1st Louisiana Cavalry Regiment (Union)

For the Confederate army regiment of the same name, see 1st Louisiana Cavalry Regiment.

The 1st Louisiana Regiment Cavalry was a cavalry unit in the Union Army during the American Civil War.^[1] The regiment was one of several organized in New Orleans in August 1862 by order of Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler and recruited from among "white Unionists, and pro-Northern refugees" in the city; it consisted primarily of foreigners and men of Northern birth.^[2]

1st Louisiana Regiment Cavalry
Active	August, 1862 – December 18, 1865
Country	United States of America
Allegiance	USA
Branch	Union Army, American Civil War
Type	Cavalry
Engagements	Fort Bisland Irish Bend Vermilion Bayou Plains Store Port Hudson LaFourche Crossing Sabine Crossroads Pleasant Hill Cane River Crossing Mansura Yellow Bayou Spanish Fort Fort Blakeley
Commanders
Commander	Maj Harai Robinson

Service

The unit was assigned in 1863 to the Union XIX Corps of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks in the Department of the Gulf.

They participated in operations in Western Louisiana: Fort Bisland, Irish Bend, and Vermilion Bayou in April, 1863 and in the Siege of Port Hudson from May to July. The regiment participated in the Red River Campaign from March to May, 1864.

The unit left Louisiana and moved to Fort Barrancas, Florida in February 1865. It joined the campaign against Mobile, Alabama. The regiment then marched to Blakeley, across the Mobile River, taking control of its Fort Blakeley, a major fort during the war. This completed Confederate defeat in the area.^{[citation needed]}

The unit mustered out on December 18, 1865.

2nd Louisiana Regiment Cavalry

The 2nd Louisiana Regiment Cavalry was originally organized as the 3rd Louisiana Infantry in New Orleans on November 25, 1863.^[3] After serving at the defenses of Brashear City, Baton Rouge and Port Hudson, the unit was consolidated with 1st Louisiana Cavalry on September 7, 1864.

See also

• List of Louisiana Union Civil War units

References

1. Dyer, Frederick Henry (1908). Compendium of the War of the Rebellion: Regimental Histories. New York: T. Yoseloff.
2. Frazier, Donald S. (Spring 2001). ""The Carnival of Death": The Cavalry Battle at Cheneyville, Louisiana, May 20, 1863". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 42 (2): 193–207. JSTOR 4233734.
3. Dyer, Frederick Henry (1908). Compendium of the War of the Rebellion: Regimental Histories. New York: T. Yoseloff.

Further reading

• Butler, Clayton J. (2022). True Blue: White Unionists in the Deep South during the Civil War and Reconstruction. LSU Press. ISBN 9780807177549.