Handsome Cover of this Well Known Unit - The 5th U.S. Cavalry

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/27/2015

Music Sheet, “The Gallant 5th U.S. Cavalry Schottisch”, by Prof. Chs. Peters, Philadelphia, 1864, 6pp., colored cover of two Federal Flags, disbound, VG.The history of this units is striking. 1855, the regiment of 750 officers and men marched west to fight in its first Indian Campaign, against the Comanche, reaching Fort Belknap, Texas, in late December. Under the command of Col. Albert Sidney Johnston, its officers included 12 future generals: field officers Robert E. Lee (who was appointed to succeed to command in 1861), William J. Hardee, and George H. Thomas, and line officers Earl Van Dorn, Edmund Kirby Smith, George Stoneman, Kenner Garrard, William B. Royall,[3] Nathan G. Evans, Fitzhugh Lee, and John B. Hood. In July 1857, Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee took command of the Regiment at Fort Mason. That same month, Lieutenant John Bell Hood led his company of the 2nd Cavalry against a band of Native American warriors. During the fight, Lieutenant Hood was injured in hand-to-hand combat. The 5th Cavalry’s current home of Fort Hood, Texas is named in honor of Lieutenant Hood, who rose to the rank of Lieutenant General in the Confederate Army. In July 1858 the entire regiment assembled at Fort Belknap in anticipation of joining Johnston in Utah to subjugate rebellious Mormons. Their orders were rescinded and they instead formed a striking force, the "Wichita Expedition," against the Comanche. Led by Van Dorn, four companies trapped and defeated a sizable force of Comanches on October 1 at the Battle of Rush Springs, and followed it up on May 13, 1859, with a similar victory at the Battle of Crooked Creek in Kansas. The 2nd and later 5th Cavalry fought in a total of thirteen Indian Campaigns, symbolized by the arrow head shaped regimental crest. Early in 1861, the regiment went to Carlisle Barracks, where the officers and men loyal to the South left the regiment to serve in the Confederacy. Lieutenant Colonel Lee was replaced by Lt. Col. George Henry Thomas. In the summer of 1861, all regular mounted regiments were re-designated as "cavalry", and being last in seniority among the existing regiments, the regiment was re-designated as the 5th United States Cavalry. During the Civil War, the Regiment fought valiantly at Fairfax Courthouse, Falling Waters, Martinsburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Shenandoah Valley, among many others.

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