may251911

Title should read GEN. Grant not Ge. Grant

If it was taken the same day as this photograph of Stimson and Grant, then it was taken May 25th, 1911. That makes sense given Stimson's term as Secretary of War and Grant's date of death (see below).

General Grant was Frederick Dent Grant (May 30, 1850 – April 12, 1912), the oldest son of Ulysses S. Grant. He died of cancer on Governer's Island just over a year after this photo was taken.

The man in the top hat escorting Grant was Henry L. Stimson (1867-1950) appointed Secretary of War in 1911.

He went on to be Secretary of State, the Governor of the Philippines and again Secretary of War in the 1940's during which he oversaw the Manhattan Project and chiefly influenced Truman to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Governer's Island is at the mouth of the East River in New York just across from the much smaller Ellis Island. Below is a lithograph from around the same time (1911):

The occasion for this photo was an annual event on Governors Island, the lawn party of the Army Relief Society. The party was a fundraiser for the organization, which provided succor to widows and orphans of officers and enlisted men of the Regular Army. Pictured here is the 1911 version, which was held on May 25, 1911. In response to an email query, Mike Shaver, National Park Service Ranger/Historian at the Governors Island National Monument, provided the date of this event, and also noted that Henry L. Stimson had been appointed Secretary of War only a few weeks earlier, in that same month of May, 1911. Stimson served in the cabinet of President William Howard Taft. Here is another photo of Stimson with General Grant: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2162710703/in/p... Here is a photo of the lawn party, when the excitement was at full tilt: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2163472204/in/p... General Grant was the host on this occasion; as Commanding General of the United States Army, Department of the East, he resided on Governor's Island. In fact, he died there, on April 11, 1912.

Wystan: Thanks for the additional information and bringing our attention to the date on the negative. We'll add the date to the record next time we update.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_L._Stimson en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Grant en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governors_Island

Photographed on Governors Island in New York harbor, May 25, 1911. Henry L. Stimson had been appointed Secretary of War in the administration of President Taft just a few weeks earlier. General Frederick Dent Grant (son of President Grant) was commanding officer on Governors Island, where he lived with his family. This occiasion was the annual lawn party sponsored by the Army Relief Society, which raised money to succor widows and orphans of officers and enlisted men of the Regular Army. The Lawn Party:

Picture was taken September, 1912 at the christening of the USS Wyoming in Philadelphia, PA. Note Dorothy Knight's identified picture here. The riveted metal shape is the boat's prow. J.M. Carey was a congressman and then governor of Wyoming, elected 1912 (see book reference here).

Picture was taken on May 25, 1911. www.glasglow.com/e2/us/USS_Wyoming_(BB-32).html: USS Wyoming (BB-32), the lead ship of her class of battleship was the third ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 44th state. Her keel was laid down on 9 February 1910, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by William Cramp and Sons. She was launched on 25 May 1911, sponsored by Miss Dorothy Eunice Knight, the daughter of former Chief Justice Jesse Knight of the Wyoming Supreme Court. The ship saw service in WWI and WWII, and was scrapped in 1947.

Joseph Maull Carey (January 19, 1845 – February 5, 1924) was a lawyer, rancher, judge, and politician, who spent most of his political career in Wyoming before and after it achieved statehood. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Maull_Carey en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wyoming_(BB-32)

Wystan and Richard Arthur Norton: Thanks for the names here. We'll include them next time we update the description.