An interesting counterpoint to the stereo view of military attachés taken in Cuba during the Spanish-American war just two years before, in this view we see representatives of the United States, Russian, Germany, France, Austria, and Italy in Cape Town, South Africa During the Anglo-Boer War.
Seated on the ground from the left are Captain Stephen L'Hommedieu Slocum, 8th U.S. Cavalry, and Hauptman (Captain) Robert Trimmel of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Seated on the bench are the French attaché Colonel Albert Gerard Leo D'Amade and Russian attaché Lieutenant-Colonel Pavel Alexandrovich Stakhovich. Standing from left: Major Domenico Augusto Gentilini of Italy and Hauptman Arhtur Rudolph Freiherr von Lüttwitz of Imperial Germany.
Stereo View
Underwood & Underwood - Photographer
New York, London, Toronto - Canada, Ottawa - Kansas
1900
Left: Captain (later Colonel) Stephen L'Hommedieu Slocum, 8th U.S. Cavalry was born on 11 August, 1859 in Cincinnati, Ohio the son of Col. Joseph Jermain Slocum and Sallie L'Hommedieu. He was educated at Charlier Institute in New York and entered Columbia College.
Slocum received a special appointment to the U.S. Army by President Hayes and was assigned to the 18th Infantry Regiment in Montana before transferring to the 8th U.S. Cavalry. As an officer in the 8th, he took part in the campaign against the Nez Perces and was present at the Canyon Creek fight (13 September 1877). He also took part in the 8th Cavalry's epic march of 2600 miles (the longest ever made by a United States Cavalry unit) from Texas to Fort Meade, South Dakota in May 1888. In command of “F” Troop, 8th Cavalry, Slocum
was present at Standing Rock Agency when the great Sioux chief Sitting Bull was killed (15 December 1890).
Slocum was later appointed to the post of military attaché to Portugal (1899) and then London (1899-1900) traveling to South Africa to
observe the Anglo-Boer War (1900). He was then stationed at St. Petersburg, Russia (1900-02) and then in British India (1907). Attaché to Norway and Sweden from 1907-10 and then London again from 1911-12.
Due to his assignments as military attaché Slucom missed his regiment's participation the Cuba during the Spanish American War (1898). He rejoined his regiment in Kansas (1903) and deployed with it to the Philippines during the Insurrection for two years serving on the General Staff in Manila.
He retired at his own request in 1912 after his final stint at attaché in London. Recalled to active duty during World War One, Slocum once again held his old position as military attaché for the duration of the war. Retiring again after the war, Slocum died at his home in Washington D.C. on 14 December, 1933.
During his military career Slucom was presented with the U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal (WWI), the Indian Wars Campaign Medal, The Philippines Insurrection
Campaign Medal, the World War One Victory Medal (with “England” bar), the Companion of the Oder of the Bath (WWI), the Queen's South Africa Medal.
Right: A recreation of Stephen L'Hommedieu Slocum's medal
group. The medals are shown
in their proper order of precedence as prescribed in U.S. Army
regulations.
A special thanks to Mr. Kevin Joynt for providing medal roll information confirming Slocum's entitlement to the six clasps for his Queen's South Africa Medal.
Right: Captain Robert Trimmel (1870 - 1959) was a member of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff. He served as military attaché in South Africa from November 1899 to July 1900 and was with
General Roberts during the fall of Pretoria. He lectured widely on his observations made during the Anglo-Boer War. He published these observations in a 21-page booklet titled Eindrucke und
Beobachtungen aus dem Boerenkriege.
In 1914 He was in command of the Austro-Hungarian Infantrie Regiment Nr. 8.
Left: Major Domenico Augusto Gentilini (1862-1907) was born in Bologna and graduated from the Royal Military Academy in 1883. He served in a number of regimental postings prior to his assignment to observe the South African War.
Francis Newdigate Jourdain recalled Gentilini in his 1934 book Ranging Memories: "Major Gentilini (Italy) I never heard of again..." Gentilini had apparently died in 1907 from typhus contracted while in South Africa.
Right: Lieutenant-Colonel (later Lieutenant-General) Pavel Alexandrovich Stakhovich. Almost no information has been found on this Imperial Russian officer.
Left" Colonel Albert Gerard Leo D'Amade was born at Toulouse on December 27 1856. He was the son of an officer and was educated at La Fleche before entering the army in 1876. He severed as a military attaché in Peking, China for four years beginning in 1887 and later in South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War and then in London, England. A general by 1907 he commanded the expeditionary force during the Moroccan Campaign of that year.
Early in World War One, he was placed in command of the so-called "Army of the Alps" which was intended to block any advance of Italian troops in that theater. This plan came to nothing when Italy joined the Allies. D'Amade held several commands on the Western Front before being placed in charge of the Army of the Levant which deployed to the Dardenelles. He was recalled to France in May 1916 with his reputation in shambles. He ended the war as commander of the 10th Military Region in Rennes.
After the war, he retired in Gironde and died at Fronsec on 11 November 1941.
Right: Hauptman (Captain and later Lieutenant-General) Arthur Rudolph Freiherr von Lüttwitz was born on 9 April 1865 at Castle Lodygowitz in Galicia, the son of Baron Max von Lüttwitz and Irma von Gyula Gaal.
He was assigned as a 2nd Lieutenant in No. 3 Royal Prussian Guards Grenadier Regiment in 1882 and to the Fusilier Battalion of the regiment in 1889. He was ordered (as 1st Lieutenant) to the Prussian Military Academy on 1 October 1890 and trained there for three years as a staff officer. He transferred to the General Staff on 1 April 1894 and was promoted Captain in March 1895. In March 1896 he assumed command of the Staff's Topographic Surveying Division.
In May of 1898 Lüttwitz was posted to London, England as a military attaché and traveled to South Africa in October 1899.
Promoted Major in 1900 he was reassigned to St. Petersburg, Russia again as a military attaché before returning to Germany in mid-1904. In April 1906 he assumed command of the 1st Battalion, No. 4 Queen Augusta Guards Grenadier Regiment. He returned to the General Staff in 1907 and was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in May 1908.
Promoted Colonel in 1911, he took command of the No. 76 Infantry Regiment. Promoted to Major-General on 22 April 1914 he assumed command of the 39th Infantry Brigade. With the outbreak of World War One Lüttwitz was transferred back to the General Staff and appointed Military Governor of Brussels, Belgium. Between 1914 and 1917 he held command of several infantry brigades and divisions. Most notably in October of 1917 while in command of the 16th Infantry Division he successfully fought off several British attacks during the Battle of Passchendaele. For this, he was awarded the Order Pour le Mérite (the Blue Max). He was also promoted Lieutenant-General in January 1918.
In September 1918 he was placed in command of the XXXVIII Reserve Corps a post which he seems to have held until the end of the war. He appears to have left the army in May of 1919 and settled in Baden-Baden. He died on 6 May 1928 in Baden-Baden.
Von Lüttwitz married Miss Mary Cary of Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A. in Cleveland on July 14, 1892. They had met while she was traveling in Europe several years earlier. She assumed the title of Baroness upon her marriage.