American Rifle - Alexander Rose [254]
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25. On the date of the NRA’s formation, see the extremely helpful “condensation of General Wingate’s memoirs of the National Rifle Association,” which had been published around the turn of the century in its journal. G. W. Wingate, “Early Days of the NRA: Recollections of the National Rifle Association,” pt. 1, American Rifleman 99, no. 5 (May 1951), p. 32.
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26. M. Derthick, The National Guard in Politics (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1965), pp. 18–20.
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27. Wingate, “Early Days of the NRA,” pp. 32–33.
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28. See Wingate’s pamphlet, “Programme for Opening of Range of the National Rifle Association, at Creedmoor, Queens Co., L.I.” (National Rifle Association, 1873), and “Early Days of the NRA,” p. 33.
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29. There is some dispute over numbers. Most sources give the figure in the text; Wingate, “Early Days of the NRA,” p. 34, states there were eight men and two reserves.
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30. For a technical discussion of the Remington and Sharps rifles, see D. F. Butler, “Match Rifles: Then and Now,” American Rifleman 119, no. 1 (January 1971), pp. 70–72.
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31. There is some dispute on this point. Wingate says it was ginger ale.
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32. Wingate, “Early Days of the NRA,” p. 35, states that the Americans won by a single point. Other sources say it was by three.
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33. Except where otherwise noted, this lengthy section on the formation of the NRA, Wingate and Church, the Schützenbünde, and Creedmoor is based on a variety of sources, including R. S. Gilmore, “ ‘Another Branch of Manly Sport’: American Rifle Games, 1840–1900,” in K. Glover, ed., Hard at Play: Leisure in America, 1840–1940 (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, and Rochester, N.Y.: Strong Museum, 1992), pp. 93–111;A.Hatch, Remington Arms in American History (New York: Rinehart & Co., 1956), pp. 159–66; and D. Minshall’s series, “Creedmoor and the International Matches,” available online at www.researchpress.co.uk/targets/creedmoor/01creedmoor_nra.htm.
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34. On closer inspection, the American victory in 1874, while impressive, was not decisive. After all, if Milner hadn’t flubbed his shot, the Irish would have won. Any doubts were roughly shoved aside in the return match the following year, this time held near Dublin. Using the same weapons, and shooting under the same conditions, the Americans whipped their rivals 967 to 929 before fifty thousand spectators. In 1876’s Grand Centennial Match the NRA invited the “riflemen of the world” to test themselves against American mettle. This time Canada, Scotland, Ireland, and Australia took up the challenge, but they too went home defeated. (The scores: United States, 3,126; Ireland, 3,104; Scotland, 3,062;Australia, 3,062; and Canada 2,923.) The high point for the Irish was the unbelievable performance of Milner, who was still embarrassed about his gaffe two years before and determined to avenge it. At the Centennial he hit the bull’s-eye fifteen times out of fifteen for maximum points. But just in case anyone still doubted that Americans were the best shots and the deadliest riflemen in the world, the United States brought home another trophy the following week, again defeating the Irish. That still left the old enemy, the British, who had arrogantly stayed aloof from competing against their former colony since 1860, when Queen Victoria used a Whitworth muzzle-loader to fire the opening shot (at four hundred yards) of the first all-Britain competition. In May 1877, using muzzle-loaders, the Americans took them out 3,334 to 3,242. Following the 1877 match general interest in target shooting on the East Coast slowly declined as bicycling and automobiling took off. In 1878 and 1879 no matches were held, and while an Ireland-American competition in June 1880 resulted in an American victory, one against the British a month later at Wimbledon was a catastrophe for the transatlantic visitors: to the Britons’ 1,646