United States Cavalry
The United States Cavalry, or U.S. Cavalry, is the designation of the mounted force of the United States Army. The United States Cavalry was formally created by an act of Congress on 3 August 1861. From the United States Declaration of Independence and the American War of Independence onwards, mounted troops were raised ad-hoc by the United States as emergencies presented themselves and were disbanded as soon as these had passed. In 1833, Congress created the 1st U.S. Dragoons, followed by the 2nd U.S. Dragoons and the U.S. Mounted Riflemen 1836 and 1846 respectively. The 1861 Act converted the U.S. Army's two regiments of dragoons, one regiment of mounted riflemen, and two regiments of cavalry into one branch of service. Immediately preceding World War II, the U.S. Cavalry began transitioning to a mechanized, mounted force. During the Second World War, the Army's cavalry units operated as horse-mounted, mechanized, or dismounted forces. The last horse-mounted cavalry charge by a U.S. Cavalry unit took place on the Bataan Peninsula, in the Philippines in early 1942. The 26th Cavalry Regiment of the allied Philippine Scouts executed the charge against Imperial Japanese Army forces near the village of Morong on 16 January 1942. In March 1942, the War Department eliminated the office of Chief of Cavalry and effectively abolished the horse cavalry. The cavalry branch was absorbed into the Armor branch as part of the Army Reorganization Act of 1950 and the Vietnam War saw the introduction of helicopters and operations as a helicopter-borne force with the designation of Air Cavalry, while mechanized cavalry received the designation of Armored Cavalry.
The term "cavalry", still remains in use in the U.S. Army for mounted reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition units based on their parent Combat Arms Regimental System regiment. The 1st Cavalry Division is the only active division in the United States Army with a cavalry designation and maintains a detachment of horse-mounted cavalry for ceremonial purposes.
History
The United States Cavalry existed in various forms from 1775 to 1942. Its history dates back to the American Revolutionary War, and every major subsequent war in which the United States was involved. George Washington personally witnessed the effect that a small mounted force of the British Army's 17th Regiment of Dragoons had on his troops, panicking and scattering American soldiers at the Battle of White Plains. Appreciating the ability of the 5th Regiment of Connecticut Light Horse Militia to gather intelligence during the subsequent retreat of American forces into New Jersey, he asked the Continental Congress to approve the creation of a light cavalry force in the Continental Army. In late 1776, Congress authorized Washington to establish a mounted force of 3,000 men for service in the Continental army.American Revolutionary War
On 12 December 1776, Congress converted the 5th Regiment of Connecticut Light Horse Militia into the Regiment of Light Dragoons. In March 1777, Washington established the Corps of Continental Light Dragoons consisting of four regiments of 280 men, each organized in six troops. Later that year, the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons executed the first recorded cavalry charge by American forces at the Battle of the Flockey on August 13, 1777, routing Loyalist militia in Schoharie County, New York. Many problems faced the light dragoon regiments, including the inability of recruiting to bring the units to authorized strength, shortage of suitable cavalry weapons and horses, and lack of uniformity among troopers in dress and discipline. Congress appointed the Hungarian revolutionary and professional soldier Michael Kovats and the Polish Casimir Pulaski to train them as an offensive strike force during winter quarters of 1777–78 at Trenton, New Jersey.File:Kazimierz Pulaski.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Polish nobleman and soldier Casimir Pulaski was one of the founders and "fathers of American cavalry".
Pulaski's efforts led to friction with the American officers, resulting in his resignation, but Congress authorized Pulaski to form his own independent corps in 1778. Pulaski's Legion consisted of dragoons, riflemen, grenadiers, and infantry. Another independent corps of dragoons joined Pulaski's in the Continental Line during 1778 when a former captain in Bland's Horse, "Light Horse Harry" Lee, formed Lee's Corps of Partisan Light Dragoons, which specialized in raiding and harassing supply lines. Colonel Charles Armand Tuffin, marquis de la Rouërie, a French nobleman, raised a third corps of infantry in Boston, called the Free and Independent Chasseurs, which later added a troop of dragoons, becoming Armand's Legion. Although a reorganization in 1778 authorized expansion of the four regiments to 415 men each, forage difficulties, expiration of enlistments, desertions, and other problems made this impossible, and no regiment ever carried more than 200 men on its rolls, and they averaged 120 to 180 men between 1778 and 1780.
In 1779, Washington ordered the 2nd and 4th Continental Light Dragoons equipped temporarily as infantry, and deployed the 1st and 3rd Continental Light Dragoons and Pulaski's Legion to the South to join local militia cavalry and to ensure the area remained American during an unexpected counter-offensive. Battle engagements in South Carolina largely seriously attrited the 1st and 3rd Regiments in the spring of 1780, who amalgamated into a single unit. Following the capture of Charleston, South Carolina on 12 May 1780, the remnants tried to regroup and reconstitute in Virginia and North Carolina. In August 1780, Armand's Legion was with General Gates at the disastrous Battle of Camden.
The most significant engagement of the war involving Continental light dragoons was the Battle of Cowpens in January 1781. Southern theater commander General Nathanael Greene reorganized part of Lee's Legion and elements of the amalgamated 1st and 3rd Light Dragoons in Charlotte and dispatched them on a series of raids against Loyalist forces in western Carolina. The dragoons joined the "flying corps" commanded by General Daniel Morgan at the Battle of Cowpens, securing a crucial victory for the American forces in the early stages of the war. Later, the 3rd Legionary Corps participated in Greene's maneuvers across North Carolina and fought well against Cornwallis's army at Guilford Courthouse.
In January 1781, the practice of the dragoons employing both mounted and dismounted troops resulted in their official reconfiguration as Legionary Corps, the mounted dragoons supported by dismounted dragoons armed as infantry, an organization that persisted until the war's end. In 1783, the Continental Army was discharged and the dragoons were released.
War of 1812
The first cavalry unit formed by the Congress of the United States of America was a squadron of light dragoons commanded by Major Michael Rudolph on 5 March 1792. Its four troops were assigned to each of the four sublegions of Legion of the United States, by September 1792. In 1796, the number of troops was reduced to only two, which were almagamated in 1798 with six newly raised troops to the Regiment of Regiment of Light Dragoons. This mounted force was short lived as well and saw its end in 1800. The oldest two "veterans" troops were retained until June 1802. Hence no regular mounted soldiers existed for the next six years.In 1798, during the Quasi-War with France, Congress established a three-year "Provisional Army" of 10,000 men, consisting of twelve regiments of infantry and six troops of light dragoons. By March 1799 Congress created an "Eventual Army" of 30,000 men, including three regiments of cavalry. Both "armies" existed only on paper, but equipment for 3,000 men and horses was procured and stored.
The Congressional act of 12 April 1808 authorized a standing regiment of light dragoons consisting of eight troops. As war loomed, Congress authorized another regiment of light dragoons on 11 January 1812. These regiments were respectively known afterwards as the First and Second United States Dragoons.
In 1813, Secretary of War John Armstrong Jr. granted Colonel Richard Mentor Johnson permission to raise two battalions of volunteer cavalry. Johnson recruited 1,200 men, divided into 14 companies.
Congress combined the First and Second United States Dragoons into one Regiment of Light Dragoons on 30 March 1814. This was a cost-cutting measure; it was cheaper and easier to maintain one unit at full strength than two organizations that could not maintain a full complement of riders. The signing of the Treaty of Ghent at the end of the year ended the war. The regiment was disbanded on 3 March 1815, with the explanation that cavalry forces were too expensive to maintain as part of a standing army. The retained officers and men were folded into the Corps of Artillery by 15 June 1815, all others were discharged.