Dragoons?

[Manassas 1861]

Did the US Army use any dragoon regiments during the ACW?

 

[Story]

It appears that in several primary and secondary sources by the mid-18th century dragoons were considered, and used as, a form of less prestigious cavalry by most of the major powers and their spheres of influence. Although the carbines allowed them to dismount and act as light infantry without suffering the same issue as most other types of cavalry when dismounted.

I'll take "who got sent south from Canada without horses in 1777?" for 100 Thalers, Trebek.

I understand the foot march in Cavalry boots was uncomfortable.

• Braunschweig Prinz Friedrichs Dragoner [Dragoon] Regiment (1 squadron)
• https://www.nps.gov/sara/learn/historyculture/the-germans-at-saratoga.htm
• From what I've read, they not only had to carry their saddles but also 1740 Potsdam carbines. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44229246

 

[Sgt. Tyree]

Actually, that is not true. What about the 1st New York Dragoons, which became part of the Army of the Potomac's Reserve Brigade in 1864?

Thanks, I'd never heard of that.

 

[Story]

Thanks, I'd never heard of that.

Neither had I.

1st New York Dragoons Regiment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[The Ninth Ohio]

Schambeck's Company of Chicago Dragoons was a German company which I believe maintained that designation until getting rolled into another unit (the 16th IL?) in 1863.

 

[Kurtlg]

I'll take "who got sent south from Canada without horses in 1777?" for 100 Thalers, Trebek.

I understand the foot march in Cavalry boots was uncomfortable.

• Braunschweig Prinz Friedrichs Dragoner [Dragoon] Regiment (1 squadron)
• https://www.nps.gov/sara/learn/historyculture/the-germans-at-saratoga.htm
• From what I've read, they not only had to carry their saddles but also 1740 Potsdam carbines. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44229246

View attachment 498020

Careful. You are getting into an area of great interest to me ! Somewhere with my way too many books there is a volume covering mounted units of the Revolution. There was even a mounted black Loyalist unit. Ok , back to the Civil War.

 

[damYankee]

The "Dragoons" had an impact in Colonial America that few appreciate, and even fewer make the connection between Cromwell and the dragoons that immigrated to the colonies and were active in the King Phillip War and various other Indian uprisings.
Sampson Mason was one of Cromwell's dragoons who upon the return of the Monocracy in England sought refuge among the Puritans in the colonies. This was @ 1660ish, it is a tale worth exploring for those interested in early colonial history and how it affected the development of our unique "militia" approach to threats both from natives and from the Crown.
Of these men, the most notorious were those who signed the death warrant for Charles I some had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Others fled to the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland. Only Goffe, Whalley, and John Dixwell—a former member of Parliament—sought refuge among sympathetic Puritans in New England, where, according to Goffe, they hoped "to cleave to the Lord, & to Love him, & serve him forever." Whalley and Goffe arrived in Massachusetts aboard the Prudent Mary on July 27, 1660.
Looking at the entire picture, Miles Standish who had come with the Pilgrims on the Mayflower as a "military advisor" or "mercenary" as some would claim passed away in 1658, just as members of Cromwell's disbanded dragoons were arriving in the colonies to settle in the wilderness of the New Frontier.
Sampson Mason lived out the rest of his life in Swansea, near Plymouth Mass, and must have been somewhat influential in the organizational plans for the militias that became the basis for those who a century later would form a rag tag militia to take on the British Army.
Those familiar with the area may know of "Judges Caves," where Whalley Goffe and Dixwell took refuge from the Loyalist who were hunting them down.
King Slayers in America is a good read, considering America's dependance on "Militias" from the days of Colonialism to the Civil War and beyond it ties our ancestors to the events of the English Civil War, perhaps the seed was planted not by religious zealots and slave holding planters as much was by the descendant's of Cromwell's Dragoons...

 

[7thWisconsin]

It appears that in several primary and secondary sources by the mid-18th century dragoons were considered, and used as, a form of less prestigious cavalry by most of the major powers and their spheres of influence. Although the carbines allowed them to dismount and act as light infantry without suffering the same issue as most other types of cavalry when dismounted.

I think there´s a certain truth to that. Militaries have fads just like other cultures and the flavor of the month in the late 18th century for cavalry was the Hussar - even though they´re really just light cavalry and could even be called dragoons. But their clothes were so exotic! Kind of like how airborne is sexier than leg infantry, but once they´re on the ground they´re exactly the same.

 

[7thWisconsin]

Tangential but I've been working primary sources on a surprise Crown Dragoon mounted night attack (one troop, @ 40 troopers) on a Connecticut troop dismounted and dispersed for the night. So that's the cavalry factor in action for RevWar Dragoons in action.

I would love to see that!!

 

[Dan Kohli]

I think there´s a certain truth to that. Militaries have fads just like other cultures and the flavor of the month in the late 18th century for cavalry was the Hussar - even though they´re really just light cavalry and could even be called dragoons. But their clothes were so exotic! Kind of like how airborne is sexier than leg infantry, but once they´re on the ground they´re exactly the same.

