Day 4- Springfield Armory

After nearly two centuries of continuous production of rifles and muskets used by America’s armed forces in every war in the nation’s history, the armory closed its gates and fell silent. Begun as a major arsenal under the authority of General George Washington early in the Revolutionary War, the first national armory began manufacturing muskets in 1794. Within decades, Springfield Armory had perfected pioneering manufacturing methods that were critical to American industrialization.

All over the exibits there were pictures of flora and fauna- I asked why, and the hostess
said they have Jr. Park rangers come and identify the different species while they are visiting.
Can you see the pictures on the exhibits above ? I thought that was pretty funny.

Jake was fascinated with all the old machine-ing set ups.
Compared to his Lathe, Lots of things have changed.

below are depictions of what soldiers would invent to use while in trenches.

Long guns

Mishaps... Looks like elmer fudd got a hold of some of these.

One of these guns was struck by lightening, there were a few that had ammo imbedded in the stock from the action of war.
Below is a picture of the actual building that is now the museum.
Lots of history in this place.

Below is the Organ of Muskets

The Arsenal at Springfield
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1807-1882)

This is the Arsenal. From floor to ceiling,
Like a huge organ, rise the burnished arms;
But front their silent pipes no anthem pealing
Startles the villages with strange alarms.

Ah! what a sound will rise, how wild and dreary,
When the death-angel touches those swift keys
What loud lament and dismal Miserere
Will mingle with their awful symphonies

I hear even now the infinite fierce chorus,
The cries of agony, the endless groan,
Which, through the ages that have gone before us,
In long reverberations reach our own.

On helm and harness rings the Saxon hammer,
Through Cimbric forest roars the Norseman's song,
And loud, amid the universal clamor,
O'er distant deserts sounds the Tartar gong.

I hear the Florentine, who from his palace
Wheels out his battle-bell with dreadful din,
And Aztec priests upon their teocallis
Beat the wild war-drums made of serpent's skin;

The tumult of each sacked and burning village;
The shout that every prayer for mercy drowns;
The soldiers' revels in the midst of pillage;
The wail of famine in beleaguered towns;

The bursting shell, the gateway wrenched asunder,
The rattling musketry, the clashing blade;
And ever and anon, in tones of thunder,
The diapason of the cannonade.

Is it, O man, with such discordant noises,
With such accursed instruments as these,
Thou drownest Nature's sweet and kindly voices,
And jarrest the celestial harmonies?

Were half the power, that fills the world with terror,
Were half the wealth, bestowed on camps and courts,
Given to redeem the human mind from error,
There were no need of arsenals or forts:

The warrior's name would be a name abhorred!
And every nation, that should lift again
Its hand against a brother, on its forehead
Would wear forevermore the curse of Cain!

Down the dark future, through long generations,
The echoing sounds grow fainter and then cease;
And like a bell, with solemn, sweet vibrations,
I hear once more the voice of Christ say, "Peace!"

Peace! and no longer from its brazen portals
The blast of War's great organ shakes the skies!
But beautiful as songs of the immortals,
The holy melodies of love arise.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Arsenal at Springfield,” first published in 1845 in America, is considered by many critics to be Longfellow’s most effective antiwar poem. The idea for the poem came on Longfellow’s wedding trip to the famous arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts, which supplied many of the guns used during the American Revolution.
Longfellow wrote a poem that offered a desperate plea for peace. The many rows of guns in the arsenal, which in Longfellow’s estimation resembled a pipe organ, provided a vivid image to launch his poem. In fact, many critics have commented on the effectiveness of the images in the poem, which offer a gritty tour through the ravaging effects of human war, as well as a preview of what a peaceful society could be like.

Whats so Civil about War Anyway ?