The 2nd Tennessee Cavalry was organized July through November 1862 in eastern Tennessee and mustered in for a three year enlistment under the command of Colonel Daniel M. Ray.
The unit was composed primarily of Southern loyalists from the Tennessee counties of Knox, Sevier and Blount.
[1] Notably, among the enlisted were two women pretending to be men: Frances Elizabeth Quinn and Sarah Bradbury.
The regiment's original muster rolls were destroyed at Nolensville, Tennessee on December 30, 1862.
The regiment re-mustered at Murfreesboro, Tennessee on January 26, 1863.