The 1st Cavalry Regiment is a United States Army regiment that has its antecedents in the early 19th century in the formation of the United States Regiment of Dragoons. To this day, the unit's special designation is "First Regiment of Dragoons".[1] While they were the First Regiment of Dragoons, another unit designated the 1st Cavalry Regiment was formed in 1855 and in 1861 was re-designated the 4th Cavalry Regiment (units were renumbered based on seniority, and it was the fourth oldest mounted regiment in active service). The First Dragoons became the 1st Cavalry Regiment, since they were the oldest mounted regiment.
During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), Continental forces patterned cavalry units after those of the opposing British forces, especially the well-supplied mounted dragoons of the British Army. The first cavalry unit formed by the Congress of the United States of America was a squadron of four troops (the Squadron of Light Dragoons) commanded by Major Michael Rudolph on 5 March 1792 (the troops would then be incorporated into the Legion of the United States (1792 to 1796)). In 1796 the dragoons were reduced to two companies, were dismounted units by 1800 and disbanded in 1802. In 1808 the Regiment of Light Dragoons was formed and in 1812 another regiment (2nd Regiment of Light Dragoons) was raised. Units of both regiments of dragoons served during the War of 1812 in engagements at the Battle of the Mississinewa; the Battle of Lundy's Lane; Fort Erie and the Siege of Fort Meigs. The 1st Regiment and 2nd Regiment were consolidated on 30 March 1814 into the single Regiment of Light Dragoons of eight troops, but this unit was dissolved in 1815 (the rationale was that cavalry forces were too expensive to maintain as part of a standing army, so Congress insisted on economy and a minimum standing Army).[2]
The "United States Regiment of Dragoons" was organized by an Act of Congress approved on 2 March 1833 after the disbandment of the "Battalion of Mounted Rangers" (formed in 1832 due to a lack of mounted units to patrol the frontier and also in response to the Black Hawk War). The first order announcing appointments in the regiment was dated 5 March 1833, and gave the names of the colonel, lieutenant-colonel, major, four captains and four lieutenants, stating that the organization of the regiment would be perfected by the selection of officers from the "Battalion of Mounted Rangers." In June 1834, the regiment filled its complement of officers, many of whom later became noted Civil War generals:
The regiment was initially organized as:
The unit became the "First Regiment of Dragoons" when the Second Dragoons was raised in 1836.
In October 1833, the five companies first organized were sent under Colonel Dodge to winter in the vicinity of Fort Gibson, Arkansas Territory, where they remained until June 1834. Then, the regiment was sent on the First Dragoon Expedition, or the Pawnee Expedition, during which, although it ended in September, a full one-fourth of the officers and men died of fever.[4] For the winter, Headquarters with Companies A, C, D and G, were sent to Fort Leavenworth; Companies B, H and I, Lieutenant Colonel Kearny, commanding, into the Indian country on the right bank of the Mississippi River, near the mouth of the Des Moines River; and Companies E, F and K, Major Mason commanding, to Fort Gibson. Throughout the summer of 1835, all the companies of the regiment were kept in the field.
The regiment became the "First Regiment of Dragoons" when the Second Regiment of Dragoons was raised in 1836, however, the general disposition of the regiment remained unchanged. The various companies were employed in scouting among the Native Americans, especially along the Missouri frontier, with a portion of the regiment going to Nacogdoches, Texas, to keep white trespassers from the Native American lands, and preserving peace between whites and Indians and among the Indians themselves; also in building wagon roads and bridges. During the winter, the companies returned to their respective stations – Forts Leavenworth, Gibson and Des Moines.
Colonel Dodge resigned on 4 July 1836, and was appointed Governor of Wisconsin. He was succeeded by Lieutenant Colonel Kearny. The regiment was not heavily engaged in the Florida war, although it did take some minor casualties, including a lieutenant. In March 1837, a regimental order designated the color of the horses of each company as follows: A and K, black; B, F and H, sorrel; C, D, E and I, bay; and G, iron gray.
In October 1837, and again in March 1838, Colonel Kearny led elements of the regiment to quell Osage Indians. In April 1839, the army created Fort Wayne in Indian Territory, and Companies E, F, G and K, were stationed there for several years, with occasional forays into the field to chase hostile Indians. Kearny was promoted to brigadier general on 30 June 1846, and was succeeded by Colonel Mason.
