Need help ID'ing this picture

[Hauptmann]

Hi all,

I'd posted this in the Valuation and ID forum to start with but no response so far. This is actually a project I'm doing for a friend of mine. I'm trying to get any information on this picture that I can. It's from a print block she owns.

I believe I've correctly ID'd these as officers of the United States Army circa early 1900's but I'm far from an expert in this area, hence my wanting to post it here.

Again I'm not positive but it seems the officer seated in the center is wearing what I believe is the aguillette of a Presidential Aide. If so, I wonder if it's possible to identify that individual, or any of the others or perhaps even what they are doing together.

It seems that some of them, the younger officer to the left especially, are wearing what appear to me to be shooting medals or a similar type of sporting or competition medals. I've also made semi-educated guesses on ranks, etc. based on the limited references I have on hand. I know that there were comparatively few medals given by our government at that time and feel it would be a stretch for that young an officer to have been awarded quite that many actual medals and his seniors so few.

The one on the far right also appears to be wearing some sort of armband... perhaps he was a referee at the "shooting" or "sporting" event the others participated in. At least that was my guess.

I'm hoping one of the experts here can confirm or deny my guesses and perhaps even ID some of these individuals, etc, and perhaps even give a rough idea of the value of this print block.

It has a piece of purple paper glued to the back, and in very legible pencil it says, "Officer Frances" and what I assume is the last name, looks to start with a T...and the rest looks like it is "ureurs", or it could be "ueurs". They just look like a bunch of "u"s, and one looks like it could be an "r". But the "r" isn't right after the t..or it could be with an extra loop in the bottom of the "t".

I have pics of that paper on the back if it would help but since these all have to go for approval to the moderator I figured I'd hold off and just submit the one picture and info for now.

I've seen some out and out miracle identifications take place here so I'm keeping my fingers tightly crossed on this one.

Many thanks,

Dan

[emblemhunter]

I don't know if it would be of much help, but seeing as they have swords with them, do you have any refference books showing swords you could compare to the photo, it may help give you a year era.

Thier hats do appear to be of US eagle designs so I agree they are most likely US Army.

[Mike]

Just a thought but , I wonder if they could be members of the "New York Guard" which is an Official NY State authorized Militia. More can be found here -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Guard

The NYG has always used the same Uniforms reg and reserve components issue except for using "New York State" ID Tape instead of "U.S. Army" and the NY State Flag patch instead of the US Flag

Look at the Cap Badge in the photo and compare them to this --

[IrishGunner]

Pure speculation; however, the man on the left looks way too young to have so many decorations! Especially, given the likely time period of the photo - it looks old enough to be during a time period when US military decorations were few and far in between.

My guess is that these young gentlemen are from some type of private educational military academy.

[army historian]

My 2 cents: the Officers appear to be wearing pre-1902 Cap insignia (no cloud burst above the eagle). They look regulation. The young Officer is wearing a lot of marksmanship badges (no medals). A better scan would be helpful. Note: none of the Officers are wearing "Medals" so before 1905, and no society medals.