First and Only Weekly Online Fanzine Devoted to the Life & Works of Edgar Rice Burroughs Since 1996 ~ Over 15,000 Web Pages in Archive presents Volume 7053

The Many Worlds of

"The master of imaginative fantasy adventure...
...the creator of Tarzan and...
...the 'grandfather of science-fiction'"
OB'S SCRAPBOOK
MICHIGAN MILITARY ACADEMY :: 1890s
MEET THE CADETS
Burroughs, Edgar Rice: Company A 1892; Created illustrations, and possibly wrote stories for the Academy’s yearbook, The Long Roll 1892; Performed at the Columbian Saddle Horse Show 1893; Editor, The Military Mirror Jan. 1894; Quarterback, Champion Prep School Team of the West 1894; Captain, Company D 1895; Captain and Quarterback, Champion Prep School Team of the West 1895; Editor, The Adjutant Oct., Nov. and Dec. 1895, Jan., Feb. and March 1896; Manager, Football and Baseball 1896; (NOTE: Burroughs is listed as a graduate in the 1895 MMA Catalog, but does not appear in graduation lists in subsequent catalogs.) Known by his fans as ERB authored the Tarzan novels.

ERB entered the academy in 1892 and was noted for his rebelliousness. After attending the Academy for only a short time, he left without notice on a train bound for Chicago. As punishment, he was sent back to the academy, where he graduated in 1895. He later spent time as an instructor at the Academy

From the Edgar Rice Burroughs Autobiography
Figarello, Emelio: But there was another Assistant Commandant there for a few months during the early part of the school year with whom I could pass what little time I had off duty, which incidentally was not a great deal. I was always up before reveille and I had to make inspections of barracks after taps and in between time I was kept pretty busy.This chap to whom I refer was a captain of cavalry in the Italian army, on leave. Emelio Figarello, Count de Gropello, was a great big overgrown boy; a lovable chap who could never understand us or our ways and who, when gauged by the narrow provincialism of a small American private school in those days, could not be understood by us.To the boys of the corps he was a standing joke because of his hysteric excitability and his lack of knowledge of our language. He horrified the members of the faculty by his casual references to natural phenomena, which in those days were not mentioned in the presence of ladies. He and I ate together at a lonely little table in the messhall, where we could watch the cadets and keep them from enjoying their meals, and it was then, as I perceived Emelio’s table manners, that I reconstructed all my previously conceived conceptions of European nobility. Now, after the passing of years and a broader experience of people, I realize that he was, perhaps, the only human being among us. I know that he had a heart of gold and I imagine that at home he was some pumpkins.His family owned a whole town and he had a most gorgeous watch that had been presented to him personally by the King of Italy. When he left us he went to South America and I have often wondered what became of him.

ERB's Fellow Cadet and Lifelong Friend
Weston, Herbert Towle
2nd Lieutenant, Company B 1895; Mining in Houghton, MI in 1905

Gatling Gun Detachment Drill

MMA Dress Parade

MMA Football with University of Michigan
MMA 14 - Ann Arbor 0

MMA – Full Dress Parade
 Every Sunday in the summer they had a dress parade. They were all in their white uniforms.
They had a large brass band and went through all their drills, including the horse cavalry.
Then they had their gun salute. Then at the end of the day shot off one of the big cannons.
People came from all over to see the dress parade.
The D.U.R. street car company always ran special cars for that day.
They had a circle track built at the parade grounds, so they could turn around there.
They would wait there until the parade was over and take the people back home.

MMA – Cadets in the Gym

MMA - Library

MMA – Dorm Room

MMA – Fulldress Drill

MMA – Cavalry Platoon

MMA – Charge Practice

MMA – Cadets on shore of Orchard Lake
 

MMA – Drills

MMA – Acrobatic Horseplay
 

MMA Band

Battalion in the area, M.M.A.
 

 M.M.A Rifle Firing Practice
 

Battalion firing, kneeling, MMA

Battery Firing, M.M.A.

Cavalry Detachment, Throwing Horses, M.M.A.

The Cadets at Mess, M.M.A.

Orchard Lake 3-D Stereoview Card with the M.M.A. Tower of "The Castle" in the background.
Visit our collection of thousands more Stereoviews in countries around the world:
www.hillmanweb.com/3d

REFERENCES
Charles King Tribute
www.ERBzine.com/king
General King Tribute I
www.erbzine.com/mag11/1170.html
General King Tribute II
www.erbzine.com/mag11/1171.html

Off-Site
American Memory Site
Library of Congress
www.loc.gov
Bloomfield Historical Society
www.gwbhs.org/collection/michigan-military-academy

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