General Kearny was placed in command of the "Army of the West (1846)", which consisted of Companies B, C, G, I and K, 1st Dragoons, an artillery battalion, some separate infantry companies, two regiments of Missouri volunteer cavalry, the volunteer Mormon Battalion, and the 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers, which sailed from New York City to California by ship. All in all, the Army of the West consisted of about 3,700 men, which ventured west to New Mexico, some of whom did not reach California. This command was concentrated at Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River, from which point it marched for Santa Fé on 1 August 1846. The force occupied Santa Fé without much opposition, and, after leaving part of his force there, Kearny marched into California, arriving in December.
On the morning of 6 December 1846, Kearny's 150-man command met and defeated an equal number of California lancers at San Pasqual, about 40 miles from San Diego, under Major Andrés Pico. The action was severe, with the 1st Dragoons losing 3 officers and 14 men killed, principally with lance thrusts. General Kearny himself received two wounds. His force finally reached San Diego on 12 December 1846.
Kearny, with a force consisting of Company C, 1st Dragoons, (60 dismounted men) under Captain Turner, sailors and marines with a battery of artillery and California volunteers, left San Diego for Los Angeles on 29 December. Kearny's troops routed Mexicans under Governor Flores at the crossing of the Rio San Gabriel on 8 January 1847, and on the plains of La Mesa on 9 January. With the capture of Los Angeles on the following day, all Mexican resistance to the American occupation of Southern California ceased.
Kearny had left Companies G and I at Albuquerque under Capt. J. H. K. Burgwin. When Col. Sterling Price (then in command at Santa Fé) learned of the seizure and murder of the New Mexico Governor Charles Bent and five others by the Mexicans (20 January), he moved out against them with a force of about 350 dismounted men and easily defeated them, on 24 January, at Canada. Captain Burgwin defeated another Mexican force shortly thereafter and rejoined Price's column for a series of further battles.
During 1847, regimental headquarters were still at Leavenworth and Companies A and E were with Zachary Taylor in Mexico. Early in the year, Company B was reorganized at Jefferson Barracks before being sent to Santa Fe in June. On 26 June, while en route, the company was engaged by 300-400 Comanches at Grand Prairie, Arkansas, losing five men killed and six wounded. They were the first unit of the Regiment to seriously tangle with the frontier Indians.[5] Upon reaching Santa Fe, on 6 August with the $350,000 they had been escorting, Company B was retrained as a field artillery battery to support the regiment.[5]
Companies D, F and K saw service on Scott's line in Mexico. Company F escorted General Scott from Veracruz to Mexico City and was present at the battles near that city. From 1 November to 20 December, it was engaged on escort duty between the city and Vera Cruz. In 1848, the three companies returned to the United States and were stationed at various points on the northwestern frontier. Companies B, G, and I served with General Sterling Price in February – March 1848 in his campaign down into the State of Chihuahua and participated in the attack on Santa Cruz de Rosales. Company D was sent to the Minnesota Territory commanded by Lieut. J. W. T. Gardiner. In the summer of 1849 they escorted Maj. Woods of the 6th Infantry at Fort Snelling, to mark a northern boundary line and select a site for a future fortification near Pembina.[6]
In September 1848, the First Regiment of Dragoons rode out of Fort Kearny and returned to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas and trained their new recruits. On 11 May 1849, the regiment rode further west, and along with two companies of the 6th Infantry Regiment, guarded the treacherous Oregon Trail in the heart of Pawnee territory. In October, an engagement on the Little Blue River near Linden, Nebraska and another engagement on the Platte River resulted in numerous Pawnee fatalities, and 5 Dragoon casualties.[5] On 15 May 1850, J. W. Davidson and Captain Nathaniel Lyon led a regiment of the 1st U.S. Dragoons in a massacre of at least 200-400 Pomo Native Americans at Clear Lake, California, the 1850 "Bloody Island Massacre";[7][8]
Brevet Brigadier General Mason, Colonel of the 1st Dragoons, died at Jefferson Barracks, on 25 July 1850, and was succeeded by Col. Thomas T. Fauntleroy, promoted from the Second Dragoons. In 1853, the newly acquired Southwest erupted in violence between the US and local Indian tribes. After a reorganization period, elements of the 1st Regiment of Dragoons set out for New Mexico on 1 July 1854. The year of 1854 was rough for the Dragoons; heavy casualties and a tenacious enemy took their toll.[5]
Earlier in the year, on 30 March 1854, Companies F and I were stationed at Cantonment Burgwin in New Mexico, and Lieutenant J. W. Davidson, with Company I and 16 men of Company F, disobeyed his orders and boldly attacked a Jicarilla Apache camp about 16 miles south of Taos at Cieneguilla. The Indian camp was surprised and captured; while securing the camp, the troops were surprised by more Indians, who attacked the Dragoon horse-holders and took Davidson at such disadvantage that the command narrowly escaped annihilation. Fourteen men of Company I and eight of Company F were killed; Lieutenant Davidson and 14 men were wounded. Regimental headquarters was transferred to Fort Union, New Mexico Territory, in July 1854, when the rest of the regiment arrived. Throughout the following year, the companies in New Mexico were almost constantly on the move. Colonel Fauntleroy made three expeditions against the Utes and Apaches, and Companies I and K fought the Apaches. On 17 January 1855, Companies B, G, and part of K were attacked at night by a band of Apaches while camped near the Penasco River.[5] Despite being repulsed, the Indians adopted guerrilla tactics and skirmished the next day. On the 19th, 12 troopers from B Company became separated and were ambushed by the Apache, suffering 3 killed including the Company Commander.[5]
Meantime, out West, Companies C and E took part in the Rogue River War in Oregon Territory, in which, at the Battle of Hungry Hill, the troops were compelled to retire with a loss of 26 killed and wounded, after fighting for a day and a half.
