Dragoons

Dragoons were used as mounted infantry , but they were usually armed with sabers and could fight as cavalry as well . During the Revolutionary War they acted as light cavalry in addition to mounted infantry . I think it was an easy transition when the First US dragoons were designated the 1st US Cavalry in 1861.
 
I’d imagine they were more prevalent for the CSA due to the lack of lever action firearms. It’s just a theory but I reckon that dragoon’s were a necessity during the napoleonic era as reloading a muzzle loader on horseback wasn’t practical.

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I have also seen it said online that because it was a war of citizen soldiers there was a lack of professional soldiers for specialised units. Unlike the napoleon era that have several specific units ie dragoon’s , grenadiers it was easier to just train general infantry, calvary etc.
 
In the pre-war army the Dragoons fought on foot and horseback, the Regiment of Mounted Rifles were what would become known as mounted infantry. The last action for the dragoons came at Wilson Creek when Company C, 2nd US Dragoons, fought under Lt. Charles Farrand. In the cavalry reorganization the 2nd Dragoons became the new 2nd U.S. Cavalry.
 
On the Union side, a decision was made to do away with the distinctions and designate all Regular Army units as cavalry units. However, all were trained in dragoon tactics.

Interesting ! I was interested in the transition from traditional British/European style army units to new ones during the civil war. It’s amazing how the configuration of the army changed with technology and advances in military theory but the tactics largely didn’t vary (at least at the start of the conflict).
 
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My understanding is that, generally speaking, the majority of cavalry in the ACW could and often did fight dismounted. Some were better trained and equipped to fight dismounted than others, and vise versa, but very few units were designated as dragoons.
 
My understanding is that, generally speaking, the majority of cavalry in the ACW could and often did fight dismounted. Some were better trained and equipped to fight dismounted than others, and vise versa, but very few units were designated as dragoons.

Buford at Gettysburg a prime example.
 
In 1861 at the start of the American Civil War the "old" 1st and 2nd U.S. Dragoon`s were re-designated as the "new" 1st and 2nd U.S. Cavalry Regiments. The "old" Regiment of Mounted Rifles was re-designated as the "new" 3rd U.S. Cavalry Regiment. And the "old" 1st and 2nd U.S. Cavalry Regiments were re-designated as the "new" 4th and 5th U.S. Cavalry Regiments. So in essence they did fight the ACW just under the new designation.

Initially at the beginning of the War the cavalry did not receive that much of a favorable opinion from the infantry and artillery and often they would make jibes at the Cavalry Troopers with their Ostrich Feathers and fancy uniforms calling them "Dandies on horseback". As the war grew on the use of the Cavalry changed which lead them to being more of a mobile fighting force as opposed to a group of men guarding railroads, depots, warehouses, spying on the movements of the enemy, gathering intelligence and escorting Generals. As they were doing more and more fighting then the opinion of the infantry and artillery changed of them to being much more favorable.

The cavalry that entered the ACW on both sides was not the same cavalry that exited the war, as over that 4 years they had changed exponentially as they did their share and more of the fighting in some cases. They would still dismount and take to the trenches, when necessary, alongside the infantry with horse holders in the back as well as dismount and fight by forming lines of battle when it benefitted them, this in addition to their normal skirmishing on horseback against the enemy`s cavalry forces.

Some of the various companies still fancied themselves as Dragoons and Partisan Rangers when they formed and continued to call themselves that throughout the war. I will use the 2nd Regiment Alabama Cavalry as my example of whom I have conducted the majority of my research:

Company "A": They called themselves the "Tom Walker Dragoons" (Capt. Richard G. Earle / Capt. Jacob W. Whisenant). They were later known as the "Calhoun Guards".

Company "B": They called themselves the "Mary B. Powell Rangers" (Capt. John P. West / Capt. Frank R. King). They were also known as the "Mary B. Powell Guards".

Company "C": They called themselves the "Greene County Rangers" (Capt. John. N. Carpenter / Capt. James A. Anderson).

Company "D": They called themselves the "Warrior Rangers" (Capt. Josiah J. Pegues / Capt. James B. Eddins).

Company "E": They called themselves "Capt. Carter`s Company" (Capt. Richard W. Carter / Capt. Joseph J. Allen).

Company "F": They called themselves the "Judge Bibb Rebels" (Capt. William L. "Bill" Allen / Capt. Bethel J. Bonham). They were also known as the "Yellow Hammers".

Company "G": They called themselves the "Knox`s Dragoons" (Capt. William P. Ashley).

Company "H": They called themselves the "Governor Shorter Dragoons" (Capt. James Cunningham / Capt. James H. McCreary / Capt. Frank E. Richardson).

