Harrison, Joseph M.

The First Regiment Infantry, Pennsylvania, or "The Dandy First," is considered by some to be the oldest continuously existing troop in the United States National Guard, and the only existing Pennsylvania unit that served in the Continental Army. The unit, which today is known as the 103rd Engineer Battalion, Pennsylvania Army National Guard, has undergone many name changes over the years.

Benjamin Franklin started the Artillery Companies of the Associated Regiment of Foot of Philadelphia in 1747, although Philadelphia men were already meeting as an informal militia as far back as the 1730s. "The Dandy First" saw their first combat during the French and Indian War. Later, they participated in the Revolutionary War as Captain Thomas Proctor's 4th Continental Artillery, making them the only Pennsylvania unit authorized to carry the lineage of a Continental Army unit. They fought in the War of 1812 also.

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