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Regular Cavalry in the Civil War

Regular Cavalry in the Civil War

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Court Martial Insights

21 Tuesday Apr 2020

Posted by dccaughey in 1864, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, Civil War, courts martial, references, research, Reserve Brigade, Uncategorized

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2nd U.S. Cavalry, cavalry, Civil War, courts martial, Culpeper;, officers, winter encampment;

Court martialI first realized the possible value of court martial records when I read Dr. Mark W. Johnson’s excellent book, That Body of Brave Men. Intrigued by what he had to say about the value of the records, I did a bit of investigating.

As I perused the War Department’s General Orders for 1863 and 1864, it struck me that relatively few cavalrymen were court martialed, and even fewer regular cavalrymen. I was able to make copies of a few records on a couple of visits to the National Archives, and friend Bob O’Neill was kind enough to copy another dozen or more. Much to my delight, there is a wealth of information in these files. Nothing book worthy in and of itself, but countless smaller details that bring the larger history to life.

As a case study, let’s take a look at the court martial of Second Lieutenant Peter Rinner of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry in January 1864. Rinner was a veteran whose enlisted service started in the Mexican War, and a first sergeant in the regiment when he was commissioned the year before. I will save the other details of his service for a future post. The charge was drunk on guard. The specification was “while on Provost Guard with his squadron did become so drunk as to be unable to perform his duty as an officer. This at or near the town of Culpeper, Va. On or about the 24th day of December 1863.”

To set the stage a bit, during the winter encampment of 1863-1864 the regular cavalry regiments and possibly others rotated on provost guard duty in the town of Culpeper, Virginia. Without going into the details of the testimony, here is a sampling some of the information I discovered from just this one record.

  • A squadron strong, the guard rotated shifts daily. The squadron was responsible for guard posts in town and pickets in vicinity of the town.
  • The headquarters for the squadron on provost guard was a room in the Virginia Hotel. The officers on guard, typically a captain and two lieutenants, slept together in this room.
  • It was not customary for there to be a formal mounting of the guard when the relief happened within the regiment. Guard posts included the hotel, the Orange & Alexandria railroad depot, and “the church.” This was probably St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, built in 1821. Specific identification of guards’ names, ranks and companies validated unit roster.
  • Battery G, 2nd U.S. Artillery was located in Culpeper, and its commander, Lt. William N. Dennison, also had a room at the Virginia Hotel. One of the units of the Horse Artillery Brigade, relations between the officers of the battery and the 2nd U.S. Cavalry were cordial enough that there was a party in Dennison’s room on December 23rd which seven officers attended.
  • It was permissible for an officer of the guard to visit a party, drink and play cards as long as his duties were fulfilled and he did not become incapacitated. In this case his squadron commander was present at the time and it was not considered an offense.
  • Company morning report books were required to be signed by commanders every morning, even when the officer was on guard.
  • The regimental adjutant placed officers in arrest, not the company or squadron commander.
  • Division headquarters appointed general courts martial. Brigade headquarters selected the board members selected from the regiments of the accused’s brigade. Both volunteer and regular officers could sit on the court martial of a regular officer. Court martial duty superseded all other duties, including unit movements. The proceedings of the previous day were read to the accused and the court first thing in the morning after the court convened.
  • The 1st New York Dragoons had already joined the Reserve Brigade before the Christmas of 1863.
  • Justice was swift. The court reached its verdict on January 11th. Only two days later, the proceedings were approved by the division commander and sent to Major General Sedgwick, in temporary command of the Army of the Potomac.
  • The Army of the Potomac was cracking down on professionalism during the winter encampment. By February 18th, army headquarters had already published four general court martial orders since January 1st. Each order encompassed the results of multiple courts. This fourth order included four courts ruling on ten officers for various forms of misconduct. All ten were cashiered.

Not every court martial record contains valuable information, but this is definitely a largely underutilized source of primary source material. Another tool available to bring pieces of history to light.

Source: NARA, Record Group 153: Office of the Judge Advocate General. Folder LL1362: Court-Martial of Second Lieutenant Peter Rinner, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, January 1864.

Yea, more references

28 Friday Dec 2007

Posted by dccaughey in references

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Thanks to a visit from Santa Higginson, several Amazon elves and various family members, more Civil War reference books arrived over the holidays. Among them were the histories of the 8th New York Cavalry and the “College Cavaliers”, so other than a few National Tribune articles that Eric has kindly put me on the trail of, I think I have all of the tools to finish up the Harpers Ferry project.

Among other new arrivals are Volume III of The Union Cavalry in the Civil War (hadn’t realized until recently I was missing that one), Beatie’s Army of the Potomac series thus far, and a History of the 16th PA Cavalry for 1863. That last one will hopefully add to my knowledge of the St Patrick’s Day Battle of Kelly’s Ford in 1863.

So much reading, so little time….

Cavalry Journal/ Armor Cumulative Indices 1888-1968

12 Wednesday Dec 2007

Posted by dccaughey in books, references

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As mentioned below, I located a copy of this work recently and promptly ordered a copy. It arrived yesterday, and after an initial perusal during my lunch hour I am pretty impressed.

The book contains two different indices for every article published in either the Cavalry Journal or its successor, Armor Magazine, from 1888 to 1968. It was compiled by Walter E. Young and edited by John J. Vander Velde. Every single article published during that period is referenced by Author and by Subject/Title.

The scope of the work is very impressive, doubly so when one considers that this was compiled before the availability of computers. The editor states in his preface that this was done by index cards, one article at a time, then cross-referenced onto other index cards.

The only downside of the book that I’ve noticed so far is that the Subject/Title index may take some digging to find what one is looking for. This isn’t that difficult, however, as one simply needs to check several keywords until the right one is found. In the editor’s words, “In formulating the subject headings based on keyword approach, it was constantly kept in mind how users of this volume would most likely extract information.” If one knows the author, there’s is no problem at all.

Overall, I think this is an excellent work. It serves as a great link for directing searches of existing collections at places like USAMHI at Carlisle Barracks. For those of us who employ researchers to gather information for us by proxy, it is very valuable.

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A 28-year Army veteran takes to the Appalachian Trail to contemplate a life well served & the road ahead

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A Writer's On-Going Search for Just the Right Words

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A Journal of the Digitization of a Civil War Battle

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