Journal of the Company of Military Historians
19
U. S. Army Gold Team Prizes, 1906–1923 Lt. Col. William K. Emerson, USA (Ret.)
T
he purpose of this article is to provide data and show examples of wearable gold prizes given to Regular Army officers and enlisted men between 1906 and 1923 who were members of various branch teams that participated in the National Rifle Team Matches. The prizes came in four different versions and the Army awarded less than 460 of these gold medals. Given the Army’s many other gold, silver, and bronze prizes in existence during the early twentieth century, why did the Army create the gold team prize? After a quick synopsis of the Army’s competitive shooting program and awards, this article will look at these gold medals and then quickly discuss their follow-on prizes. The U.S. Army had, in 1858, started recognizing the best long arm shooter in a company with the award of a wearable brass stadia and the best regimental marksman with a silver stadia.1 Despite this, the Army did not really push rifle and carbine training until the late 1870s. In 1875, under the leadership of George W. Wingate of the National Guard, State of New York, the state introduced an award that any National Guard member could earn if he obtained a sufficiently high score during the annual rifle firing.2 Soon several other states followed. Very quickly qualification firing where a soldier might earn a badge grew into a military craze. In 1879 Col. T. T. S. Laidley, commander of Watertown Arsenal, published a manual, Course of Instruction in Rifle Firing, which outlined the Regular Army’s approach to marksmanship training. Soon Colonels Laidley and Wingate were heavily involved in charges and counter charges of copyright infringement—an indication of the new nation-wide interest in marksmanship.3 From the late 1870s until after the Spanish American War, most states developed a wide range of marksman buttons that, over time, became very diverse.
FIG 1. A small sample of marksman buttons worn on collars in state units. While the Regular Army stopped wearing marksman buttons in 1897, some National Guard units continued to wear them until just prior to World War I. All images courtesy of the author.
FIG 2. An original bronze marksman bar issued by the Regular Army in 1884 (top). Initially these were given to soldiers who had earned marksman buttons for three years. Below is a silver marksman bar that replaced the bronze version in 1885. In 1897, the bar became the sole marksman insignia for Regular Army soldiers. Courtesy of the author.
Regular Army soldiers also started to wear marksman buttons on their coat collars in 1881 if they qualified during annual firing. Regular Army marksman buttons lasted until 1897.4 Soon the Army added marksman bars, sharpshooter crosses, and after 1903, expert rifleman badges.5 At times expert qualification also entitled a man to extra pay.6 Between 1884 and 1897 the Army also issued to marksmen and sharpshooters, various certificates, most signed by general officers.7 In addition to these badges and certificates, during the 1880s and until 1902, the Army issued over twenty different styles of large, wearable gold, silver, and bronze prizes to soldiers who placed well in division, department, and Army level matches. In 1903, these large prizes were replaced by a wider range of smaller wearable prizes, still issued in gold, silver, and bronze, which were given in annual matches. That same year Congress provided funding to create the National Matches, trophies, and medals. FIG 3. One of the original Regular Army 1884 bronze sharpshooter crosses. Once a man qualified as a marksman, he could then fire an additional long range course in an attempt to qualify as a sharpshooter. In 1885 the silver version became the sharpshooter badge.
