genfredgrant

That's James "Jimmie" Ward www.earlyaviators.com/eward1.htm Considering that by mid 1912 War was arrested on bigamy charges and Grant lost a battle with Cancer, I would date this pic at 1911.

Thanks for the information! We’ll look into it.

grant died on , July 23, 1885 .. this can't be the US Grant from the Amerian Civil War

This picture together with LC-B2- 2265-8 (Ward and Hudson Maxim) and LC-B2- 2265-9 Ward in his Curtiss airplane) and LC-B2- 2265-5 (Ward taking off from Grosvenor Island New York) all belong together. Pictures were taken on the occasion of the start of the aviator James J. Ward for the Hearst Transcontinental Flight, where he would fly the traject New York - San Francisco. The first who did the transcontinental flight earned the prize allotted by Hearst: $ 50,000. The start in New York of Ward was on September 13, 1911 where he left at 09:00 hours. So the pictures can be exactly dated. According to the record two man in high places were present Major-General Grant (probably 'another' Grant) and Hudson Maxim (the brother of Hiram Maxim, Hudson Maxim was also an inventor). Remarkable is the take off picture which was exactly taken when Ward got the machine loose from the ground. In the background is the Statue of Liberty. As told Ward came not very far and he abandoned his prize flight around the 22nd of September 1911. The whole occassion was reported on in the NY Times September 13, 1911 and following. The report of the start (giving also the names of Major-General Grant and Hudson Maxim) can be found at query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9402E0D91531E2... with the title 'Ward on long flight. Will start from Governors Island Today on a Trip to San Francisco'. Cheers Kees

Varese2002: Thanks for tying the photos together with some added context! We'll see what we can do to reference the event when we edit the description.

The date at the top says Feb 25, 1911. I beleive that's General Frederick Dent Grant (son of General Ulysses S. Grant) and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson. Grant sucumbed to cancer on April 11, 1912.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Dent_Grant

Left: Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson (1867-1950) See also this picture of Secy Stimson & Ge. Grant at lawn party. It is interesting that hanging behind Stimson is the 45-star (pre-Oklahoma) U.S. flag which was replaced by the 46-star version in 1908. Maybe the obscured flag on the right is the contemporary 46-star flag displayed beside the "old" one. In a year's time from this photo, the U.S. would have the 48-star flag that would remain unchanged until 1959.

Maybe its the Fourth of July?

The lawn party was an annual fundraising event for the Army Relief Society, which provided for widows and orphans of officers and enlisted men of the Regular Army. General Frederick Dent Grant, the Army's commanding officer on Governor's Island, was the host on this occasion. General Grant, the son of former President U. S. Grant, resided on the island, and died there, in 1912. We have been misreading the date on this photo as February, but in fact the 1911 party was held on May 25: that's a "5" in the date, not a "2." In response to an email query, Mike Shaver, National Park Service Ranger/Historian at the Governors Island National Monument, provided the date of May 25, 1911, for this event, and also noted that Stimson had been appointed Secretary of War only a few weeks earlier, in that same month. Here is a photo of the lawn party, going full blast: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2163472204/in/p...

See:

For information about the event, see

Major General and Mrs. Frederick Dent Grant were among the VIPs on the launching platform near the bow of the Vestal.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Dent_Grant
"Frederick Dent Grant (May 30, 1850 – April 12, 1912) was a soldier and United States minister to Austria-Hungary. Grant was the first son of General and President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Grant. He was named after his maternal uncle, Frederick Tracy Dent."

His wife was en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Marie_Honoré
"Ida Marie Honoré Grant (June 4, 1854 – September 5, 1930) was an American socialite, philanthropist, and ambassador's wife."

Thanks TVL1970 and swanq. We'll add some of this information to the photos in this series.