vintageship

Marines - League Isl'd. (LOC)

from The Library of Congress

• cotinis said:

  Again, caption says "2/13", February, 1913. League Island in the Delaware River, site of the Phil. Naval Shipyard.

• Joe said:

  The New York Times archive lets us down on this one. There's a 175 word article dated February 20, 1913, with the headline "LEAGUE ISLAND MARINES OFF.; 1,300 Sail Early This Morning -- 8-Inch Shells Aboard." Unfortunately, the .pdf of the complete article is blank except for the fragment "....they had been ordered to rush the work. The shells are intended for use on the warships." A Marine Corps Historical Reference Pamphlet (online here) says, in the second paragraph of part 3, Section I:

  "The final one of these temporary '2d Regiment' organizations to be formed was designated as the 2d Regiment, 2d Provisional Brigade on 19 February 1913 at Philadelphia. Headed by Colonel Joseph H. Pendleton, the regiment was originally intended for duty in Mexico as part of an expeditionary brigade. Instead, it was sent to Guantanamo Bay and held in readiness for emergency duties, while undergoing intensive training. On 1 May, this unit was redesignated 2d Regiment, Expeditionary Force, USMC. As such, it remained in Cuba until the latter part of the month, when it boarded the PRAIRIE for the United States, arriving at Philadelphia on 1 June, when it was dissolved."

  It seems a reasonable surmise that the Marines in these photos, and those who were the subject of the Times article, might have been this regiment.

• Harry Angstrom said:

  actually, the NYTimes article is there, you need to scroll down to see the first part.

• The Library of Congress said:

  Cotinis, whyaduck, and Harry Angstrom: Thanks for your comments and information. We will add the date and location to our source data and reload the description.

• Joe said:

  D'OH! Scrolling! Why didn't I think of that?