Company "I": They called themselves the "Dallas Light Dragoons" (Capt. Fountain Winston Hunter / Capt. Felix Glackmeyer / Capt. Alex M. McIver / Capt. William H. Daniel).

Company "K": They called themselves the "Dillehay Dragoons" (Capt. Matthew R. Marks / Capt. Thomas R. Stacey / Capt. Alex P. Wilson). They were also known as the "Montgomery Mounted Rifles".

There was no Company "J" for the regiment, giving them 10 Companies (Troops) as a whole....
 
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Interesting ! I was interested in the transition from traditional British/European style army units to new ones during the civil war. It’s amazing how the configuration of the army changed with technology and advances in military theory but the tactics largely didn’t vary (at least at the start of the conflict).
On a lead, mentioned for the origin of Fort Des Moines Iowa, (wikipedia.org), it goes back to 1843 when Captain James Allen supervised the construction of Fort Raccoon on that river and Des Moines River for controlling Sauk and Meskwaki Indians, and Fox and Sac Indians in that area. A description from 1851 says, "....There are two taverns here....I cannot tell you how many dwellings there are, for I have not counted them; some are logs, some are brick, some framed, and some are remains of the old dragoon houses. " (From correspondence by a school teacher 1850-1851, Arozina Perkins).

Lubliner.
 
Why bother to even change the name? Wouldn't it have been okay to continue to call them dragoons, even though there were some changes in tactics?
 
Why bother to even change the name? Wouldn't it have been okay to continue to call them dragoons, even though there were some changes in tactics?

As I understand it, according to my research, the majority of the Dragoons, U.S. who remained in service through the war and those who tendered their resignation from the U.S. and joined the Confederacy, did not want to embrace the designation of being cavalry troopers. They much preferred the rich heritage and old designation of Dragoons, and or partisan Rangers, as that spoke to a rich history of mounted horsemen of which they were very proud. When the 1st and 2nd U.S. Cavalry Regiment`s were first formed by Jefferson Davis (23rd U.S. Secretary of War under the 14th U.S. President, Franklin Pierce) in 1855 he changed the piping on the Dragoon uniforms from orange to yellow (representing the cavalry), the old Dragoons wore their uniforms with the traditional orange piping as long as they could until they were worn so much that they, having no choice in the matter, finally had to replace them with the new uniforms with the yellow piping because they could no longer get the old uniforms with orange piping.

The affinity that the men had with the Dragoon designation is clear as so many of the Confederate Companies that joined together for the war would call their companies Dragoons or Partisan Rangers even though officially they were designated as Cavalry on a Regimental level.

If left to the horsemen who served in either army, they would have gladly kept the old Dragoon designation.
 
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There was no Company "J" for the regiment, giving them 10 Companies (Troops) as a whole....

The Union cavalry maintained an organization of 12 companies. This allowed for 3 battalions, each of which consisted of 4 companies (or two squadrons). The regiment had 3 majors, each commanding a battalion, vice the 1 major found in infantry regiments. The two extra cavalry companies were designated "L" and "M."

Tom
 
The Union cavalry maintained an organization of 12 companies. This allowed for 3 battalions, each of which consisted of 4 companies (or two squadrons). The regiment had 3 majors, each commanding a battalion, vice the 1 major found in infantry regiments. The two extra cavalry companies were designated "L" and "M."

10 companies (100 men per company) was the norm to make a regiment in the CSA. With each company being comprised of one Capt. three Lt`s, one Sgt. Major, one First Sgt. five Sgt`s, and four corporals over seeing the rank and file. They typically only had Major`s in the brigade structure with a Lt. Colonel, Colonel and Brig. General over him.

Near the end of the war there were quite a few Confederate company sized regiments and regiment sized brigades and brigade sized divisions and division sized Corps. The Confederate forces were doing good to have 10 companies per regiment and even then they were mostly well below full strength in terms of both effective and aggregate strength..
 
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Did either army have dragoon regiments or was that concept outdated by the CW.
One problem you may be having (especially if you are or ever have been a table-top wargamer) is confusing dragoons of the Napoleonic Era with those of the Civil War. As has been previously mentioned, European dragoons were really more like our mounted infantry than cavalry. French dragoons especially were armed with long straight sabers and single-shot horse pistols (so-called because they were carried in saddle holsters and rarely worn by the dragoon himself), but their primary weapon was a full-length musket only a couple of inches shorter than an infantry musket and with which they fought mainly on foot. As indicated by 2nd Alabama Cavalry, the U.S. Regiment of Mounted Rifles was closest in concept, being armed with M.1841 "Mississippi" Rifles, the other mounted regiments of cavalry and dragoons being armed with shorter carbines and musketoons having a shorter range that put them at a disadvantage when fighting most infantry.
 
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