Springfield Armory

Springfield Armory (1777-1968) - A patriot arsenal and armory established in 1777 during the Revolutionary War on a site selected by General Henry Knox in present day Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts. Closed in 1968. Also known as Springfield Arsenal and as The Arsenal at Springfield. Springfield Armory Officer's Row c1910-1920 Springfield Armory Manufacturing Garand Rifles c1942 Springfield Armory Main Building History Established in 1777 during the Revolutionary War. The site was selected by General Henry Knox at the request of General George Washington. It became a major ammunition and weapons arsenal by the 1780s. In 1786 Daniel Shays and 300 insurgents captured the Springfield courthouse and attempted to capture the Springfield Armory during Shays Rebellion. The attack took place on 26 Jan 1787 with the arsenal being defended by a militia force of about 1200. The defenders first fired warning shots and then fired cannons loaded with grapeshot into attackers. Shays men were driven back and the armory was saved. The insurrection was put down later in 1787. The armory moved from just the storage of weapons and ammunition to the manufacturer of both. In the early 1800s, they pioneered mass production techniques for firearms including the wooden stocks. By 1843 it was reported that the Springfield Armory had some 1,000,000 finished guns stacked vertically in open racks. With the loss of the Harpers Ferry Arsenal and Armory and the other southern arsenals at the beginning of the U.S. Civil War, the Springfield Armory was the only manufacturer of arms until the federal armory system was rebuilt. The production of modern rifles at Springfield Armory in the 1900s included the M1903 Springfield, M1917 Enfield, the M1 Garand and finally the M14 rifle. These rifles were all phased in during the 1900s and used during World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The Armory also developed other weapons including machine guns but did not manufacture many of them in-house. In 1968 the closure of the armory was announced. Portions of the site were sold off but the core of the armory became the Springfield Armory National Historic Site administered by the National Park Service. Springfield Armory Partial Commanders List (edit list) Assumed Relieved Rank Name Cullum Notes 1841 1854 ”Maj. Ripley, James W. 102 The biographical sketch in Cullum's Register has good details about the problems at the Armory. 1861-08-22 1864-09-12  Capt. Dyer, Alexander B. 896 1864-10-27 1866-05-03 ”Maj. Laidley, Theodore T. S. 1116 1866-01-15 1881-08-23 ”Maj. Benton, James B. 1121 1881-09-29 1892-01-21 •Lt. Col. Buffington, Adelbert R. 1894 1898 1898 ”Maj. Arnold, Isaac 1979 "during 1898" 1907-08-09 1912-09-01 –Col. Blunt, Stanhope E. 2413 1924-06-15 1929-06-09 •Lt. Col. Schull, Herman W. 3886 1929-08-01 1933-12-31 –Col. Joyes, John Warren 3568 1934-01-02 1938-08-31 •Lt. Col. Smith, Thomas J. 4655 Dates are formatted in yyyy-mm-dd to sort correctly. The Cullum Number is the graduation order from the United States Military Academy by year and class rank and links to a page for the officer on the website version of the Cullum Register. Listings without a Cullum Number indicate that the person was not a graduate of the United States Military Academy. Current Status Part of the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts. Location: Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts. Maps & Images Lat: 42.10823 Long: -72.57967 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 840' Sources: Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 410-411 USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 1888963 Links: North American Forts - Springfield Armory NPS - Springfield Armory Wikipedia - Springfield Armory Visited: No