Cheltenham Township Wedding

Cheltenham Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 36,875 at the 2000 census.

Cheltenham was established in 1682 by 15 Quakers from Cheltenham, England, including Richard Wall and Toby Leech, who purchased 4,070 acres of land from William Penn.[1][2]

The La Mott section of the township was the site of Camp William Penn, the training grounds of the first African-American troops ever enlisted into the United States Army during the American Civil War. These soldiers were at General Lee's surrender, helped hunt down John Wilkes Booth and were the only African-American soldiers to carry President Lincoln's casket.

The USCT (United States Colored Troops) 3rd Regiment were the first to be trained at Camp William Penn. It is tradition that soldiers have a grand parade before leaving for war, but Philadelphia was partially a racist community at that time and the government believed that a parade might cause a riot, so it was cancelled. The leader of the Camp (Colonel Louis Wagner) was furious and made sure the next regiment to come through would have a parade.

Cheltenham was incorporated as a township in 1900.