Dragoon regiments started out with a smaller price tag than most of the other cavalry.

 

[Sgt. Tyree]

The "Dragoons" had an impact in Colonial America that few appreciate, .......

They were important at Cowpens. William Washington's Continental Dragoons counterattacked and routed Tarleton.

 

[TnFed]

A lot of Mounted Infantry in TN...guess you could call them Dragoons

 

[Story]

Sussex Light Dragoons, VA
Direct to the Sussex Light Dragoons. With sentiments of sincere respect, I am

Your Ob Ser,
W. Wade Woodson​

Private writes audacious letter to Jefferson Davis | Researching Civil War Records & Ancestry

I was doing some research on my confederate relatives and a came across a gentleman named William Wade Woodson (1834-1904), who is my 2nd cousin, 5 times removed. William Wade Woodson was from one of the more prosperous branches of my family and he grew up in Goochland County, VA. His...

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[Bentonville]

No. The dragoon regiments had been converted to standard cavalry regiments prior to the war.

Ryan

What about dismounted cavalry? It can't be all clash on horseback. I know, on the opposite side, that Forrest essentially used his troops as dragoins.

 

[rpkennedy]

What about dismounted cavalry? It can't be all clash on horseback. I know, on the opposite side, that Forrest essentially used his troops as dragoins.

Most of the cavalry regiments on both sides fought dismounted pretty extensively. But I still wouldn't classify them as dragoons because they were much more than mounted infantry.

Ryan

 

[2nd Dragoon]

Did the US Army use any dragoon regiments during the ACW?

The 1st and 2nd Dragoons were the senior cavalry regiments. When they converted over to regular cavalry the 2nd Dragoons kept their orange piping well into 1863, the reason was that they had plenty of orange rank stripes and piping in their depot and until they ran out they refused to covert over to yellow like the rest of the cavalry.

 

[Bentonville]

Most of the cavalry regiments on both sides fought dismounted pretty extensively. But I still wouldn't classify them as dragoons because they were much more than mounted infantry.

Ryan

Not trying to belabor the point at all, but the tactics changed somewhat. With evolution comes adaptation to a greater or lesser extent. There in is the crux of the entire war though. Tactics hadn't caught up.

Mayne it was per the command too but it's too early for me and too complex a subject to use the 'if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck' maxim I'm so fond of using.

 

[Dan Kohli]

The dragoons were classified as line cavalry by most western armies, U.S. Army included. The mounted rifle and mounted infantry regiments were what the dragoons were a couple centuries before the Civil War.

What I believe explains what was going on, was that in addition to the change in technology was the inexperience of the volunteer cavalry and the terrain of North America. If I remember correctly most of the volunteer mounted regiments raised in previous wars, probably with the exception of the war with Mexico, were mounted rifle regiments instead of dragoons or other forms of cavalry.

 

[S.Isaacson]

View attachment 497988
The Spencer repeating rifle balances perfectly forward of the trigger guard, Original examples that were carried by mounted men have a wear spot where the fingers are in this photo. The rifle rode securely athwart the saddle.

Anecdotally, many men preferred the rifle over the carbine. The broad leather strap & awkward weight of the carbine on a long ride was uncomfortable.

I've handled a lot of Spencers over the last roughly ten years, but I can't say a significant percentage of them had notable wear in that location. Some certainly did, but I wouldn't necessarily say that they were the norm nor that the wear could be attributed to mounted troops. Most of them are actually in pretty solid condition even if the finish is mostly gone, and I've generally found more wear at the upper edges and corners then the underside of the forearm. The "near new" ones with the original vibrant case colors are a real treat to behold.

 

[Rhea Cole]

I've handled a lot of Spencers over the last roughly ten years, but I can't say a significant percentage of them had notable wear in that location. Some certainly did, but I wouldn't necessarily say that they were the norm nor that the wear could be attributed to mounted troops. Most of them are actually in pretty solid condition even if the finish is mostly gone, and I've generally found more wear at the upper edges and corners then the underside of the forearm. The "near new" ones with the original vibrant case colors are a real treat to behold.

You have examined Spencer rifles that did not have the wear mark that indicates use by a mounted individual. All of the Spencers issued to Wilder's Lightening Brigade have that wear mark. The same is true of other Army of the Cumberland cavalry that were armed with Spencer rifles.

My personal Spencer rifle does not have a mounted soldier's wear mark. It is what it is.

 

[S.Isaacson]

You have examined Spencer rifles that did not have the wear mark that indicates use by a mounted individual. All of the Spencers issued to Wilder's Lightening Brigade have that wear mark. The same is true of other Army of the Cumberland cavalry that were armed with Spencer rifles.

My personal Spencer rifle does not have a mounted soldier's wear mark. It is what it is.

I'd love to see some examples. I haven't personally studied the examples ID'd to the brigade, but the examples below from ID'd to them don't seem to have much distinctive wear there from what I'm seeing and instead have more wear at the upper edges and corners like I'm used to seeing on Spencers and similar arms from the era more broadly. I'm certainly not saying you are wrong, just that I've personally not noticed this on many Spencers.

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