USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Early Philadelphia; its people, life and progress > Part 20
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" The principal supporters of our City practicing balls are a strange medley of capering youths, who, the moment they are released from the finger drudgery of pen, ink, and paper, repair to the Assembly, where they contrive to kill an evening in the pleasing avocations of dancing and quarreling, occasionally interspersed with the delightful auxiliaries of smoking and drinking. When the promiscuous variety are met, they employ a portion of their time in quarreling for places in a set for a cotillon or country dance, and are famous for a peculiar dialect, for spitfire aggrava- tions, provoking phrases, quaint oaths, and thundering mouth grenades. Should the heat of the weather require more air than exercise they retire to a witt drawing-room, where they stupefy their senses by the narcotic fumes of the cigar, dry their skins to parchment, bake their entrails to cinders, and exhaust all their radical moisture; so that when they return to their partners the room is perfumed like the interior of a warehouse on James River. Some exercise other extravagances-qualify their lemonade with the tincture of pure cognac, of which their fair partners sip a drop or two to prevent danger from excessive heat, and which these foplings drench in quantities, so that in the conclusion they become as noisy and quarrelsome as apes."
Only two years elapsed, however, before some gentle- men met at Renshaw's Hotel and resolved "that in the City of Philadelphia, the residence of so much elegance, and the resort of so much gayety, there ought to be Dancing Assemblies." Accordingly, subscription books were or- dered to be opened, but in the meantime a notice was published that a Cotillon Party had been formed which postponed the revival of the City Dancing Assembly until 1819.
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As early as 1792 money was subscribed for a perma- nent home and the trustees of the fund actually bought a lot of land. No building was erected, although the project seems to have been kept alive as late as 1824. In 1839 a handsome Bachelor's Ball was given in the hall of the Franklin Institute, on Chestnut Street, and in 1849 we find the first record of the Assembly Balls at Musical Fund Hall, on Locust Street at Eighth, where they con- tinued to be given with some interruptions until 1865, when the Academy of Music became their home. In 1904 the size of the ball demanded enlarged quarters and it was moved to the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, in Broad Street at Walnut. The Balls are managed by a group of gentle- men who have sometimes been chosen by the subscribers and sometimes by other managers.
THE CITY TROOP
F Philadelphia's many ancient institu- tions perhaps none is more widely known than the organization popu- larly called " The City Troop," that long sustained gleam of brilliancy which came into our peaceful Quaker drab so long ago as 1774. The call which these spirited young gentlemen heeded, have always heeded, was that of their country, but they have never traded upon patriotism or record for public favour nor forsaken the old Philadelphia characteristic of modesty and reserve.
At the outbreak of trouble with England there were a number of important organizations for sport and social intercourse among Philadelphians of quality. The oldest was the "Colony in Schuylkill " and there were also the " Schuylkill Company of Fort St. David's," "The St. Andrew's Society of Philadelphia," " The Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick," " The Society of the Sons of St. George " and the " Gloucester Fox Hunting Club." It was from these happy groups that the troop of light horse was almost entirely recruited, especially from the first and last named. On the evening of Thursday, November 17, 1774, while the Continental Congress was sitting in the Hall of the Carpenter's Company, twenty- eight gentlemen met there and associated themselves as the Light Horse of the City of Philadelphia, the first organi- zation of volunteers formed to maintain the rights of the people against the oppression of the British Government. Their names were:
Abraham Markoe Andrew Allen
Henry Hill
John Boyle
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Samuel Morris
William Tod
James Mease
John Mitchell
Thomas Leiper
George Campbell
William Hall
Samuel Caldwell
Samuel Penrose
Andrew Caldwell
Samuel Howell, Jr.
Levi Hollingsworth
James Hunter
Blair McClenachan
James Budden
George Groff
John Dunlap
Benjamin Randolph
John Mease
Thomas Peters
Robert Hare
George Fullerton
William Pollard
William West, Jr.
The officers chosen were:
Abraham Markoe. Captain
Andrew Allen .
First Lieutenant
Samuel Morris.
Second Lieutenant and Adjutant
James Mease. Cornet
Thomas Leiper
First Sergeant
William Hall Second Sergeant
Samuel Penrose. Quartermaster
William Pollard.
