The United States in the 1890s was contorted by growing pains of an emerging world power. Industrialization and modernization came amid ensuing labor upheaval. It brought the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and war between the United States and Spain two years later. Innovation and industrialization was seen in the firearms of the time, with the rise of self-loading pistols, machine guns, and smokeless gunpowder.

An excellent three-digit serial number German Ludwig Loewe Model 1893 Borchardt pistol from the early 1890s.

Some well-known guns came of age in the last decade of the 19th century alongside lesser-known firearms that faded from history. Here are some fascinating moments from the decade along with examples of firearms of that era.

The 1890s introduced guns that showed longevity or innovation and others that faded into history. Clockwise from top is an H. Pieper Model 1893 revolver, a Charola y Anitua Model 1898 and a V.C. Schilling No. 2 Bergmann.

Guns of the 1890s: Remington Model 1890

Army and Navy played their first football game in their storied rivalry on Nov. 29, 1890. As the Midshipmen shut out the Cadets 24-0, out west, the Army was endeavoring to corral the Native American population.

With the Ghost Dance movement - believing in the return of the dead and the removal of white men from the earth - gaining momentum among western Native Americans, Indian Bureau Police attempted to arrest Sitting Bull in mid-December. A shootout between the famed chief’s supporters and Indian Bureau officers killed Sitting Bull and 13 others, setting into motion tragic events that would lead to the massacre at Wounded Knee on Dec. 29.

When the shooting ended at least 150 were dead, with some historians estimating as many as 300 killed. Twenty men of the 7th Cavalry received the Medal of Honor for the action, despite Gen. Nelson Miles calling it “the most abominable criminal military blunder and a horrible massacre of women and children.

The same year, Remington introduced its Model 1890 revolver as a successor to its Model 1875 revolver and to serve as another competitor to the Colt Single Action Army. The gun had a short production life, manufactured from 1891 to 1894. “Flayderman’s Guide to Antique Firearms and Their Values” calls the gun scarce and highly sought after since only about 2,000 were made.

The Remington Model 1890 is the company’s Model 1875 but with the distinctive under-barrel web cut away. It was available in two barrel lengths, 5 1/2 inches and 7 1/2 inches, and only chambered in .44-40.

Guns of the 1890s: William Powell & Son Sidelock Double Barrel Shotgun

In 1892, the Dalton Gang terrorized the plains with murder and train robbery. Wanting to earn enough to avoid arrest for a while, Bob Dalton decided they should commit a pair of bank robberies simultaneously. Their targets were in Coffeyville, Kansas where the Daltons had resided for a time.

On Oct. 5, the five outlaws rode into town. They couldn’t leave their horses where they originally planned for a quick getaway. The bandits were tricked and trapped by a clever clerk and townsfolk who quickly armed themselves. Following a 12-minute gunfight, four of the robbers – Bob and Grat Dalton, Bill Powers and Dick Broadwell were killed and Emmet Dalton was shot 23 times but survived, serving 14 years of a life sentence.

Far from the Wild West, that same year in Birmingham, England, William Powell and Son had been producing fine sporting arms since 1802. Known more for its fit and finish, Powell and Son has been referred to the “Purdey of Birmingham.” The company manufactured the sidelock double barrel shotgun featured here in 1892, utilizing the lift-up lever to open the lock that the company patented in 1864.

This engraved William Powell & Son sidelock double barrel shotgun was manufactured in 1892 Nigel Brown's "British Gunmakers Volume Two: Birmingham, Scotland & the Regions." The casehardened receiver has foliate and scroll engraving.

Guns of the 1890s: H. Pieper Patent Model 1893 Gas Seal Double Action Revolver

At Chicago’s 1893 Columbian Exposition, a number of items were introduced, including Juicy Fruit gum, Crackerjack and Shredded Wheat. The Ferris Wheel debuted and the grounds were electrified with alternating current. Beer baron Frederick Pabst introduced his Pabst Best Select beer, already an award winner.

The beer earned its legendary name from the ribbon earned at the Exposition. Pabst began to adorn his beer bottles with blue ribbons and saloon patrons would ask for the beer with the blue ribbon. By the turn of the century, Pabst was going through more than 1 million feet of blue ribbon per year. The ribbon became an official part of the label at the end of prohibition when the beer was first distributed in cans.

