6th US Cavalry Regimental History

6th US Cavalry Regimental History

"…it should be remembered that during the Civil War there were periods when skirmishes, which would now be called battles, were of daily occurrence, and yet were considered so unimportant that, in many instances, they can only be traced by the casualty columns of the muster-rolls."

  -- Lt. Col.W. H. Carter, Author, Historian and Soldier
               "From Yorktown to Santiago with the Sixth U.S. Cavalry"

The 6th U.S. Cavalry Regiment had its birth at the outbreak of the Civil War with its first action at Yorktown, Virginia in 1862. The Regiment fought in the Army of the Potomac under General Sheridan throughout the war, taking part in the eastern campaigns. Its most outstanding feats occurred at Williamsburg, Virginia, 1862, when it assaulted entrenched works, and at Fairfield, Pennsylvania, 1863. At Fairfield (not far from Gettysburg) the unit engaged two enemy brigades of J.E.B Stuart’s cavalry, completely neutralizing them and saving the supply trains of the Union Army, but in the process was literally cut to pieces.

The 6th Cavalry’s long and honorable service includes campaign participation credit in the Civil War for the Peninsula, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Shenandoah, and Appomattox; Virginia from 1862 to 1865; and finally, Maryland in 1863.

Following the end of the Civil War, the regiment was reorganized and ordered into Texas to support aggressive Reconstruction efforts, fight bands of desperados and outlaws, and put down Commanche uprisings.

The day after the lowering of the old flag at Ft. Sumter on April 14, 1861, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers for three month’s service to "suppress insurrection". Virginia promptly seceded, claiming the President’s call for volunteers was an act of war against the seceded states. Virginia was quickly followed by Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina, and by May 20, 1861, eleven states were in armed, open rebellion. Kentucky declared "neutrality" on May 24th.

It had become apparent to the Lincoln Administration months before the First Battle of Bull Run was fought on July 21, 1861, that the war was likely to be much more than a brief insurrection, and on May 3, 1861, the President issued a proclamation which directed the "addition to the regular establishment of one regiment of cavalry, one of artillery, and eight of infantry". This greatly underestimated the eventual requirements. Within four years the North found it necessary to put into service 272 regiments of cavalry, 232 batteries of artillery, and 1,096 regiments of infantry, numbering more than two million men!