First Corporal
James Hunter
.Second Corporal
The members agreed to equip and support themselves at their own expense and to offer their services to the Con- tinental Congress. The uniform adopted was a dark brown short coat, faced and lined with white, white vest and breeches, high-topped boots, round black hat, bound with silver cord, a buck's tail; housings brown, edged with white and the letters L. H. worked on them. Arms, a carbine, a pair of pistols and holsters, with flounces of brown cloth trimmed with white, a horseman's sword, white belt for the sword and carbine.
Several times a week during winter and spring they met in earnest preparation for active duty, under the instruction of Mr. Moffit as sword-master and horse trainer.
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Captain Markoe presented the cherished standard to the Troop in the spring and it is remarkable as being the first flag to bear the thirteen stripes, symbolizing the thirteen colonies now joined in a common need. This flag is of yellow with the thirteen stripes in the upper left- hand corner alternately blue and silver.
By this time the Troop was drilling every day, to say nothing of an occasional dinner. One of these at the Buck Tavern on May 20, 1775, offered to some twenty gentlemen a " dressed turtle, 71/2 bot. Madeira, 16 bot. Claret, 10 bot. Porter, 6 bot. Beer and 16 bowls Punch." The Troop was assigned to the " Associators " commanded by Colonel John Cadwalader and paraded on June 8, 1775, on the Commons before the Continental Congress and again on June 20th, when it was reviewed by General Washington, Commander-in-Chief of all the North Amer- ican forces. When the General set out on June 23rd to take command of the Army at Cambridge he was escorted by the Troop as far as Kingsbridge, New York, two of his equipment of five horses being furnished by Cornet James Mease. The last was the beginning of a long list of indi- vidual services rendered by members of the Troop which distinguish its records down to modern times. Not satisfied with active service in a small unit, the members have given widely of their capacity as opportunity offered. When in November "Lady " Washington was on her way to join her distinguished husband the Troop escorted her into and out of the City.
In the early part of 1776 Samuel Morris became Cap- tain and led the Troop in the review of May 27th, before Generals Washington, Gates and Mifflin, the Congress, members of the Assembly and "a vast concourse of people." Details of the Troop now began to perform im-
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portant duties such as bearing despatches, escorting pris- oners and conveying money to the several camps of the army, always returning with letters of appreciation and commendation from the General in command. These ex- peditions were fraught with more danger than appears in their recital, both from natural and military difficulties, very long journeys being made in a wild country. The whole Troop reported to Washington at Trenton on De- cember 2, 1776, and under his immediate direction covered the rear of the retreating army and established headquar- ters at Newtown. On the eventful Christmas night when Colonel Rahl's Hessians were surprised and taken, the Troop had an active part and acted as Washington's escort. The character and ability of the men seem to have im- pressed the American Commanders for they were con- stantly using small details on important duties rather than fighting the Troop as a whole. At Princeton Captain Morris' men performed valiant service and after the army had encamped at Morristown for the winter was relieved from duty as a unit, the Commander-in-Chief tendering the individual members Commissions in the Army as a reward for their gallantry and sending Captain Morris the prized letter complimenting the command " composed of Gentlemen of Fortune " for their "noble Example of discipline and subordination " which he says " will ever do Honour to them and will ever be gratefully remembered by me."
In the late summer of 1777 " an Officer and Six Gentle- men of the Philadelphia Light Horse " were directed by the Board of War to escort Benjamin Chew and John Penn, Esq'rs, as prisoners to Fredericksburg, Virginia. This was no doubt a pleasant outing but must have been rather an unpleasant duty. When Washington led his
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forlorn army through the City to destroy Howe's prospect of a winter in Philadelphia, the Troop, as usual, escorted him, and Captain Morris, with a few others, kept the field to the end of October, serving with General Armstrong at the Battle of Germantown. The men of the Troop " who enjoy in a peculiar degree the gifts of fortune and of a cultivated understanding " being of "Property and Spirit " were on the alert for service and were constantly employed during the following winter and spring as aides and express riders. One is struck with the independence with which the command and its individual members acted. All through the early records this feature is prominent. The Troop would serve for a particular campaign or emer- gency or for escort to some distinguished personage and then disband until the next occasion arose. One of the most notable civil duties which called the Troop into service was the defense of James Wilson, signer of the Declaration of Independence, who was besieged in his house by a mob on the night of October 4, 1779, on account of his acting as legal adviser for some Tories who had been indicted for treason. After some violence the Troop came on the scene and amid cries of " The Horse, the Horse," the mob dispersed not, however, without injury. A similar attack the next night upon Private David Lenox at " Grumble- thorpe," Main Street and Indian Queen Lane, German- town, was forestalled by his niece walking to the City and bringing the Troop to the rescue.
