In the Spanish-American War the Americans, both Regular and Volunteers showed great courage and there were few panics or disasters; on a company level leadership was of a high standard. Inexperience brought the inevitable unnecessary losses but the Volunteers made up for their ignorance by eagerness and dash. The American soldier before World War I was little different to the Indian fighting army man of the 1880's and 90's; in the early years of the 20th century the American Army was re-equipped with quick-firing field guns and Maxim, Colt and BenetMercies machine-guns. The infantryman's personal weapon was the Springfield model 1903 said to be a most accurate weapon that encouraged the already high standard of American marksmanship. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 167 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1976 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com