author
Ammon B. Critchfield
1863–1942
A soldier, newspaper editor, and public advocate for marksmanship, he wrote about rifle practice as a matter of training and civic discipline. His best-known published work reflects the practical, reform-minded spirit that also shaped his military career.
1 Audiobook
A report on the feasibility and advisability of some policy to inaugurate a system of rifle practice throughout the public schools of the country
by George Wood Wingate, Ammon B. Critchfield, National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice
About the author
Born in 1863, Ammon B. Critchfield was an American soldier and newspaper editor whose life moved between public service, military organization, and writing. Reliable library and historical sources connect him with service in the Spanish-American War and World War I, and with a long-standing interest in rifle training and military preparedness.
As an author, he is best known for A Report on the Feasibility and Advisability of Some Policy to Inaugurate a System of Rifle Practice Throughout the Public Schools of the Country, a work associated with the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice. The book shows his practical style: direct, policy-focused, and concerned with how training could be organized on a broad public scale.
Critchfield is also remembered for helping establish Camp Perry in Ohio in 1906, and historical accounts credit him with an important role in the early development that led to Fort Benning in Georgia. He died in 1942, leaving behind a legacy tied as much to military institutions as to the writing he produced from that experience.