The Tacoma City Troop of the Washington Territorial Militia was activated in 1889 and redesignated Troop B of the Washington Cavalry, an unnumbered cavalry regiment sometimes referred to as 1st Washington Cavalry, upon the accession of Washington to the United States that year. It served as the mounted escort to Governor of Washington Elisha P. Ferry during his inauguration in 1892. Following the 1902 death of Governor John Rankin Rogers, eight soldiers of Troop B were assigned to provide the guard of honor for the lying in state of Rogers' remains. In 1904, the troop participated in maneuvers at American Lake involving, in addition to other units of the Washington National Guard, elements of the Oregon National Guard and the United States Army.
Deployments
Mexican border emergency
As of March 1916 the troop had an authorized strength of 103, and an actual strength of 55. During the Mexican border emergency of 1916, Troop B was among the Washington units called up and "performed the considerable feat of recruiting up to wartime strength and assembling at their mobilization camp in six days". The troop departed for Calexico, California by rail on June 30 and, by July 7, had set-up camp. In late July, Sergeant W.R. Tyree commented on conditions in Calexico in a letter to his wife: The following November, Governor Ernest Lister departed for California to visit the men in camp. Troop B remained on duty in California until early 1917 and was mustered out of federal service in Vancouver, Washington, in February of that year. Prior to dismissal, it was invited to the Washington House of Representatives and, by a resolution of that body, extended the liberty of the chamber, making it the only state legislature to give a National Guard unit the privileges of the house for service during the border emergency. During the Troop B deployment, discharged veterans of the unit organized a rump replacement to maintain "a semblance of a mounted organization in Tacoma" during that year's Preparedness Day parade.
Within a few months after its return from Mexican border service, Troop B was again mobilized due to United States entry into World War I. On September 19, 1917, it was redesignated for federal service as Company B, 116th Train Headquarters and Military Police, 41st Division and deployed to France. In correspondence home in February 1918, Corporal Charles Sweet remarked that: It was redesignated as 217th Company, Military Police Corps on November 1, 1918, and became the 267th Military Police Company on January 15, 1919. The troop was demobilized on July 14, 1919 at Fort Lewis.
Later history
Troop B was assigned to the 58th Machine Gun Squadron of the 24thCavalry Division in June 1921; as of 1922 it reported an actual strength of four officers and 95 men. It was redesignated as Headquarters Troop of the 24th Cavalry Division on November 1, 1924. Despite its redesignation, the troop continued to be known in the Tacoma area as Troop B. By 1937, Headquarters Troop was the oldest extant military unit in the state of Washington. General Orders No. 25 of September 30, 1940 converted the former Troop B into Headquarters Company, 103rd Anti-Tank Battalion.
Legacy
The Tacoma Riding Club, later the Woodbrook Hunt Club, was founded by Troop B veterans.
