George Wood Wingate

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George Wood Wingate (1840-1928) was an American lawyer and organizer of rifle practice. During the Civil War he served in a New York regiment, and later supervised the construction of elevated railways in Brooklyn. In 1867 Wingate drew up rules for systematic rifle practice by Company A, 22d regiment, New York National Guard, of which he was then captain. The publication of these rules (the first of the kind to be formulated in the United States) led to the organization (in 1871) of the National Rifle Association of America, of which he was first secretary and later president for 25 years. Besides special articles on military subjects he published:

Manual for Rifle Practice (1872; seventh edition, 1880)
The Great Cholera Riots (1880)
Through the Yellowstone Park on Horseback (1886)
History of the 22d Regiment, N. G. N. Y. (1896)

Wingate High School, a public high school in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, now closed, was named for Wingate. The high school's sports teams were known as the 'Generals', for Wingate's rank in the New York National Guard. The General GW Wingate Athletic Field in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn is named for him. The George Wingate High School was closed in June 2000. The campus now houses four new "small" schools under the New Visions Division of rhe New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE). There are, the International Arts Business School, The School for Human Rights, The School for Democracy and Leadership and The School for Public service.