The most distinguished Militia unit of the Spanish colonial army in the Philippines, known as the Philippine Army, was the Luzón Grenadiers, which was formed in 1796 with the Grenadier and Cazador Companies of all Militia units. After being demobilized in 1817, it was reorganized again in 1823, from that time various changes in its name were experimented with, until 5 December 1851. On that date it received the best official recognition of its value, it was converted to a Veteran Corps — a regular unit — with the designation Prince's Regiment. This distinction, practically without precedents in the history of the entire Spanish colonial army, known as the Overseas Army, reflects the exceptional quality of this unit.