A DASHING YOUNG CAVALRYMAN

Here's my paternal grandfather, Joseph French Page, in the dress uniform of the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry. The photo was taken about 1910, but the uniform is of mid-nineteenth-century style. The Philadelphia Light Horse are considered the oldest military unit in continuous existence in the United States (and the British colonies before that). Organized in 1774, the Troop saw service with Washington's army in battles at Trenton (1776), Princeton (1777), the Brandywine, and Germantown and with the Continental Army encamped at Valley Forge (1777). A unit of the Pennsylvania National Guard, the Troop served under General Black Jack Pershing in the Mexican Punitive Expedition in 1916 and were featured in an entertaining novel by Glendon Swarthout titled The Tin Lizzie Troop. During World War I, they formed part of the 28th "Keystone" Division of the American Expeditionary Force in France. A visit today to the Troop's armory at 23rd and Ranstead Streets in Philadelphia wouldn't yield much evidence of mounted cavalry, but the place bristles with tanks, humvees, armored personnel carriers and mobile artillery. The horses come out only for parades and other ceremonial functions. Like all such military units, the officers' mess is a veritable museum of artifacts, insignia and battle honors. Good old Grandpappy Page -- cuts a dashing figure, doesn't he?