Henri Pieper, a respected Belgian gunmaker released his Model 1893 revolver that cammed the cylinder forward when firing to give it a better seal to the barrel, nearly eliminating the cylinder gap. Two years later, Leon Nagant’s similar pistol would be adopted by the Imperial Russian Army that would replace the Smith & Wesson Model 3.

Mexico ordered 5,000 of the H. Pieper Model 1893 gas seal revolvers and carbines. By pushing the cylinder forward when firing less gas escapes and improves shooting performance. Chambered for 8mm cartridges, the double action wheelgun has a swing-out cylinder and hand ejector system. This revolver has scroll and punch dot engraving over nearly its entire surface.

Guns of the 1890s: Winchester Model 1894 and Marlin Model 1894 Trappers Carbine

Faced with economic depression, Pullman Palace Car Company cut its workers’ already low wages by about 25 percent despite keeping rents and other costs the same in the town near Chicago where most of the workers lived. Employees wanted to present their grievances over the low wages, living conditions and the 16-hour workday. Company president George Pullman refused and ordered the workers fired. The workers walked off the job in a wildcat strike in April.

The action spawned a number of railroad strikes across mostly the Midwest, which led to violence after National Guard troops were called in and the arrested union leaders. The Pullman workers lost public sympathy and returned to work without any gains.

Two years after Winchester released its Model 1892 came the Model 1894, chambered for longer and more powerful rifle cartridges and able to handle smokeless powder cartridges. This Model 1894 was the first to ship from Winchester in .30 caliber, with a plain trigger, checkered pistol grip stock, a hard rubber shotgun buttplate, a half-magazine holding four rounds, a casehardened frame, oil finished stock and matted barrel.

As a conciliatory gesture after the Pullman strike and mining strikes the same year President Grover Cleveland signed legislation making Labor Day a national holiday. Official recognition of the holiday came more than 10 years after workingmen and tradesmen marched through New York City in 1882.

The year 1894 also brought a pair of lever gun legends to market, the Winchester Model 1894 and Marlin 1894. The Winchester was the first commercial American lever action rifle made to use smokeless powder cartridges and more than 7.5 million have been made. The Marlin 1894 simplified and strengthened the internal mechanism while maintaining side ejection.

Nearly endless versions of the Winchester 1894 have been made and the company stopped making it for a short time before it returned in 2011. Marlin’s 1894 has also gone through a number of variations but it has never been out of production.

While Winchester’s 1894 was made to handle rifle rounds, Marlin’s Model 1894 was the exact opposite, made to take pistol cartridges. This Marlin Model 1894 is a trapper’s carbine with a 15-inch round barrel and comes with an ATF exemption letter.

Guns of the 1890s: V.C. Schilling Model 1896 No. 2 Bergmann and Mauser C96 “Red 9”

A massive tornado tore through downtown St. Louis on May 27, 1896, hopped the Mississippi River and hit East St. Louis just after 5 p.m. The twister arrived in a sky turned a greenish hue and its 10-mile rampage destroyed 311 buildings, heavily damaged 7,200 more and killed more than 255.

Just over two months later, an August heat wave killed 1,500 people from Chicago to Boston with temperatures hovering over 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity for 10 days. The number killed by the heat was more than the New York draft riots of the Civil War and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 combined.

About 2,000 of this small pocket-type pistol were made by Charles V. Schilling of Suhl, chambered for the 5mm cartridge Bergmann. Utilizing a single action blowback system with an external hammer, early examples had a pocket-friendly folding trigger seem here. The folding trigger was discarded about serial no. 500 for a conventional trigger that made the later pistols slightly longer. This pistol is serial number 375.

Earlier in the year, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius presented his paper quantifying the effect on global climate by carbon dioxide, calculating that the earth would warm 5-6 degrees with the doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere. In 1901, it would be referred to as the greenhouse effect for the first time.

