Rough Riders Carbine

[Whig]

Another post discusses a Rock Island auction Model 1896 carbine as being from the same period as the Rough Riders carbines as a selling tactic. It was not used in the Spanish American War by the Rough Riders.

I was fortunate to find an authentic documented and SRS listed Rough Riders carbine years ago. This one, as opposed to the Rock Island one, has all of the blemishes and wear of a Krag actually used hard and put away wet. That's a great historic feature of an actual war-worn firearm, not one with a remade stock, reapplied cartouche, faked carbine sight, etc., to fabricate a valuable firearm. Sometimes you want the history to show which adds authenticity to an historic piece. This one also came with lots of well researched documentation.

This Model 1896 carbine has the name of the soldier who was assigned the carbine for the Spanish American War scratched into the stock. As best as can be determined, along with Joe Farmer's opinion, this was applied after the S. A. War by a later owner who did this to document the original soldier's use and assignment of the carbine. Whether it was done by the soldier or not cannot be proven. (The date scratched into the stock with the name and unit is 1930.) It does add an air of mystique to the carbine, though!

[Whig]

more pictures...

[butlersrangers]

Nice 'Rough Rider' carbine, Whig!

(The 1st U.S. Vol. Cavalry turned in their carbines at Montauk Point, N.Y., during their period of 'Quarantine').

[Knute1]

Here is Kerney listed in Teddy's "Rough Riders" book on pages 291 and 303. At one point he was moved from F troop to I troop.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Th ... frontcover

[P0H0]

Pretty cool rifle with a serial number to match the rough riders and a specific soldier!

I just can’t imagine letting the men carve their names in the stock — for what purpose? Each soldier should know his serial number... However, I am reminded that soldiers love carving their names into the things — for example, Kilroy was everywhere during WW II.

Yeah, I am sure it happened somewhere (you’re not going to be able to hide that from the Sergeant!) — i bet it happened later by a private owner… but still, whomever did this needs a hit upside the head for ruining a perfectly good rifle — I can think of some other art I would rather have on my stock to entertain me.

Or…

[Whig]

Knute,

Thanks for that additional reference! Neat information connected to this carbine.

[Knute1]

Here is a photo of F Troop, Captain Luna commanding. Kerney would have served under him for a while. In fact, depending on the date of the photo, Kerney may even been in it. He would assuredly had known some of the men in the photo. The name "Shields" is under one of the horsemen, which there was a William Shields in this Troop.

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Also, if you haven't seen it the following is a PBS documentary of the Rough Riders. This photo and some discussion of Captain Luna is included.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZqI0G8hFEI

[Whig]

Watched the movie, which is great, but never saw that neat picture! Thanks!

[P0H0]

Based upon a US Calvary typical line formation — is it possible to deduce which horsemen were Corporals?

[P0H0]

I found a mention of Troop I - Cpl. George M. Kerney in the following news article of Rough Riders from Arizona. You can view the entire news article here in detail HERE

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