The Independent Dragoons were organized in Nittany Valley, Pennsylvania, by Colonel John Smith, five or six years prior to the outbreak of the rebellion. They were organized as State Volunteers. The State furnished them with broadswords and horse pistols; the handsome uniforms and horse regalia were purchased by the men themselves. When Fort Sumter fell under the fire of hostile cannon, the Dragoons were ready! At the first call for seventy five thousand men, the Independent Dragoons promptly tendered their services. Col. Geo. C. Wynkoop was commissioned to recruit the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry at Harrisburg. The Seventh went to war, fighting in numerous battles in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and marched through Georgia with General Sherman.