In the attempt of Robert Morris to save the national credit by establishing the Pennsylvania Bank in 1789 twenty-eight of the Troop joined and subscribed more than one-fourth of the total capital of the bank. After the surrender at Yorktown the captured British and Ger- man colours were brought to Philadelphia and paraded
19
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through the streets, escorted by the Troop and a full band of music. On this occasion 72 active members and 11 of the original members turned out. At the close of the war there were eighty-eight names upon the roll.
It would be but continued repetition to recite the many important occasions when the Troop has acted as escort for the President of the United States, Foreign Ambassa- dors and distinguished persons from at home and abroad. Samuel Morris resigned as Captain in 1786 and Samuel Miles was chosen in his place to be followed in 1790 by Christian Febiger, and by John Dunlap in 1793. Under the last three the Troop was frequently near Washington while he was President, acting as his escort on all public occasions.
The year 1794 marked an important event in the Troop's history. Their uniform was changed. The brown coat became blue faced with red and with white edging. The horse was to have a white saddle cloth with blue edging and a blue and white headpiece. An undress uniform was added consisting of a blue short jacket, red collar and cuffs, and mixed gray overalls. The change was just in time to be shown in the Whiskey Insurrection, which, it should very briefly be explained, was an uprising of certain of the inhabitants of the counties lying west of the Alleghany Mountains in Pennsylvania, in oppositon to the recently enacted Excise Law of the United States, imposing duties on domestic distilled liquors. The Troop by resolution at the City Tavern volunteered their services and were sent to the upper end of Washington County where they took Colonel Crawford and his son, Mr. Sedgwick, a justice of the peace, and Mr. Corbly, a clergyman of the Baptist persuasion, " with the greatest dexterity." This was the beginning of service in many civil outbreaks in which the
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Troop was ever prompt to render what service it could to the State and Nation. The Troop unselfishly donated their entire pay for services in the Revolution to the Penn- sylvania Hospital, for the foundation of a maternity ward.
Robert Wharton was elected Captain in 1808 and in 1809 another change was made in the uniform.
" Instead of a Coatee, a round Jacket of dark blue Cloth with a small skirt, ornamented with silver Cord. The Facings, Cuffs and Collars to be of scarlet Cloth or Cassimere, each facing at the bottom to be about 4 inches broad and increase gradually to the Chest. Two rows of Buttons on the Breast facing, twelve on each side, with silver Cord to meet in the middle of the breast, and to reach from Button to Button across the Chest, the Jacket to reach the Hip bones. Two Buttons with Silver Cord on each side of the Collar, and three Buttons with silver cord on each sleeve. The Jacket to be lined with White and edged with it."
In this year also the long room at the Shakespeare Hotel was hired at $3.00 per evening for dismounted drill during the winter, no refreshments "other than Beer, Spirits, Brandy and Segars " to be charged to the fund for defraying expenses of drill.
The trouble with Great Britain caused the formation of a cavalry regiment of which the Troop was a part and Captain Wharton the Colonel. Charles Ross was elected Captain and the Troop exercised several times a month, being also " present at all inspections, reviews and pa- rades," until the taking of the City of Washington in 1814, when it was called into the field and sent toward Baltimore on vidette duty. Former Captain Wharton, who had become a Brigadier General in 1812, was serving again as a private in the Troop and while taking his turn as a company cook on this expedition was called to be Mayor of Philadelphia. The Troop returned in December and celebrated their discharge with a dinner at the Wash-
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ington Hotel which cost $300 for " Dinner, Dessert, Ma- deira, Claret, Punch, Segars, Ale, Porter, Cyder, Brandy, etc., and a further sum for some broken Decanters, Wines and Tumblers."
