Trivia 11-30-17

[MRB1863]

2nd Dragoons

 

[Copperhead-mi]

If I understand the question correctly, at least half of the future Confederate "Full" Lt. Generals were members of this antebellum U.S. Army regiment. Going on that premise, If you include John B. Hood's temporary rank of "Full" Lt. General then there were 8 Confederate "Full" Lt. Generals during the Civil War. My answer is the U.S. 2nd Cavalry that had 4 future Confederate "Full" Lt. Generals serve with it according to Cullum's Register: John B. Hood; Albert Sidney Johnston; Robert E. Lee, and Edmund Kirby Smith.

Source:
Confederate General Line Command List
John Bell Hood
Albert Sidney Johnston
Robert E. Lee
Edmund Kirby Smith

 

[sarladaise]

The Second US Cavalry Regiment

 

[JohnW.]

The 2nd Cavalry regiment aka The 2nd Dragoons.

 

[amweiner]

2nd U.S. Cavalry. I'd heard of this regiment before, but didn't realize how seriously superbad (in a good sense) there were!
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qls03

 

[Iron Brigade]

The 2nd U.S. Cavalry regiment, which produced future Confederate full generals A. S. Johnston, R. E. Lee, J. B. Hood and E. K. Smith.

 

[James N.]

The 2nd U. S. Cavalry included officers such as Albert Sidney Johnston, Robert E. Lee, George H. Thomas, Fitzhugh Lee, John B. Hood, William Hardee, etc., etc. Below, left to right A. S. Johnston, Thomas, Hood, and Hardee. The 2nd served mainly on the Texas frontier until secession, as described here: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/texas-forts-trail.123153/page-2#post-1309023

 

[JOHN42768]

US 3rd Regiment of Cavalry Dragoons

 

[William G Hendry]

west point men of the 4th U.S. Infantry

The presence of a large number of graduates from the United States Military Academy worked in favor of the U.S. Army. These officers, mostly lieutenants and captains, formed a tight knit corps whose leadership ability and training helped offset the initial shortage of manpower. Historians point out that their ranks included men such as George G. Meade, Ulysses S. Grant, George B. McClellan, P.G.T. Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, Joseph E. Johnston, and Robert E. Lee, officers who later went on to command the great armies of the Civil War.

 

[AnnaLee]

Not sure but I'll guess: 148th Infantry Regiment.

 

[adisciu9]

2nd dragoons

 

[mofederal]

2nd US Cavalry Regiment

 

[Northern Light]

4th Infantry Regiment

 

[MC44]

6th US Infantry?

 

[lelliott19]

Ahhhhhh. Now I see. "no less than 16, among which were half of future Confederacy full generals."

So I believe the desired answer is the 2nd US Cavalry Regiment, organized by the March 3, 1855 Act of Congress.
"Sixteen Civil War generals came from the rolls of the Regiment, eleven fought with the Confederacy and five for the Union. The original 2nd cavalry provided Jefferson Davis with one-half or four of his full generals - A. J.[sic S.] Johnston, [RE] Lee, E.K. Smith and [John B] Hood." http://generalthomas.com/2nd_cav.htm

 

[hoosier]

I'm having no luck at all in finding a regiment that included among its members 16 future Civil War generals.

This one has me stymied.

 

[ami]

Answer: 2nd US Cavalry (redesignated in 1861 as 5th US Cavalry).
Source: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qls03
it seems the answers were a bit all over the map, so We will defer to hoosier on how to proceed with this question.

Edit - As I suspected, the question was asking for the identification of the pre-Civil War U. S. Army regiment of which 16 men who ultimately became Civil War generals were members.

The tricky part is the fact that, as pointed out in the link provided in post # 35, there were six regular mounted regiments in the U. S. Army in 1861: the 1st and 2nd Dragoons, the Mounted Rifles, and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Cavalry. These regiments were redesignated in order of seniority, and as a result of that redesignation, the 2nd Dragoons became the 2nd Cavalry and the 2nd Cavalry became the 5th Cavalry, both of which regiments still exist today.

The regiment which contained the 16 future Civil War generals (including four of the eight Confederate full generals) was the pre-war 2nd Cavalry, which became the 5th Cavalry. The pre-war 2nd Dragoons, which became the 2nd Cavalry, did not contain 16 future Civil War generals.

Therefore, I have to consider the 2nd Dragoons to be an incorrect answer.

hoosier