Sousa and Lieutenant Friedlander were surprised to later learn that the composer of "The Caisson Song" was still living and that the song had been written in 1908 by artillery First Lieutenant (later Brigadier General) Edmund L. Gruber, with some help on the lyrics from Lieutenant William Bryden, and Lieutenant (later Major General) Robert M. Danford, while stationed at Fort Stotsenburg in the Philippines. Reportedly, Gruber may have been influenced by music composed by Alfred C. Montin at Fort Sheridan in Illinois, shortly before his unit was transferred to Fort Sill in Oklahoma.