Captain Ross died in 1817 and First Lieutenant John R. C. Smith became Commander. He led the Troop in the welcome accorded General Lafayette on his second visit to the United States in 1824. The next year Captain Smith was deprived of his commission by Court Martial for dis- obedience of orders and First Lieutenant Lynford Lard- ner was elected in his place, to be followed in 1827 by William H. Hart. John Butler was made Captain in 1842 and died in service as Captain of the Third United States Dragoons at Mier, Mexico, in 1847. Thomas C. James succeeded him and led the Troop on May 30, 1861, when it entered the conflict between the States as a part of the Second United States Cavalry, George H. Thomas commanding. After active service it was mustered out in August but many of the members returned to the Army and served with distinction as officers on the Northern side. The remainder went out when Lee's army marched into Pennsylvania and with some recruits saw active ser- vice until July 31, 1863, under the command of Cornet Samuel J. Randall. Cornet Randall was chosen tempor- ary Captain in July, 1864, and so served while the Troop attended the body of President Lincoln during its stay in Philadelphia.
After the war there was no immediate election of officers, since so many members had held commissions in the active service of the Nation as to make a choice embar- rassing, but in 1866 Fairman Rogers was made Captain, to be followed in 1869 by Mr. Edward Rogers. In 1877 A. Loudon Snowden was elected Captain and commanded
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in the Pittsburgh railway riots of that year. The next year Private Edward Burd Grubb, a Brigadier General of the Civil War, was chosen and served until 1889, when Joseph Lapsley Wilson took his place, only to return his commission to General Grubb in 1894.
John C. Groome was elected Captain in 1896 and led the Troop to Porto Rico in the War with Spain, during 1898, when it was the first volunteer cavalry organization to land on foreign shores, and brought back the ninety-nine men who went out. Captain J. Franklin McFadden was elected in 1910 and commanded on the Mexican border in 1916. Captain George C. Thayer was elected in 1917.
The meeting places of the Troop form a long list. The early ones were at various public and private houses, such as the City Tavern on South Second Street, William Ogden's at the Middle Ferry on the Schuylkill River, the old fish house of the "State in Schuylkill " and others. The first fixed home of its own seems to have been in 1828 at Sixth and Carpenter Streets and after more meetings at hotels intervening the members gathered at Eighth and Chestnut Streets and then at Twelfth and Chestnut. In 1864 the Armory at Twenty-first and Ash Streets was opened and the first mounted drills held indoors. Several extensions were made and in 1900 the present armory on Twenty-third Street was built.
On Anniversary Day, November 17th, the Troop has a great celebration each year, when it " parades and dines." This is repeated on each Washington's Birthday and begins with a parade from the Armory on Twenty-third Street down to Thirteenth and Walnut Streets and back. This curious route is caused by an old tradition that on this dis- tinguished occasion the Troopers should parade past " the club " where their friends were assembled to admire them.
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Of course " the club " was the Philadelphia Club which for many years has been housed at Thirteenth and Walnut Streets.
The origin of this custom is interesting. In the old days, when they held their meetings in the small rooms of inns, their numbers so crowded the room that the waiters could not spread the banquet that followed the meeting, consequently the Troopers were politely asked to take a walk while the dinner was being laid. Where should they go but to " the club " and how should they go but in mili- tary formation.
Philadelphia is justly proud of its old Troop of " Light Horse" and they are trotted out upon every important occasion as of old. Nor are they met with quip or jest by the populace as are many similar organizations of " gentle- men " elsewhere, because most people know what they have done and what they are always ready to do.
THE WISTAR PARTIES
HE letters of John Adams to his wife are enthusiastic in describing the luxurious living prevalent among the " Nobles of Pennsylvania " but among his gossipy references to the people he meets and their bounteous entertainments no better observa- tion is recorded than that he has found " high thinking " here which is better than high living. The best example of this feature of Philadelphia life is found in the notable gatherings at Fourth and Prune Streets, now Locust, under the hospitable roof of Dr. Caspar Wistar. These represented the genial and social side of learn- ing. The house, which has been restored within and without to much of its original beauty, was built about 1750 and lived in for a time by Dr. William Shippen, perhaps the most talented member of his family. His marriage to Alice Lee, daughter of Thomas Lee of Vir- ginia, was one of the many connections between the Colo- nial families of Philadelphia and the county families of Virginia and Maryland, and made his house the centre for the Virginia aristocrats visiting Philadelphia.
