History Lesson!
Vern Humphrey said:
Actually, the Army formed the United States Mounted Regiment (also sometimes called the United States Mounted Rifles) in the 1820s. The USMR spawned a 2nd USMR. It was the 2nd USMR that Scott praised as "Brave rifles, veterans. You have been baptized in fire and blood and come out steel" during the Mexican War.
By the Civil War, these two regiments were known as the 1st and 2nd Dragoons. Mounted units formed during the war were designated as "cavalry," not dragoons, but their armament and organization were identical (equimpment permitting) to the dragoons.
Shortly thereafter, the dragoons were redesignated cavalry, and all the existing cavalry regiments renumbered -- today's First and Second Cavalry are the direct descendants of the First and Second USMR and the First and Second Dragoons. The Second Cavalry still bears the motto "brave rifles."
OK, everybody has it somewhat right so far.:banghead:
Vern, you are closest to being right especially with the timing. The first REGULAR Army mounted regiment was the "1st U.S. Dragoons" followed by the "2nd U.S. Dragoons". Their 'branch color' was Orange. They were followed by the "1st U.S. Mounted Rifles" whose branch color I forget
. They were followed by the "1st U.S. Cavalry and "2nd U.S. Cavalry", branch color yellow. These units all pre-dated the "Civil War" (how can war be 'civil'?
). Yes the 1st U.S. Mounted Rifles were the ones referred to as "Brave Rifles".
They were all planned to have slightly different equipment/arms and capabilities but in practice they all performed the cavalry missions. Shortly before the "Civil War" they were all redesignated as "Cavalry" in sequential number. That is the 1st U.S. Dragoons became the 1st U.S. Cavalry, 2nd U.S. Dragoons became the 2nd U.S. Cavalry, 1st U.S. Mounted Rifles the 3rd U.S. Cavalry, 1st U.S. Cavalry the 4th U.S. Cavalry, 2nd U.S. Cavalry the 5th U.S. Cavalry.
The Model 1873 Colt's Revolver in .45 Colt's Caliber was standard issue to the U.S. Army from 1873 until 1892 with the adoption of the newer Colt double acton in .38 Long Colt caliber. During the time the 1873 was issue, any member of the U.S. Army that was designated to be equipped with a revolver got the 7 1/2" barrel Colt. The Cavalry used the most of them because every trooper was issued both revolver and a carbine. Sabers were issued but most often packed and stored in the post-Civil War western campaigns.
Late in the 19th Century the Army, having a new revolver to issue (the .38 Colt DA), reconditioned the 7 1/2" barrel 1873s and shortened the barrels to 5 1/2" as 'back-up' sidearms and put them in storage. When the Spanish-American War came along in 1898, some units got issued the 5 1/2" Colt .45s as there weren't enough .38 Colts available. One of those units was the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry.
During the period of front-line issue of the 1873 Colt, the Army also bought and issued a fair number of S&W top-break revolvers in .45 Schofield(slightly shorter case than .45 Colt). There were enough S&Ws in use that the Army chose to issue the .45 Schofield ammunition exclusively to simplfy logistics. It worked in both revolvers whereas the .45 Colt cartridge would not work in the S&W revolver.
The Cavalry and Artillery are both branches of the U.S. Army. Cavalry branch color is yellow and Artillery branch color is red. Hence the terms "yellow legs" and "red legs". Actually only NCOs and Officers had branch stripes on their pants legs. They were 1" for officers and 1/2" for NCOs.
As far as documentation, I have read probably half a dozen histories of the U.S. Cavalry both private and official. I have read a LOT of history of the U.S. Army. I can't give anyone a specific title to find and read in your local library but I highly recommend the effort. Judging by some of the information posted here, several people could benefit by some reading.
Vern, I chose your post to quote because it had the MOST correct information compared to others regarding the U.S. Cavalry.
