How big were cavalry troops/regiments?

CanadianCanuck

First Sergeant
Joined
Nov 21, 2014
One thing I've never been clear on was exactly how large a troop or a regiment of cavalry was. Would a troop be the size of a company of infantry or smaller? Was a cavalry regiment the size of an infantry regiment?

I've never been able to properly figure that out.
 
depending. before or after combat... various accounts also of different sizes by the states they were raised in. Or...Dept of army (either U.S. or CS) regulations stating organization. Kinda like the 1st Texas INFANTRY, most regiments had 10 companies but the 1st had 12. So, who's to say Cav wassn't the same?
 
Well again, and I'm no 'expert', but it all depends...Yes, as aagaard stated, there's army regulations, whether it's US or CS, but, as time went on, attrition, be it illness, battle casualties, furloughs, desertions, numbers differed. At the beginning of the war, some units were at full strength, others less. So, you can say '500', but you may only muster 375. One company may have 100, another only 20. Also, with attrition, the unit commander can disolve one or more units, say three companies and send those men to another company with in the Bn, Regt, what have you. It also depends on recruiting. The North had 'bounties' the South didn't (to the best of my knowledge, please someone correct me if I'm wrong). So, the dilema is, in the main question, How Big were they? The answer, depends....
 
I Just came across this browsing through the forum. The standard cavalry troop (company) in the Confederate army called for 100 men, making the aggregate strength of a C.S. Cavalry Regiment supposedly at around 1,000 troopers. Being comprised of 10 troops per regiment. In the U.S. Cavalry each troop was comprised of a few more troopers per troop (company), allowing for slightly larger regiments. This was at the beginning of the war when these regiments were first formed. After fighting for some time, and due to attrition, it was common for a Confederate cavalry regiment to have half of that number. Midway through the war, some confederate regiments would be lucky to have 500 troopers in them. Towards the end of the war there were a few Confederate regiments with less than 100 troopers in them, smaller than a single troop or company. By late 1864 and early 1865 in the Confederate army, there were brigade sized cavalry divisions, regiment sized cavalry brigades and company sized cavalry regiments. Midway through the war, even if a regiment had an aggregate strength of 500 troopers it may have had an effective strength of only 300 of that 500, due to troopers contracting disease, with some being sick or wounded and others on furlough or without horses.
 
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