Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Grand Army of the Republic Cannons, Basin Wyoming








These are two Civil War era cannons provided, by Act of Congress, to the Grand Army of the Republic's post in Basin Wyoming.  These cannons are interesting in a variety of ways.  For one thing, they remain in fine shape.  Secondly, however, it's amazing to think that Basin, a very small town, had a GAR post.  The population of the town was probably larger in 1909 than it is now, but nonetheless, the fact that there were enough Civil War veterans in Basin, in 1909, shows how many veterans there were.

These two cannons, which managed to escape the great melt down of cannons that occurred due to World War Two scrap drives, are located outside of the library in Basin, which is located next to the Basin County Courthouse.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The Company of Military Historians

For those who may not be familiar with it, the Company of Military Historians is the premier organization dedicated to the study of military history.  At one time its membership was by invitation, but now invitation is open to those interested in the subject.  It's journal is excellent.


The flyer depicted above is available at http://military-historians.org/join/Revisedshowflyerw-QRC130201.pdf

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Lex Anteinternet: What people read

Lex Anteinternet: What people read: We've had this blog up for a couple of years now, with the first posts being in 2009 . There were none in 2010, but we really took off in p...

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Monday, December 10, 2012

Today In Wyoming's History: Sidebar: World War Two and Wyoming

Today In Wyoming's History: Sidebar: World War Two and Wyoming: Regular readers here may have noted that there's been a lot of entries regarding World War Two recently. And, as a result, they might legit...

Friday, December 7, 2012

Today In Wyoming's History: December 7

Today In Wyoming's History: December 7:

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Hanna Wyoming VFW Memorial Park


Hanna Wyoming, somewhat unusually for a small town, features a variety of memorials in different locations, including two different locations with war memorials. The other war memorial is featured just below, and is specific for World War One.  This memorial is an all war memorial.  It's additionally surprising as Hanna is a very small town.


The memorial features a M110 8in. howitzer, surplus form the Wyoming Army National Guard.  Carbon County Wyoming, where Hanna is located, was the situs of the Service Battery of the 3d Bn 49th FA, an 8in howitzer unit that was headquartered in Casper.










An unusual feature of this memorial is the helmeted rifle feature, symbolic of the battlefield method of marking the location of the dead.  The rifle, bayonet attached, is bayoneted to the ground with the soldier's helmet on the butt.  Here, in an oddity, the rifle used for the memorial is a World War Two era Japanese Ariska rifle, which was presumably used because it was available.


Here the markings on the Arisaka's receiver are visible.


















By way of some added information, Mike Lewis, who viewed these photographs, informed me that the interesting cloud that appears in the last several photographs "is an altcumulus stqnding lenticular (ACSL)."  Additionally, the cloud type "is usually caused by moutain waves nad is an indicator of potentially bad turbulence."  For weather observers, because of the risk to flight, observation of this type of cloud requires mandatory recordation in a weather observer's log.  On the day I took these photographs, ground conditions were appalling, with winds gusting up to 60 mph on a regular basis.  Indeed, dust from a reclamation site is visible in the background.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

World War One Service Memorial, Hanna Wyoming



This is a memorial in Hanna Wyoming dedicated to all from the region who served in World War One.  Hanna is a very small town today, and the number of names on this memorial is evidence of the town once being significantly more substantially sized than it presently is.

The memorial is located on what was the Lincoln Highway at the time, but which is now a Carbon County Highway.  This was likely a central town location at the time the memorial was placed.

Carbon County Miners' Memorial, Hanna Wyoming


This Miners' Memorial commemorates all Carbon County Wyoming miners who have lost their lives in the mines. This is one of two memorials to miners near Hanna which I am aware of.

Number One Mine Memorial, Hanna Wyoming.



A memorial to the men who lost their lives in the Number One Mine at Hanna, Wyoming.

The 1903 and 1908 Mine No. 1 explosions claimed 169 and 59 lives respectively, with the majority of the 59 killed in the 1908 disaster being men who were killed in an explosion that occurred after the first 1908 explosion.  The bodies of 201 men from the 1903 and 1908 disaster remain buried in the underground mine.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Holscher's Hub: Calendar Query

Holscher's Hub: Calendar Query: Are any of the denizens here finding any neat agriculture, nature, equine or history related calendars in the offering for 2013? As per usu...

Monday, November 5, 2012

Hot Springs County, Wyoming; World War Two Memorial



This memorial at the Hot Springs County Wyoming Courthouse lists every resident of Hot Springs County who served in World War Two, including my wife's grandfather, who served in the United States Marine Corps during WWII.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Ferdinand Brandstetter Post #1. First American Legion Post in the United States. Van Tassell Wyoming



This is the the memorial for the Ferdinand Brandstetter American Legion Post in Van Tassel, Wyoming.  This was the location of the first American Legion post in the United States.  The town must have been much larger at the time, as it hardly even exists now, and the legion post very obviously no longer exist.  The American Legion was formed in Paris immediately following World War One, for veterans of that war, and had very active participation almost immediately from veterans of the Great War.

Note:  Please see the correction in the comments, this Legion post is in fact still active!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Crazy Horse and Levi Robinson Memorials, Ft. Robinson, Nebrask


 

 







These are photographs of the memorials dedicated to Crazy Horse and Levi Robinson at Ft. Robinson, Nebraska.  These monuments were ones placed by the Army sometime during the period the post was an active Army post.

Levi Robinson was an Army lieutenant killed near Ft. Laramie, Wyoming.  The post was named after him.  Crazy Horse, the famous Sioux leader, was killed on the post during the famous incident that lead to his death.  Another monument to Crazy Horse, depicted just below on this blog, is also on the post near the spot of his death.

Crazy Horse Monument, Ft. Robinson Nebraska


Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Ft. Robinson, Nebraska

Quite a few relevant monuments are depicted on this thread on SMH, which deals with Ft. Robinson, Nebraska:

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Ft. Robinson, Nebraska

Monday, August 6, 2012

Holscher's Hub: Gas Hills-Crook's Gap Monuments

Not an appropriate monument for this site, but given as I'm cataloging monuments, I thought I'd note this other one, of another type, that I've noted elsewhere:

Holscher's Hub: Gas Hills-Crook's Gap Monuments: This has to be one of the most obscure monuments in Wyoming. These are signs dedicated to the history of uranium mining in the...

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Ft. Fetterman Cemetary, Wyoming

This is the military cemetery at Ft. Fetterman, Wyoming. The cemetery continued in use as a civilian cemetery after the post closed.

Ft. Fetterman was not an active post all that long. The number of soldiers buried there gives a good idea of the hard nature of frontier soldiering. For that matter, the civilian list gives a good idea of the harsh nature of 19th Century life.