The year 1896 brought pistol innovation with the V.C. Schilling-made Bergmann Model 1896 and the Mauser C96. The pocket-sized Bergmann design and the instantly recognizable Mauser were both semi-automatic, following on the heels of the Borchardt C-93. The Bergmann pistol had a folding trigger before a conventional trigger was added to the design. The Mauser has a box magazine in front of the trigger.

The Mauser Model 96 or C96 is easily recognizable with its slender barrel, box magazine and broom handle-shaped grip. Though the Luger was chosen over the Broomhandle by the German military, production of the Luger couldn’t keep up with demand during World War 1, so the German government contracted with Mauser to manufacture 150,000 of the C96 but chambered in 9mm Parabellum like the Luger. To distinguish the military Broomhandle, a large “9” was carved into the grip and painted red or orange to denote it was not chambered in its regular 7.65mm.

Guns of the 1890s: Winchester Model 1897 Riot Shotgun

After receiving a letter from 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon, The Sun, a New York newspaper, published an editorial Sept. 21, 1897 headlined “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” Handed the assignment, veteran writer Francis Pharcellus Church at first scoffed at the assignment before penning a masterpiece of fewer than 500 words that reaffirmed childhood and would go on to be translated into more than 20 languages.

“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certain as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.”

As was The Sun’s policy, the editorial was published without a byline and Church wasn’t identified as the author until his death in 1906. The Sun published it annually at Christmas in 1920, a tradition that would continue until 1950 when the paper went into bankruptcy.

John Moses Browning’s latest shotgun design was another memorable event in 1897 and despite starting its life as a sporting gun, would prove its worth in the jungles of the Philippines and 20 years later in the trenches of World War 1. Design-wise, the gun was stronger than the Winchester 1893 with a thicker receiver for using smokeless powder cartridges. The model would remain in production for 60 years.

The Winchester Model 1897 shotgun improved the slide lock to reduce jamming and featured a barrel that could be quickly removed. The Model 1897 lacked a trigger disconnector could be slam-fired, holding the trigger while working the slide. Soldiers and duck hunters alike could empty the gun in seconds. This shotgun has an oval inventory plaque attached to the right side of the stock marked “BERKELEY/POLICE DEPT./113.”

Guns of the 1890s: Engraved Spanish Charola y Anitua Model 1898

After the simmering tensions between the United States and Spain came to a boil with the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor in February, 1898, Wild West sharpshooter Annie Oakley wrote a letter to President William McKinley offering her services. Three weeks before the declaration of war on April 25, Oakley proposed to raise a regiment of “fifty lady sharpshooters” who would supply their own ammunition and arms. The request, forwarded by McKinley to the War Department, was denied because women weren’t allowed to serve. Women didn’t receive permanent status in the armed forces until 1948.

During the war, the United States handed Spain naval defeats, invaded Puerto Rico and Cuba and future president Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders charged up San Juan Hill. The war ended Aug. 13 after four months. A treaty officially ending the conflict was signed in Paris on Dec. 10.

In 1898, Spaniards Ignacio Charola Achucarro and Miguel Anitua Echeverria patented their pistol design chambered in 5mm cartridge. Their company Charola y Anitua in Eibar Spain started producing the pistol in 1899. The gun was loaded from the top using stripper clips, and was submitted to the Spanish military for trial but quickly dismissed as expensive and complicated to assemble. With no contract, only about 8,400 were produced from 1899-1905. After Anitua left the company, the pistol was made in a slightly larger caliber than its initial 5mm chambering.

Developed prior to the Spanish-American War, but not produced until after, this engraved Charola y Anitua Model 1898 is similar to a scaled down Mauser C96. The gun’s subtle engraving highlights the contours of the gun.

Guns of the 1890s for Sale

The 1890s was marked by the United States flexing its military strength, the continued rise of industrialization and the resulting labor unrest.

(Right) A historic documented cased presentation DWM Luger Model 1902 carbine presented to Hugo Borchardt. (Left) A Borchardt C93 pistol, two innovations of the 1890s.

Amid the events that showed a new, modern era to come were the guns of the 1890s, some well-known and some less so that will be available at Rock Island Auction Company.

A rare European Luger/Borchardt style Auguste Francotte single shot target pistol with a manually operated toggle lock bolt, serial number 10.