army and New York state support withdrawn, the NRA went looking for a more powerful Association president to plead its case in the legislature and to the public.106 The Association quickly approached General Winfield Scott Hancock who had been a

presidential candidate in 1880 and was known as an avid marksman.107 Hancock accepted the position while remaining on active duty as the senior general officer in the Army and with the understanding that his active duty obligations would preclude daily involvement with the NRA.

105

The letter was published as an untitled article in The Rifle, July 1887, 351. The same edition of The Rifle also included the minutes of the NRA Board of Directors meeting on June 28, 1887, the latter including mention of President Cleveland's letter.

106

The withdrawal of Army support for the NRA programs is addressed in Chapter 3.

107

While Hancock’s status was helpful, it was not entirely adequate. The NRA was forced, for the first time, to seek funding from the public to finance forthcoming international matches. In 1884, the NRA solicited the retired President Ulysses S. Grant to lead the Association. Like Hancock, he accepted with reservation and a minimal commitment. Grant was followed in office by General Philip H. Sheridan, Commander and Chief of the U.S. Army who also remained on active duty during his tenure with the NRA. Contrary to all efforts by conservative elements in the Army, under General Sheridan rifle marksmanship training increased and Army teams competed at Creedmoor in 1885. However, following Sheridan's departure from the Army in 1888, there was a reduction in Department of the Army support. With that said, when the Army had little else to do, it took up rifle shooting. Often, soldiers were members of civilian rifle clubs or, in some instances, created army rifle clubs, the high point of which was reached in the early 1890s.108

During the NRA presidencies of Generals Hancock, Grant, and Sheridan, the Association was adequately served by founder and Vice President Brigadier General George Wingate. In that role, he met almost all of the Association’s executive obligations. The support of high profile leadership aided the NRA in drawing contestants to Creedmoor's annual matches which generated income sufficient to meet the Association's needs. However, having a well-

recognized name at the fore of the Association was not sufficient, and recognizing the limits of a titular leader, Wingate became the tenth NRA president in 1886. While Wingate's

commitment to the NRA was unquestioned, his proximity and loyalty to the New York National Guard created what eventually became the biggest problem for the NRA's national

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marksmanship program. The reasons for that problem would be documented in a new publication, targeted at the NRA's principal audience.

In May 1885, Arthur Corbin Gould began publication of The Rifle for the express purpose of advancing the "noble sport...rifle shooting."109 Gould was from Boston, Massachusetts and published The Rifle and its successor, Shooting and Fishing, in that city.110 In his first edition, Gould invited "gentlemanly discussion upon the subjects" of interest to the community of men engaged in rifle shooting.111 Though Gould's publication cannot be considered fully

comprehensive, it does provide a general overview of rifle practice as a club activity during the mid-to-late 1880s.112 In the index to the June 1888 edition, the magazine's editor identified 241 rifle clubs in the U.S. That index covered publications of The Rifle for a four-year period, and the club entries represented those clubs that had been identified in articles during that

period.113 Information about rifle matches, the results of competitions, the identification of the clubs' best shooters, and various social events had been submitted by 138 of those clubs for publication and perusal by the magazine's subscribers. The listed clubs represented 31 of 38 states and two territories (Hawaii and the District of Columbia).114 This in no way suggests that there were no other rifle clubs. It only suggests that these clubs had made the effort to identify

109

The Rifle, May 1885, 3. The modern NRA traces the lineage of its flagship publication, American Rifleman, to Gould's nineteenth century publication.

110 _{The offices of Shooting and Fishing moved to New York in 1894.} 111

Gould's article went on to explain that "General outdoor recreations...general field sports (already have)... creditable organs of this interest." The Rifle, May 1885, 3

112 _{Other nineteenth-century publications included Field and Stream, Farm Journal, Journal of the Military Service} Institute, and the Army and Navy Journal. All carried articles on rifle and pistol shooting, but none were dedicated to rifle practice and each had another agenda of greater importance.

113_{Shooting and Fishing, an expanded magazine that included a wide array of hunting and shooting articles,}

followed The Rifle and included a regular column titled "The Rifle."

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themselves and report their activities to Gould who then identified each by name in the Massachusetts magazine.115

Gould was well aware of the fact that the importance of rifle practice had not escaped the interest of the federal bureaucracy. His own experience in a state that enthusiastically supported rifle practice gave him an appreciation for its growth in the 1870s for a variety of reasons other than the turmoil that embraced the former confederate states and the labor unrest that caused governors to call for the National Guard. To address the status of training in the Guard, the second edition of The Rifle, "proposed to present to the readers of THE RIFLE the condition of the National Guard in the department of military rifle-shooting...as the information is received."116 This column would continue intermittently in The Rifle and Shooting and Fishing throughout Gould's editorial tenure.

