Major General Fred Winchester Sladen 1903-1921 Photo album archive - West Point, China, Vancouver and more Over 1100 photos

There are over 1100 photos in these four albums which belonged to Fred Winchester Sladen (1867-1945). The Sladen family is known to military historians as heroes of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is likely that the actual work of assembling and setting the photos was done by Fred's wife Elizabeth Morris Lefferts (1878-1965), of New York City. Together, this set forms an important document of a remarkable figure in American history, just as the country was earning its spot in world leadership. A breakdown of the albums are below. First Album: 90 leaves/180 pages, gray; six leaves detached, 38 leaves blank. Cover well-worn and loose, spine missing, binding intact. 12" x 10" x 2". In these albums, Sladen identifies himself in the captions only as FWS. This first volume covers the first decade of the 20th Century, as he completed training at West Point, started a family in New Jersey and was assigned to a military base on the west coast. As stated, Sladen was of military stock - his father won a Medal of Honor for his service in the Union Army, and later fought the Indians. Similarly, his son Fred Winchester Jr. - seen here in many photos as a toddler and young boy - attended West Point himself and retired as a brigadier general. Fred Sr., our main subject, was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, graduated from West Point in 1890 and, after the events documented in this photo album, went on to serve as an infantry commander in France during the First World War. He retired in the early 1930s - living to see his son decorated as a battalion commander in the Second World War - and died two months after V-E day. His wife would live another twenty years. This first photo-album was likely presented to Sladen and his new wife Elizabeth (referred to in captions as ELS) as a wedding gift, as the record states that they were married in 1903; there are no wedding pictures, but it opens with several pages of photos of life at West Point in 1903-4: the officer's home shown in both exterior and interior shots, along with pictures of numerous buildings: the old hospital, old gymnasium, old chapel, Grant Hall, and various other sites and monuments on campus. Additional photos show the cadets at the firing range, staying in rows of tents, and marching in formation in ceremonial dress. A few pages then show the family living in Belmar, New Jersey, their private home and those of friends, the kids playing in gardens, the family frolicking on the beach. The family stays on Calvert street in Washington, D.C. during one trip east. They will return to Belmar numerous times, both within the scope of this album and in subsequent years covered by this set. The scene then shifts to Washington, where Sladen was assigned to command the Vancouver Barracks, adjacent to Fort Vancouver, which was built in 1849 as the first U.S. Army base in the Pacific Northwest. Many pictures follow of life there - again, the officer's quarters, structures on campus, and a few pictures of the town of Vancouver and walks in the surrounding woods. Pictures of Fred Winchester Jr., playing on the porch or being strolled around nearby walkways take up several pages. We even see Sladen's daughter (EMS in the captions) riding his ceremonial sword as a hobby horse! A 1906 camping trip to the shores of nearby American Lake is also featured; a newspaper clipping from that same year shows Sladen leading the 10th infantry to restore order to San Francisco immediately after the April earthquake and fire there. Two large photos - 7 1/2" x 9 1/2" - show Sladen among a score of officers, with one having "14th infantry - ?" scrawled on the back. The album skips to 1911, at which point Sladen, having evidently impressed his superiors during his stint on the west coast, was reassigned to West Point as the 29th Commandant of Cadets. (From 1922 to 1925, he would return yet again, to serve as the 32nd Superintendent of the Academy). This time his home is more impressive, of course, and his children are older.…