The First American Machine Gun — The Browning M1895Invented by famous gun designer John Browni

The First American Machine Gun — The Browning M1895Invented by famous gun designer John Browning, the M1895 was the first machine gun adopted by the US Military.  I’m not counting the Gatling Gun since it technically is not a machine gun, requiring a the use of a hand crank for firing and reloading. An interesting design, it was the first gas operated machine gun in history.  The gas from a discharge of the gun propelled a lever located underneath the barrel backward, which worked the action.  The swing lever thus gave the M1895 the nickname “potato digger”.The M1895 was used throughout several conflicts including the Spanish American War, the Phillipine American War, the Boer Wars, the Mexican Civil War, and World War I.  The most infamous use of the M1895 occured in 1914 at Ludlow, Colorado.  There 1,200 coal miners from the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company were on strike, and had set up camps with their families.  The Colorado National Guard was called in to deal with the situation.  While the National Guard tried to handle the situation delicately, the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company did not, hiring a private militia to storm the strikers camps.  The company guards, armed with rifles, shotguns, and a car mounted with an M1895 attacked the camp, killing 25 and burning several tents.  The Ludlow Massacre sparked an outrage, and over the next ten days company guards, the National Guard, and the strikers fought intermittently.   Between 69-199 people would be killed in the Colorado Coalfield War, the most violent labor dispute in American history. -- source link

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