While interest was growing around the country, the NRA began having trouble attracting competitors to Creedmoor.117 With the earlier withdrawal of support from New York, any reduction in competitors would create serious financial difficulties. The minutes of the February 15, 1887 meeting of the Board of Directors included Wingate as President-elect supporting a resolution presented by Vice President John B. Woodward, "(T)hat in view of the difficulty of raising the funds which will be required to properly fit up a new range, it is deemed inexpedient to discuss the matter further at present." It was moved that the matter of a new

115

For example, the Charleston Rifle Club of Charleston, SC advertises its founding as 1855 and some of the extant German Schuetzenbund rifle clubs were not mentioned until several years later.

116_{The Rifle, June 1885, 16. While there was no national "National Guard" the term had been adopted by state}

militias and Gould, throughout his publications, interchanged it and "militia" indiscriminately. Gould included a regular column about the militia in The Rifle and its progeny publication Shooting and Fishing.

117 _{Articles appeared in newspapers across the country about local competitions as well as the growth of the}

program at Creedmoor and the international competitions it supported. Articles also began to appear that revealed some disappointments as participation at Creedmoor diminished.

range be laid on the table.118 As if to confirm the NRA's problems for the country, a St. Louis journalist visiting the national matches reported that "(F)or a few years rifle shooting was more popular than base-ball." The author noted later in the same article that the "obvious reason for the neglect of Creedmoor by the public is the lack of contestants." He concluded that there "was a time when a man could not get through the gate at Creedmoor without a ticket. Now the gate is left wide open."119 At the NRA's annual meeting, held in early 1888, the treasurer's report showed $1,606.95 on hand at the end of 1887 which was about $325 less than the end of 1886.120

Additional criticism had addressed the way the annual matches at Creedmoor were run and suggested that "unless a change is made in the management of the NRA of America, its demise is near at hand." 121 Perhaps a harbinger of things to come, the Massachusetts team, which was one of the finest in the country and had earlier travelled to England for competition, did not send a team to the 1890 annual matches at Creedmoor. The Massachusetts Volunteer Militia Inspector of Rifle Practice, Colonel Rockwell, advised the NRA that his team's budget was not sufficient to attend matches without a greater breadth of competition. Writing that he had attended all seven of his state's previous visits to the NRA annual competitions, Rockwell surmised that things might have been different had not "Creedmoor, which was intended to be and might have been practically national in its scope, [has] seriously waned, if it has not entirely

118

The Rifle, March 1887, 288.

119

"Creedmoor: The Past and Present of American Rifle Practice," St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 16, 1887, 28.

120

The Rifle, February 1888, 469.

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vanished."122 While Rockwell's letter praised the work New York had done in support of rifle marksmanship, he reflected the attitude of others like Pennsylvania's Inspector of Rifle Practice who published a letter calling for the "establishment of an Interstate Military Rifle Association to compete under the rules of Blunt's Manual."123

A few years later, denigration of the operations at Creedmoor reached a new low when accusations of fraud were leveled at the management of the matches. "In the course of the criticism which is made in the connection there may be no charge of absolute dishonesty against General Robbins or the rest of the management, but there is at least a hint of a very censurable negligence which seems to deserve a strong and public rebuke." "If the vital regulations of Creedmoor cannot be enforced, it would seem necessary for the riflemen of the country to fix upon some other range. Even the markers at Creedmoor are quite pointedly criticised (sic)."124

As early as the 1877 NRA Creedmoor meeting, an issue had arisen regarding the weapon to be used in the Military Championship match since states had different weapons and some individuals had actually modified their weapons to improve performance.125 The editor of The

Rifle wrote that "(T)he time has arrived when the National Rifle Association of America should

clearly and explicitly define what constitutes a strictly military rifle." The debate over the

122

Colonel H.T. Rockwell letter to Captain J.S. Shepherd, Secretary of the NRA, July 29, 1890, published in Shooting and Fishing, August 1890.

