Here's a couple of pics of my mother's father. Since I came along later in my parent's marriage, I only knew one grandparent. This gentleman wasn't that grandparent. Both grandfathers and grandmother on my dad's side had died years before. On a recent trip to my home town, I spent time with an older cousin who had these two old photos of Granddad Cain when he was in the Spanish American War. He was approx. 24-25 years old at the time.


Thought I'd include this one since it contains the name of the photo studio in Cuba
In the pic of him by himself, it is obvious that the background is a studio backdrop. I'm thinking the rifle may have also been a prop owned by the photographer, vs an at that time current rifle. It looks like a much older cap and ball setup, which, with my limited knowledge of military weapons, would have come from several years prior to 1898.
Any thoughts from you experts on this?