1st Dakota Cavalry Battalion
| 1st Dakota Cavalry Battalion | |
|---|---|
| Active | April 19, 1862 – November 15, 1865 |
| Country |
 United States |
| Allegiance | Union |
| Branch | Cavalry |
| Size |
Company "A"[1] Company "B"[1] |
| Engagements | |
| Disbanded | May 9, 1865[1] |
The 1st Dakota Cavalry was a Union battalion of two companies raised in the Dakota Territory during the American Civil War. They were used for service along the frontier, primarily to protect the settlers during the Sioux Uprising of 1862.
Service
Company A
By order of the War Department, organization of a cavalry unit was begun in the winter of 1861-2, with recruiting stations established at Yankton, Vermillion, and Bon Homme.[2] At Yankton, with Captain Nelson Miner commanding, the 98 men of Company A were mustered into service on April 19, 1862.[3][4] They first were stationed at Fort Randall under Lieutenant Colonel Pattee of the 7th Iowa Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, but detachments of the company were afterward sent to protect the settlements at Yankton, Vermillion, Sioux Falls and Brule Creek, Dakota Territory.
Upon the commencement of the August 1862 Sioux uprising, Company A escorted settlers as they moved to protective stockades. Governor William Jayne also called for "every able-bodied man to arms in defense of the homes of Dakota", with 399 men responding.[5]
Company B
At this time Captain Alpheus G. Fuller, an early settler in the territory, began raising a cavalry militia in Bon Homme and Charles Mix counties, the "Militia Brigade of Dakota".[6] Failing to form a company for U.S. service, the men were merged in with volunteers being organized at Elk Point, and were mustered in as Company B, on March 31, 1863 at Sioux City, Iowa with Captain William Tripp commanding. This company was known by settlers as the "Dakota Rangers".[7]
Both companies were engaged in the protection of the Dakota frontier towns, while Generals Henry H. Sibley and Alfred Sully, with regiments of infantry and cavalry from Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, sought out the hostile Indians throughout the territory. The two companies were split into detachments for use in the several settlements.
With the Civil War ended, and the Indian troubles drawing to a close in 1865, the two companies were mustered out, Company A, on May 9, 1865, and Company B on November 15, 1865. A list of soldiers gives the battalion a total of 194 soldiers.[8]
Engagements
In June 1864, the 1st Dakota Cavalry Battalion served as guard for Brigadier General Alfred Sully while he traveled to Fort Sully, Dakota Territory to rendezvous with various Companies there. Upon the completion of the brigade, the expedition left Fort Sully on June 24, 1864. On July 28, 1864, Sully's force of 2,200 soldiers encountered a camp of over 5,000 Sioux warriors, and the Battle of Killdeer Mountain commenced. The United States forces lost 5 men killed and 10 men wounded in the battle. On August 13–15, 1865, 24 soldiers in Company B of the 1st Dakota participated in the Battle of Bone Pile Creek against Native American warriors near present-day Wright, Wyoming. The detachment suffered two casualties, Private Anthony Nelson and Private John Rouse both Killed in action.[9]
References
- 1 2 3 Dyer, (1959), p. 1,116.
- ↑ Lounsberry, pg 286
- ↑ Armstrong, pg 33
- ↑ Lounsberry, pg 286.This ref page includes roster of those enlisted into Co A
- ↑ Robinson, pg 95
- ↑ HisSoc, pg 417,427
- ↑ Armstrong, pg 121
- ↑ Historical Data Systems, Tuxbury, MA. American Civil War Soldiers. Ancestry.com(subscription site)
- ↑ Lounsberry, pg 297
Bibliography
- Dyer, Frederick H. (1959) [1908]. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. New York, N.Y.: Sagamore Press, Inc.
- Thrapp, Dan L (1991). Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, 3 Volumes. University of Nebraska Press. p. 1698. ISBN 978-0-8032-9420-2.
- Carley, Kenneth (2001). The Dakota War of 1862. Minnesota Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0-87351-392-0.
- Lounsberry, Clement Augustus (1919). Early History of North Dakota. Washington, DC: Liberty Press.
- Robinson, Doane; State Historical Society (1904). South Dakota Historical Collections: a History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians. Aberdeen, SD: News Print Co.
- Armstrong, Moses Kimball (1901). The Early Empire Builders of the Great West. St Paul, MN: E.W. Porter.
- English, Abner M (1899–1902). Dakota's First Soldiers: History of the 1st Dakota Cavalry, 1861-65. Yankton, SD: Monthly South Dakotan.