PART SIX (7 May 2015): NEW YORK MILITARY MUSEUM
When I
lived in the area (back in the 1990’s), this building was the armory for the
National Guard, thus not a location which was generally open to the
public. It was around 2003 this property was converted into the museum it
is now. The upper floors contain offices, but the majority of the ground
level contains the exhibits.
There are
displays covering just about every engagement the NY National Guard took part
in. To the immediate left of the entry area were the sections covering
the American Revolution, and War of 1812.
Considering
we’d just been at the Saratoga Battlefield, it was nice to see the section
which spoke about the military and personal history of Benedict Arnold.
While his name is synonymous with “traitor” today, he was a great military
commander during his career.
After a
small display of the Guard’s involvement in smaller engagements (like the
Spanish-American War, and various border disputes), the museum then comes up to
the 20th Century with a section on “The War To End All Wars.”
Some of
the items here were a US Calvary uniform, and some of the early machine guns.
The
section dealing with World War II was far more detailed. In addition to
some artifacts, it contained maps of the European and Pacific Theatres.
Being
able to see to comparisons of the War Bond posters for WWII compared with
similar typed items for the “Great War,” shows how WWII was truly a “global
conflict.” World War One (which wasn’t named that until the 1940’s) was
in actuality another European war (as there had been many during the 19th
Century).
The area
for the Civil War was the largest portion, and equaled the size of the sections
for the American Revolution, War of 1812, Spanish-American War, and some other
smaller conflicts combined.
This was
due to the Civil War’s exhibit being broken down to more of a year-by-year
engagement. While providing a fuller picture of that particular conflict,
which was one aspect which was lacking from the other displays. In
reality, in order to do that for all the major engagements, the museum would
have to be about three-or-four times its present size.
The Vietnam portion was mostly letters and personal
accounts, but surprisingly there was nothing for Korea . The explanation was
the museum was still in the process of getting everything arranged so they
could fit it in. In my opinion, the Civil War area could be dropped by a
third to make the available room.
Still,
that didn’t hinder my enjoyment of this in the least. It was a great way
to spend an afternoon and learning the local angle on these international
events.
For the
footprint of the building, and keeping in mind this had been only opened for
just over a decade, they did a pretty good job with what was available to
them. As more people come and frequent this, and provide the appropriate
donations, then in time we’ll be able to see the other items currently in
storage on display.
For more information on the places visited or mentioned:
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