The 26th Cavalry Regiment was constituted in the Regular Army on 1 October 1922 and assigned to the Philippine Department.

[10] On 30 November 1941, the regiment had 787 enlisted men and 55 officers,[11] and its commander was Colonel (later Brigadier General) Clinton A.

[14][15] Following these events, the regiment was pulled off the line and brought back up to a strength of 657 men, who in January 1942 held open the roadways to the Bataan Peninsula allowing other units to prepare for their stand there.

When Troop G encountered Japanese forces at the village of Morong on 16 January 1942, Lieutenant Edwin P. Ramsey ordered, for that time, the last cavalry charge in American history.

[20][23] Eventually the unit was supplemented by other soldiers and guerrillas, and remained an effective fighting force well into 1943.

[21][24] The remnants of Troop C would later be integrated into the United States Army Forces in the Philippines – Northern Luzon,[22] which due to deaths and captures would be led by Russell W.

[25][26] Other guerrilla organizations were led by officers of the regiment, who ignored the surrender orders, or by enlisted men who escaped from Bataan.