Scene showing the State Fencibles militia marching past the Wetherill mansion on the Fatland estate. The men march in seven lines, led by the Fencibles marching band, followed by officers, and then four lines of enlisted men fronted by a single Fencible. All the men wear uniforms and the officers wear Hardee hats, while the enlisted men wear tall, bearskin hats. In the left foreground, a group of well-dressed men, women, and children watch the militia. In the background, other guests line the portico and verandas of the mansion. near clusters of Fencibles and spectators lining the grounds in front of the mansion. The scene also includes the trees and bushes that surround the grounds and mansion. During the 1850s, Dr. Wetherill, partner in the Wetherill & Brother White Lead Works, annually invited the Fencibles to his estate for spring target firing. The June 1859 excursion included seventy-four muskets and five officers, a lunch, dinner, and dance. The State Fencibles was a military organization raised in Philadelphia in 1813 as part of the Pennsylvania militia. In 1871, the military company, recruited under James Page, became attached to the Eighth Regiment National Guard of Pennsylvania. The Fatland seat was owned by gentleman William Bakewell beginning in 1803 before being sold to the Wetherill Family about 1821 and his death. Fatland, named for the estate's great soil fertility, remained in the Wetherill family through the early 20th century., Title from item., Date inferred from date of event depicted., Philadelphia on Stone, POSP 292, Gift of David Doret., Trimmed., Title clipped and pasted on sheet with manuscript note mounted below image: To Capt. J. W. Ryan Compliments of [Chas Marshall D. Co's N.G.?] Pa., Trimmed., See Thomas S. Lanard, One hundred years with the State Fencibles : a history of the First Company State Fencibles ... (Philadelphia: Nields Co., 1913), 115-116.
Date
[ca. 1859]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Doret and Mitchell Collection - A-Z - State [P.2017.15.17]
