PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
GRANT, Ulysses S. (1822-1885). Autograph letter signed ("U. S. Grant") to John A. Dix (1798-1879), Washington, D.C., 7 December 1866. 1¼ pages, 4to, on stationery of Headquarters of Armies of the United States, creases repaired on verso; autograph envelope addressed to Gen. Love.
細節
GRANT, Ulysses S. (1822-1885). Autograph letter signed ("U. S. Grant") to John A. Dix (1798-1879), Washington, D.C., 7 December 1866. 1¼ pages, 4to, on stationery of Headquarters of Armies of the United States, creases repaired on verso; autograph envelope addressed to Gen. Love.
GRANT MARVELS AT THE GATLING GUN: "AN INGENIOUS PIECE OF MECHANISM" THAT "WILL RECOMMEND ITSELF TO ORDINANCE AND ARTILLERY OFFICERS"
Grant writes the U.S. minister to France, General Dix, on behalf of "Gen. John Love of Ia. [Indiana] an old acquaintance of mine of more than a quarter of a century standing. Gen. Love is a graduate of the Military Academy of the Class of 1846 and served some fifteen years in the Army. He now visits Europe partly for pleasure and partly, I suppose, to introduce there the 'Gatlin Gun' [sic] in which he has an interest. The gun is an ingenious piece of Mechanism and will recommend itself to Ordinance and Artillery officers..."
Love (1820-1881) served in the Mexican War after West Point, and like Grant his postwar career was spotty. He was drawn back into service in 1861. He met fellow Hoosier Richard J. Gatling during the war and became a marketing agent for the revolutionary new weapon which Gatling patented in 1862 -- the world's first successful machine gun. The initial model was a hand-cranked, .58 caliber weapon with six rotating barrels fed by a drum cartridge. While it fired an astonishing 350 rounds a minute, its accuracy was often poor and it frequently jammed. The Army was slow to adopt it, but the Navy put a few into service, and maverick General Benjamin Butler ordered a dozen for use in 1864. Gatling made a new breech-firing model of the gun which the Army finally tested in 1865. Soon the weapon attracted customers from Washington to London, St. Petersburg and Paris--where Grant rightly suspects Love was headed to push the new version. The gun was used with deadly effectiveness by the U. S. Army against the Plains Indians, while the European powers employed it against native forces in their African colonies.
GRANT MARVELS AT THE GATLING GUN: "AN INGENIOUS PIECE OF MECHANISM" THAT "WILL RECOMMEND ITSELF TO ORDINANCE AND ARTILLERY OFFICERS"
Grant writes the U.S. minister to France, General Dix, on behalf of "Gen. John Love of Ia. [Indiana] an old acquaintance of mine of more than a quarter of a century standing. Gen. Love is a graduate of the Military Academy of the Class of 1846 and served some fifteen years in the Army. He now visits Europe partly for pleasure and partly, I suppose, to introduce there the 'Gatlin Gun' [sic] in which he has an interest. The gun is an ingenious piece of Mechanism and will recommend itself to Ordinance and Artillery officers..."
Love (1820-1881) served in the Mexican War after West Point, and like Grant his postwar career was spotty. He was drawn back into service in 1861. He met fellow Hoosier Richard J. Gatling during the war and became a marketing agent for the revolutionary new weapon which Gatling patented in 1862 -- the world's first successful machine gun. The initial model was a hand-cranked, .58 caliber weapon with six rotating barrels fed by a drum cartridge. While it fired an astonishing 350 rounds a minute, its accuracy was often poor and it frequently jammed. The Army was slow to adopt it, but the Navy put a few into service, and maverick General Benjamin Butler ordered a dozen for use in 1864. Gatling made a new breech-firing model of the gun which the Army finally tested in 1865. Soon the weapon attracted customers from Washington to London, St. Petersburg and Paris--where Grant rightly suspects Love was headed to push the new version. The gun was used with deadly effectiveness by the U. S. Army against the Plains Indians, while the European powers employed it against native forces in their African colonies.