Unit Histories

"The Formation of the 10th Cavalry" 1 (2) (3) (4)

Congress created the 10th Cavalry in law in 1866, but the first step towards creating the regiment were in fact taken by Lieutenant-General Sherman, commanding the Military Division of the Mississippi. His order from his headquarters, dated St. Louis, Missouri, August 9, 1866, reads:

General Order No. 6.

I. Commanders of military departments within this division in which colored troops are serving, will proceed at once to enlist men for two regiments of colored regulars, under the Act of Congress approved July 28, 1866, entitled "An Act to increase and fix the military peace establishment of the United States;" one of cavalry, to be entitled the 10th Regiment United States Cavalry, and one of infantry to be entitled the 38th Regiment United States Infantry.

II. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is hereby named as the headquarters and rendezvous of the 10th Cavalry, and Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, the headquarters and rendezvous of the 38th Infantry.

III. Commanding-generals of the Departments of the Missouri, Arkansas, and Platte, will detail one or more officers of the Regular Army, who will proceed to canvass the regiments of colored troops now serving in their respective departments, and enlist men for the new regiments above named, the cavalry for five years and the infantry for three years. The men so enlisted will be discharged from their present obligation and grouped into companies under officers to be selected by the colonels or regimental commanders hereafter to be appointed, but will be retained for the present at or near their present station. The number of privates allowed to a company is sixty-four. The men of existing colored regiments not willing to enlist in the new organizations will, for the present, be consolidated into companies under the direction of their immediate commanders, and held to service until the new army is sufficiently organized to replace them.

IV. The field officers of these regiments will, on arrival at these headquarters, proceed to the posts herein named and organize their new regiments according to law and regulations, but will not withdraw the new companies from their present stations without consent of department commanders, or orders from these headquarters.

V. Blanks will at once be sent from these headquarters, to which all reports will be made until the regular field officers are announced and recruitment organized under them. By order, etc.

The first regimental return was sent on the 30th of September, 1866. It showed the strength of the regiment, present and absent, to consist of two officers,—Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson, and Lieutenant-Colonel Charles C. Walcutt,—and gave the number of recruits required as 1092. Colonel Grierson was reported present with the regiment, and Colonel Walcutt absent on regimental recruiting service.

The first commander of the 10th Cavalry, Benjamin Henry Grierson, was known by reputation to most people of his day. His raid through Mississippi in 1863 is the historic operation on which his reputation chiefly rests. (See Grierson in the Biography section of this site). It has placed him among the foremost cavalry leaders of the Civil War. Lieutenant-Colonel Walcutt never joined the regiment, and resigned shortly after his appointment. The recruiting for the regiment was in the main regimental, that is, by officers of the regiment detailed to recruit for it. At the end of 1866, the 10th Cavalry consisted of two field officers, one company officer, and 64 unassigned recruits. It was still without a staff or a single organized company. For seven months of the new year the headquarters of the regiment remained at Fort Leavenworth. The work of filling up the regiment went on but continued to make slow progress. This was due in the main to two causes, the want of clerical assistance at recruiting stations, ad the high standard fixed for the recruits by the regimental commander. Recruiting officers were not allowed to hire clerks and had extreme difficulty in securing any among their recruits or the members of their recruiting parties. It took the 10th longer to get to full man power, mainly because Grierson was very specific about the men he wanted for the unit. The Civil War veteran was painfully aware of the attitude of the army toward minority recruits. He demanded that his cavalry regiment be called the United States 10th Cavalry, not 10th Colored Cavalry as was a custom during the Civil War.

Grierson also tangled with the commanding officer of Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas where the 10th was trained. The commander ordered the 10th to make camp in a swampy area about a mile south of the permanent barracks. He also ordered Grierson to keep his "colored men away from other army units on the parade ground and at all other times." Grierson was angered and the next time all units were assembled on the post parade grounds he ordered his men to take their positions the same distance as other regiments. He even ordered the 10th to join in the inspection parade past the post commanding officer. Grierson was reprimanded for his actions.

With the racist attitude of the command at Ft. Leavenworth very obvious, Grierson made the decision to form and outfit companies of men as quickly as possible and then send them to Ft. Riley, Kansas for further training. This worked well and, in record time, the 10th was in the field. On the 6th of August, 1867, the headquarters of the regiment left Fort Leavenworth for Fort Riley, Kansas, where they were established on the 7th.

The command of the 10th was composed as follows: Colonel, B. H. Grierson; Lieutenant-Colonel, J. W. Davidson; Majors, J. W. Forsyth and M. H. Kidd; Chaplain, W. M. Grimes; Adjutant, H. E. Alvord.

The regiment comprises eight troops. Their designation, date of organization, original composition and color of horses are as below:

Troop A. - Color, bay. Organized February 18, 1867. Captain Nicholas Nolan; Lieutenants G. W. Graham and G. F. Raulston.

Troop B. - Color, bay. Organized April 1, 1867. Captain J. B. Vande Wiele; Lieutenants J. D. Myrick and J. W. Myers.

Troop C. - Color, bay. Organized May 15, 1867. Captain Edward Byrne; Lieutenants T. C. Lebo and T. J. Spencer.

Troop D. - Color, bay. Organized June 1, 1867. Captain J. W. Walsh; Lieutenants Robert Gray and R. H. Pratt.

Troop E. - Color, bay. Organized June 15, 1867. Captain G. T. Robinson; Lieutenant J. T. Morrison.

Troop F. - Color, gray. Organized June 21, 1867. Captain G. A. Armes; Lieutenants P. L. Lee and J. A. Bodamer.
Troop G. - Color, bay. Organized July 5, 1867. Captain H. T. Davis; Lieutenants W. B. Kennedy and M. J. Amick.

Troop H. - Color, black. Organized July 2 1, 1867. Captain L. H. Carpenter; Lieutenants T. J. Spencer and L. H. Orleman.

These troops were posted at Fort Hays, Fort Harker, and other points along the Smokey River, Kansas, on the line of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, then in course of construction. They had been put in the field to protect the railroad as fast as they were organized. The strength of the regiment, present and absent, amounts to 25 officers and 702 enlisted men.

The first engagement in which any part of the regiment participated occurred a few days before the regimental headquarters left Fort Leavenworth. Troop I, under Captain Armes, numbering 34 men and two officers, fought a party of 300 Indians near Saline River, 40 miles northeast of Fort Hays. The engagement lasted six hours and resulted in the troops being forced to retreat with the loss of Sergeant W. Christy, killed, and Captain Armes, wounded. On the twenty-first of the same month Captain Armes had another fight, the second on record in the regiment. Forty men of his troop, together with 90 men of the 18th Kansas Volunteers, engaged about 500 Indians northeast of Fort Hays. The losses in this fight were one soldier killed and scalped, and 13 wounded; fifteen men of the volunteers and two guides wounded, twelve horses killed and three wounded.

Troops I, K, L and M, were organized from the new headquarters at Fort Riley as here indicated:

Troop I. - Color, bay. Organized August 15, 1867. Captain G. W. Graham; Lieutenant Silas Pepoon.

Troop K. - Color, bay. Organized September 1, 1867. Captain C. G. Cox; Lieutenants R. G. Smither and B. F. Bell.

Troop L. - Color, sorrel. Organized September 21. 1867. Captain R. Gray; Lieutenant C. E. Nordstrom.

Troop M. - Color, mixed.* Organized October 15, 1867. Captain H. E. Alvord; Lieutenants P. L. Lee and W. R. Harmon.

Troop M got all the horses that would not match any other troop and was called the "calico" troop.

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