Tag: 5th US Cavalry

Wikipedia says: The 5th Cavalry Regiment (“Black Knights”) is a historical unit of the United States Army that began its service on August 3, 1861, when an act of Congress enacted “that the two regiments of dragoons, the regiment of mounted riflemen, and the two regiments of cavalry shall hereafter be known and recognized, as the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth regiments of cavalry respectively…” and continues in modified organizational format in the U.S. Army.

“The war with Mexico had resulted in adding a vast territory to our national domain, and the government was bound, in the interests of civilization, to open this immense area to settlement. California, because of her rich deposits of gold, soon solved the problem without requiring much assistance from the army. While the Indians were numerous in that state, they were not warlike, and they readily conformed themselves to the new order of affairs. But the country between the Missouri River and California was an almost unknown territory, occupied by powerful and warlike tribes of Indians…the army was to lead in the work of civilization, and the army was also to be an honest and impartial arbiter standing between the pioneers and the Indians, compelling both to respect the law and obey it, or to disobey it at their peril.” The size of the regular U.S. Army remained the same since prior to the Mexican War (1846-1848), but it’s “duty…had been nearly doubled.”, As a consequence, General Winfield Scott requested from Congress, that additional forces be added to the Army, and in 1855 Congress authorized the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Regiments to be added to the U.S. Army. On 3 March 1855, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment (later to be known as the 5th Cavalry Regiment) was activated in Louisville, Kentucky with troopers drawn from the states of Alabama, Maryland, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia. Each company rode mounts of a certain color, so a trooper’s company could easily be identified in the confusion of battle, and so that the regiment appeared more splendid and organized during dress parades. Company A rode Grays, Companies B and E rode Sorrels, Companies C, D, F, and I had Bays, Companies G and H rode browns, and Company K rode Roans. Under the command of Col. Albert Sidney Johnston, its officers included 12 future generals: field officers Robert E. Lee, William J. Hardee, and George H. Thomas, and line officers Earl Van Dorn, Edmund Kirby Smith, George Stoneman, Kenner Garrard, William B. Royall, Nathan G. Evans, Fitzhugh Lee, and John Bell Hood.

After receiving cavalry training at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, the regiment, under COL Albert Sidney Johnston, began riding out to Fort Belknap, Texas. The journey to the fort was long and hard; the 700 men and 800 horses of the 2nd Cavalry marched over the Ozark Mountains, through Arkansas, and into Indian Territory until they arrived on 27 December 1855. COL Johnston immediately received orders to set up Headquarters along with Companies B, C, D, G, H, and I at Fort Mason, Texas. Arriving on 14 January 1856, the men arrived at the post (which had been abandoned for two years) and immediately began work repairing it. On 22 February 1856, Company C of the 2nd Cavalry, under the command of Captain James Oaks, engaged the Waco Indians in their first battle just west of Fort Terrett, Texas.

In July 1857, LTC Robert E. Lee arrived at Fort Mason to take command of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment. That same month, LT John Bell Hood led a company of the 2nd Cavalry into the Texas frontier. Near the Devils River, the patrol spotted a band of Comanche warriors holding a white flag of truce, and LT Hood went to speak with them. The warriors dropped their white flag and began lighting fires to carefully placed burn piles in order to provide a smoke screen. 30 more Indians, hiding within 10 paces of the Cavalry troopers, began attacking with arrows and guns. The cavalrymen charged and engaged in hand-to-hand fighting, but were forced to withdraw under the cover of revolver fire in the face of two-to-one odds. LT Hood was wounded by an arrow through the left hand in this engagement, but continued to serve with the 2nd Cavalry.

On 15 February 1858, Major William J. Hardee was instructed to proceed from Fort Belknap with Companies A, F, H & K to Otter Creek, Texas and establish a Supply Station. On 29 February, they came upon a large encampment of Comanche Indians near Wichita Village. In July 1858, the entire regiment assembled at Fort Belknap in anticipation of joining Johnston in Utah to subjugate rebellious Mormons. Their orders were rescinded and they instead formed a striking force, the “Wichita Expedition,” against the Comanche. Led by Major Earl Van Dorn, four companies trapped and defeated a sizable force of Comanches on 1 October at the Wichita Village Fight, and followed it up on 13 May 1859, with a similar victory at the Battle of Crooked Creek in Kansas. During this period (1858–1861), the regiment fought in some forty engagements against the Apaches, Bannocks, Cheyennes, Comanches, Kiowas, Utes and other tribes along with Mexican banditos.

Early in 1861, the regiment went to Carlisle Barracks, where the officers and men loyal to the South left the regiment to serve in the Confederate States Army. Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee was replaced by Lt. Col. George Henry Thomas. The regiment was rebuilt with new officers and recruits loyal to the Union and was assigned to the Army of the Potomac under the command of General George McClellan. On 21 July 1861, the regiment participated in its first battle of the American Civil War, the First Battle of Bull Run; it was the last action in which they would be called the “2nd Cavalry.” In the summer of 1861, all regular mounted regiments were re-designated as “cavalry”, and being last in seniority among the existing regiments, the regiment was re-designated as the 5th United States Cavalry. During the Civil War, the Regiment fought valiantly at the Battle of Gaines’s Mill, the Battle of Fairfax Courthouse, the Battle of Falling Waters, the Battle of Martinsburg, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Battle of Wilderness, and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, among many others. The 5th Cavalry’s most notable action came at Gaines Mills, when the regiment charged a Confederate division under command of a former comrade, General John Bell Hood. The regiment suffered heavy casualties in the battle, but their attack saved the Union artillery from annihilation. This battle is commemorated on the regimental crest by the cross moline, in the yellow field on the lower half of the crest.

On 9 April 1865, the 5th Cavalry was selected to serve as the Union Honor Guard for the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Courthouse. The Regiment stood by solemnly as it watched its former commander, General Robert E. Lee, surrender to the Union Army.