In the spring of 1855, two new regiments of cavalry, the First and Second Cavalry, were authorized in addition to the current two regiments of dragoons and the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen (formed in 1845). One of these new units named "The First Cavalry Regiment", under the command of Lt. Col. Edwin Vose Sumner, the first regular American military unit to bear that name (in 1861 it was re-designated the 4th Cavalry Regiment). Sumner was previously with the First Dragoons.[9]
Headquarters for the First Dragoons were moved to Fort Tejon, California, in December 1856, with the various companies scattered throughout the West. For the next five years, the regiment engaged in a variety of Indian fights, seeing action at various times against the Navajos and Apaches in the Southwest and several tribes in the Northwest. On 8 January 1859, B and K Companies fought an engagement with the Mojave in the Mohave Valley and another engagement against the Paiutes on 18–19 April 1860 near present-day Yermo, California.[5]
Colonel Fauntleroy resigned on 13 May 1861, and was succeeded by Col. Benjamin Lloyd Beall. With the outbreak of the Civil War and the War Department's wanting to re-designate all mounted regiments as cavalry and to renumber them in order of seniority., the First Dragoons became the "First Regiment of Cavalry" by an Act of Congress on 3 August 1861 (the existing First Cavalry Regiment (formed in 1855) was the fourth oldest mounted regiment in terms of active service, so it was re-designated the 4th Cavalry Regiment). During November and December, the regiment, except Companies D and G, which were still stationed in New Mexico Territory, was transferred by steamship from the Pacific Coast through Panama and then to Washington, D.C., arriving by the end of January 1862. Colonel Beall retired 1 February, and was succeeded by Col. George A.H. Blake. The regiment was attached to the 2d Brigade, Cavalry Reserve, Army of the Potomac.
In the meantime, the two companies left in Confederate Arizona had abandoned and destroyed Forts Breckinridge and Buchanan and retreated to Fort Craig. Company D was engaged in a skirmish with Confederates near Fort Craig, on 19 February, and the two companies took part in the Battle of Valverde on 21 February. Company D took part in the engagements at Pigeon's Ranch, 30 March; Albuquerque, 25 April; and Peralta, 27 April.
The bulk of the 1st U.S. Cavalry, meanwhile, fought in the Peninsula Campaign in Virginia. At Williamsburg, on 4 May, a squadron under Capt. Benjamin F. "Grimes" Davis charged and repulsed Confederate cavalry, capturing a flag but losing 13 men. At Gaines' Mill, on 27 June, the regiment lost 26 more men. The regiment participated in fighting at Malvern Hill, Kelly's Ford, and during Stoneman's Raid in April and May.
At the battle of Beverly Ford in June 1863, Davis was killed while in command of the 8th New York Cavalry. At Upperville, the 1st U.S. Cavalry met the Jeff Davis Legion and the 1st and 2d North Carolina regiments in a mounted charge. The regiment lost 53 men (most to saber cuts). At Gettysburg, its loss was 16 men. Several more men were lost in a series of skirmishes during the Confederate retreat to Virginia.
In June 1863, the two companies left in New Mexico were broken up. The officers and noncommissioned officers were transferred to Carlisle Barracks, where the companies were reorganized, joining the regiment at Camp Buford, Maryland, in O