OH YES. Bannerman. THE original military surplus guy. As a collector, it is mindboggling to me that Bannerman's had stockpiled thousands upon thousands of Civil War period firearms, artillery, munitions, accoutrements, uniforms, and odd relics. You name it, he had it. What really is sad is that, up until the 1960's much of that surplus was still available out on the Island. But after the fire in 1967, that was the end of it. Just when the Civil War Centennial was taking place, and the interest in Civil War artifacts was preparing to explode, all of it went away. Out on the Island, Bannerman had two of the Dahlgren Navy rifles that came off of Admiral Farragut's ship Hartford. And as of the 1940's, they were still for sale!!!
I was acquainted with a life long collector and dealer who passed away several years ago, who told me he made it out to the Island in 1962, before the fire. He said the place was still packed full of surplus. He showed me a two black and white photographs that he took. One was a picture of a massive stack of original Civil War Artillery caisson spoke wheels, lined up against a wall in the castle. The other picture was a huge crate of mint, unissued CW canteens. They were without the fabric covering and straps, but they were unissued. Mint. Most of the surplus Cavalry and Artillery short jackets that you see on the market today were Bannerman's originally, as well as surplus Cavalry carbine slings. Bannerman shortened these slings, so it is hard to find one today in its original length. I have one of the "Bannerman" slings.
In Bannerman's New York City location on Broadway, aside from all the surplus for sale, he also had a museum of sorts, where he displayed non-surplus artifacts that he acquired which related to the war. Anytime he was able to acquire some rare artifact he did, and then displayed it in his museum, even though it was still usually for sale.
A life long collector sold his collection off at auction several years ago, and in that collection were two exceptionally rare artifacts that came out of Bannerman's museum, which I was extremely fortunate enough to acquire. Wish I could have visited the place myself in person, in the 1940's or 50's.