In 1892 the US Army chose the Norwegian Krag-Jorgensen as its new service rifle, causing outrage from American companies. By 1907 it was replaced ostensibly over its poor performance in the war with Spain. Was this true or an exaggeration in order to replace the Krag with an American design?

The US Army adopted the Krag-Jorgensen in 1892 after holding a competition in which it beat out several other domestic and foreign designs (including several entered by Mauser.)After the competition, two US designers sued the US government over the selection forcing a review of the testing. Once again the Krag won the competition and was confirmed as the selection.

Fast forward to 1898 and the American operation to capture the city of Santiago de Cuba from its Spanish defenders. The outnumbered Spanish were dug in and well fortified on the high ground outside of the city. Most famously atop San Juan and Kettle Hill. The US Army took the Spanish positions following a frontal assault and suffered high casualties.

An Army board of investigation concluded that the high casualties were the result of the Spanish Mauser rifles being far superior to the Krag-Jorgensens carried by US soldiers. While most of the regular US soldiers were armed with Krags many were not. Indeed, the *Buffalo Soldiers* of the all-Black 10th Cavalry (who led the charge up Kettle Hill) appear to have been armed with antiquated black-powder, single shot Trapdoor Springfield rifles. The American artillery was similarly inferior to the more modern cannons employed by the Spanish.

Considering the inferiority of other weapons in American use during the war, the direct assault uphill on an entrenched enemy and the notoriously political (and at times blatantly corrupt) nature of weapons procurement contracts during that era, was the Krag scapegoated in order to get it replaced? While the 1893 Mauser was superior to the Krag, I doubt the difference was so great as to necessitate the cost of replacement after so recently having adopted it. Not to mention the Mausers used by the Spanish (or a closely related design) was entered into the contest by Mauser and lost out to the Krag. The design was good enough that the Norwegian and Danish Armed Forces (with necessary updates over time) continued to use them as their standard issue rifles through the end of WWII. Although they would likely have less resources to replace the rifles than the US Army did, this was still 60+ years since its first adoption by the Danes in 1889.

**So, was the American Krag as outclassed by the Spanish Mausers as is commonly claimed or was its downfall a politically motivated attempt to get a domestic made replacement by people that never wanted it adopted in the first place?**