123 _{J.J. Mountjoy, letter to the editor, Shooting and Fishing, October 10, 1890. Captain Blunt was an Army officer}

who had been assigned the task of writing a manual for Army rifle practice. His manual was published in 1885 and offered that "General Wingate has had an experience and opportunity for observation hardly equaled by any officer of the regular Army." Instructions in Rifle and Carbine Firing for the United States Army, prepared by Captain Stanhope E. Blunt under the command of Brigadier-General S.V. Benet, Chief of Ordnance, U.S. Army (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1885), iii.

124 _{"Fraud at Creedmoor," Boston Daily Advertiser, September 9, 1891.} 125

While the modification of an athlete's equipment is not necessarily prohibited, the issue was pertinent if the competition was to be for the nation's Military Championship, to be contended for with the Nation's military arm.

choice of weapon for the Military Championship continued for several years and came to a head in preparation for the 1892 Creedmoor competitions. With most of the country using the U.S. Army Springfield rifle, the standard issue service weapon for the National Guard, attendees at the NRA meeting discussed the use of that rifle by the New York rifle team. “Gen. Robbins spoke strongly against the motion, saying that the New York militia would never consent to practice with two rifles.” New York's Remington rifle could take a "larger charge in its bullet making it heavier and a better target round than the government round for the Springfield."126 Robbins, a New York guardsman, was the executive officer in charge of Creedmoor range during the annual competitions. The heart of the problem was in New York's use of modified weapons and heavier-than-normal ammunition, both of which were more accurate than the standard military rifle. This gave New York guardsmen a distinct advantage when firing in those

competitions that expressly required the military service rifle. The following week the editor of

Shooting and Fishing challenged General Robbins writing that the NRA was fighting the rest of

the country and that “(T)he NRA of America has driven the volunteers of the United States from it, and now it is the duty of every state to transfer the allegiance from the National Association to the United States Army”127 While the volunteers of the United States did not transfer their allegiance to the Army, they did diminish their support for the New York-based NRA.

In a series of articles published in the late 1880s, Gould had highlighted the growing interest in interstate rifle competition while revealing the commensurate failure of New York to adapt to a national program. In addition, he began to illuminate mounting problems internal to

126

Shooting and Fishing, February 1892. Principal among these matches was, and remains to this day, the service rifle championship, initiated by the NRA in 1878, for which the top one hundred shooters are designated as the President's One Hundred. Today there are both rifle and pistol championships.

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the operation of the range at Creedmoor. In 1885 he had noted that "(I)n New England the expert riflemen, as a rule, are not connected with the military organizations, but a glance at the official register of the National Guard of the State of New York shows that not only are the riflemen who have won distinction as civilian shots, members of the National Guard, but, in many cases occupying the official position of Inspectors of Rifle Practice."128 An exception to this was Gould's home state where he identified Massachusetts volunteer militia, led by Inspector of Rifle Practice Colonel H.T. Rockwell, as America's best marksman.129 The New England example was applicable to the rest of the country as noted by NRA President Shaler's report at the fourth annual NRA meeting that "In every direction, Associations and Clubs are being formed, and men of all ages and conditions of life are studying the science...of rifle

shooting."130 These clubs included National Guard units who, by joining en masse paid only one half of the regular rates for membership.

National Guard units across the country built ranges and conducted competitions in accordance with the guidance found in the NRA Manual for Rifle Practice. Gould's publications and Major Morris B. Farr's The National Guardsman announced those competitions and

provided a platform for companies like Remington, Winchester Arms, Aiken Targets, Ideal Ammunition, Sub-target Gun Company, and E. E. duPont de Nemours to advertise everything from new weapons and ammunition, to targets and training devices and rifle range

construction. The results were a growing standardization of training tools and procedures as well as the intra- and interstate competitions that proved their worth. A validation of the

128 _{"National Guard," The Rifle, July 1885, 28.} 129

The Rifle, October 1886, 219.

130

National Guard's programs was reflected in the NRA's report of a meeting during which "it was decided to extend an invitation to the NRA of Great Britain, to send a team of eight riflemen to this country, to shoot a match in September against a team of National Guardsmen."131 The point here is that the NRA invited a foreign team to compete against the National Guard, which in fact, was national in name only, not the U.S. Army or civilian rifle teams. The NRA was embracing what was seen as an international trend. "Slowly but steadily from all parts of the civilized world come reports of attention governments are giving to encouraging military marksmanship. The fact is each day becoming more apparent that the nations possessing the greatest number of skilled riflemen will be recognized as the strongest power and most formidable."132

The NRA influence in Guard units was not only reflected in how they practiced and how they competed but also in the titles they acquired. In Missouri, state forces referred to