In 1799 Dr. Caspar Wistar moved from High Street near Fourth to Fourth and Prune Streets and continued to live there until his death in 1818. Dr. Wistar was a very busy man, having an extensive practice and a chair at the University. His unusual traits of character and his genius for intellectual leadership made him an object of affectionate homage by his friends who loved to enjoy the hospitable moments of his leisure time. As these were necessarily limited, the custom was formed of dropping in on him on Sunday evenings when they were pretty sure of
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finding him at home. As the years passed these weekly gatherings became one of Philadelphia's most cherished institutions, the same group of friends meeting week after week. They included most Philadelphians of distinction, and as all strangers of note were introduced into this circle of choice spirits, it became the centre of the literary and scientific society of the City. Dr. Wistar's close association with the American Philosophical Society made his house the rally point of the learned world, and, in time, there came to be an approximate identity between the smaller body for social intercourse and that of the larger and world- famous scientific body.
The entertainment was simple, consisting of wine and cake, tea and coffee, as Dr. Wistar's idea was an intellect- ual rather than a convivial gathering. The table was seldom spread. In 1811 the night of the meeting was changed from Sunday to Saturday evening and ice cream, raisins and almonds were added to the refreshments. Ter- rapin, oysters and other delicacies were introduced later. The guests usually ranged from ten to fifty in number and the regular habitués had the privilege of bringing whom they would. Invitations began in October or No- vember and continued to be sent out until April, gathering the best the new world civilization could produce of talent, learning, courtly grace and good breeding. Some of the most notable visitors were Baron von Humboldt, the natu- ralist; Bonplaud, the botanist; the witty Abbe Correa de Serra; Mr. Samuel Breck, of Boston; Dr. John W. Fran- cis, of New York; Robert Walsh, Joseph Hopkinson, Nicholas Biddle, Dr. Nathiell Chapman and the older physicians, Dr. Benjamin Rush, the many-sided, who " be- longed to humanity;" Dr. Adam Kuhn, both the William Shippens, father and son, eminent physicians practising
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at the same time, and the peaceful Dr. Griffitts-William Rawle, lawyer and theologian; Chief Justice William Tilghman, whose biographical sketch of Dr. Wistar sur- vives; George Clymer, statesman and patriot; Peter Du- ponceau, the Moravian missionary ; John Heckewelder and the Unitarian philanthropist John Vaughan at the ex- tremes of doctrine, and a host of other celebrities, whose names are a sufficient guarantee of the brilliance of these gatherings.
Dr. Wistar's fame does not, however, rest upon the Wistar Parties. He had studied medicine at Edinburgh and was a professor in the University, a teacher, physician, man of science and the author of the first American treatise on Anatomy. His demeanour was dignified, modest and courteous and he was ardent in inciting the members of the Philosophical Society, while he was its president, to collect the materials of American history before it was too late. He made the work of its committee so interesting by his own anecdotes that they sat long into the night listening to him.
When Dr. Wistar died in 1818 a few of his more intimate friends determined to continue their pleasant association and formed an organization which they called the " Wistar Parties" with membership in the Philosophical Society and a unanimous vote requisites for joining. Three parties a year were held until the Civil War broke up for a time the wholesome convivial- ity. Members were selected for their attainments and twenty Philadelphians were permitted as guests with no limit to strangers. Attendance was punctual at eight o'clock and the entertainment remained simple and un- ostentatious.
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In 1835 Job R. Tyson bought Dr. Wistar's old house and once more it opened to the learned and jovial brother- hood, the meetings being held in rotation at the houses of the members.
In the early part of the eighteenth century Philadelphia was better known abroad than any other American city and all travellers of consequence came to it. These were entertained, if fortunately nearby, at the Wistar Parties and we find such names as General Moreau, the younger Murat, the Marquis de Grouchy, the poet Moore, Prince de Canino, son-in-law of Joseph Bonaparte, President Madison, the diplomat William Short, representative of the United States to France, Spain and the Netherlands, the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, President John Quincy Adams, Thackeray, Mr. Pedersen, minister from Denmark, Colonel Beckwith and several French Chevaliers.
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