The 2nd Rhode Island Cavalry Regiment was a
cavalry regiment
A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation.
In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...
of the
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...
in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
.
Service
The 2nd Rhode Island Cavalry Regiment was organized in
Providence, Rhode Island and mustered on November 21, 1862, for a three-year enlistment. The regiment never reached full strength.
The regiment was attached to 1st Division,
XIX Corps,
Department of the Gulf
The Department of the Gulf was a command of the United States Army in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and of the Confederate States Army during the Civil War.
History United States Army (Civil War)
Creation
The department was co ...
, to July 1863. Cavalry Brigade, XIX Corps, to August 1863.
Ordered to
, Louisiana, and served duty there until March 1863. Moved to
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, March 6–7, 1863. Participated in the operations against Port Hudson, March 7–27. Moved to Algiers, then to Berwick April 1–9. Operations in western Louisiana April 9-May 14.
Teche Campaign April 11–20. Franklin April 14. Near Washington May 1. Expedition from Opelousas to Alexandria and Simsport May 5–18. Operations about Monett's Plantation and on Bayou Sara Road May 18–19. Moved to Bayou Sara, then to
Port Hudson May 22–25.
Siege of Port Hudson
The siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, (May 22 – July 9, 1863) was the final engagement in the Union campaign to recapture the Mississippi River in the American Civil War.
While Union General Ulysses Grant was besieging Vicksburg upriver, Ge ...
May 25-July 9. Jackson Cross Roads June 20.
Springfield Landing July 2. Surrender of Port Hudson July 9.
The regiment was first consolidated into a battalion of four companies August 24, 1863, and attached to the
1st Louisiana Cavalry. It served thus at
Camp Hubbard, Thibodeaux, August 29–30 and then ceased to exist on January 14, 1864, when its members were transferred to the
3rd Rhode Island Cavalry.
Casualties
The regiment lost a total of 35 enlisted men during service; 4 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 31 enlisted men died of disease.
[Fox, William F., Lt.-Col., 'Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865', Albany, N.Y., 1889, p. 472.]
Commanders
*
Lieutenant Colonel Augustus W. Corliss
See also
*
List of Rhode Island Civil War units
List of military units raised by the state of Rhode Island during the American Civil War.
Artillery units
Cavalry
Infantry
Miscellaneous
* Independent Company Hospital GuardsThis unit was organized at Portsmouth Grove, Rhode Island on Dec ...
*
Rhode Island in the American Civil War
The state of Rhode Island during the American Civil War remained loyal to the Union, as did the other states of New England. Rhode Island furnished 25,236 fighting men to the Union Army, of which 1,685 died. The state used its industrial capacity ...
References
* Dyer, Frederick H. ''A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion'' (Des Moines, Iowa: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908.
* Sabre, Gilbert E. ''Nineteen Months a Prisoner of War: Narrative of Lieutenant G. E. Sabre, Second Rhode Island Cavalry, of His Experience in the War Prisons and Stockades of Morton, Mobile, Atlanta, Libby, Belle Island, Andersonville, Macon, Charleston, and Columbia, and His Escape to the Union Lines, to Which is Appended a List of Officers Confined at Columbia, During the Winter of 1864 and 1865'' (New York: American News Co.), 1865.
;Attribution
*
{{Authority control
Military units and formations established in 1862
Military units and formations disestablished in 1864
2nd Rhode Island Cavalry
1862 establishments in Rhode Island