In April 1837, the regimental headquarters was moved to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, where the 400 new recruits and their instructors participated in the School of the Trooper, and learned the tactics and ways of being a dragoon, while some of their compatriots were battling the Indians in Florida.

When hostilities with the Centralist Republic of Mexico began to boil over in 1845, General Zachary Taylor assembled his "Army of Observation" at Fort Jessup, and the 2nd Dragoons marched overland to occupy Corpus Christi, Texas.

[5] These Dragoons, under LTC Philip St. George Cooke, joined a 2,500-man expedition and began the march to Utah, and in response, Brigham Young, the Mormon leader, mobilized the Nauvoo Legion to combat this force.

During this action, PVT Edward Hanson of H Company earned the Medal of Honor for braving enemy fire to capture the flag of the 32nd Virginia Cavalry.

On 29 June 1867, a small party of 10 troopers and 1 Indian scout under LT Lyman Kidder were ordered to take dispatches from General William Sherman to LTC George A.

On 15 May 1870, SGT Patrick James Leonard was leading a party of 4 other troopers from C Company along the Little Blue River in Nebraska attempting to locate stray horses.

All 5 men were awarded the Medal of Honor (SGT Patrick J. Leonard, and PVTs Heth Canfield, Michael Himmelsback, Thomas Hubbard, and George W. Thompson).

[5] On 17 March 1876, troopers from Companies E, I, and K (156 men) joined the 3rd US Cavalry Regiment under COL Joseph J. Reynolds to combat the Cheyenne and Lakota in the ill-fated Big Horn Expedition.

While searching the ruined village, the troopers found many uniforms, guidons, and weapons from the 7th Cavalry Regiment, and they left knowing that they had avenged those fallen at Little Bighorn.

[5] On 20 August 1877, elements of the 2nd Cavalry which had been pursuing Chief Joseph's band of Nez Perce Indians through Idaho reported that their quarry had turned on them, stole their pack train, and began attempting to escape to Canada.

The troopers and horses of Troops A, C, D, and F boarded transports in Mobile, Alabama and set sail for Cuba, while the rest of the regiment traveled overland to Tampa, Florida.

[5] General Pershing, the commander of the American Expeditionary Force, arrived in France on 26 June 1917, and 31 troopers from the 2nd Cavalry Headquarters Troop served as his escort.

[5] Nazi Germany's Invasion of Poland in 1939 forced American strategists to focus on building up the Army's armored capabilities, and the Attack on Pearl Harbor thrust the US into the war.

They were then attached to General Troy Middleton's VIII Corps during Operation Cobra, and served as a flank security and reconnaissance element for the 4th Armored Division.

In small patrols, the cavalrymen screened the main drive east and disrupted German movement in the Rennes-Nantes Corridor for ten days until 23 August 1944.

Conducting a delaying action, the two squadrons worked in tandem and managed to keep the enemy at bay until 1100, when reinforcements of the 4th Armored Division arrived and beat back the Germans.

On 2 April, the cavalrymen, conducting scouting and screening missions, located and liberated 3,328 US and 3,205 Allied POWs, including a Soviet general near Bad Orb.

On 10 April, the 42nd Squadron attacked 300 SS troops and 3 tanks near Gleicherwiesen, destroying the enemy's freedom of movement and protecting the advance of XII Corps.

Spearheading the VII Corps advance, the regiment attacked into southern Iraq and fought a series of sharp battles with four divisions of the Iraqi Army.

By the end of its covering force mission in Iraq, the 2nd ACR had broken the Republican Guard's defensive line, provided intelligence to the VII Corps commander, and moved over 250 kilometers.

The regiment's participation in Operation Joint Guard began when the 2nd and 3rd Squadrons moved across the Sava River into Bosnia in August 1997 to augment the 1st Infantry Division (Forward) in support of Bosnia-Herzegovina's municipal elections.

Other significant operations that the regiment conducted include: the restructuring of the Republika Srpska Specialist Police; the creation of the first multi-ethnic police department, in the city of Brčko; security for the announcement of the Brcko Arbitration Decision (an effort to resolve the status of this Serb-dominated city within Bosnia); institution of common license plates and currency in Bosnia, and the opening of the Bosnian rail system.

In conducting operations in this sector, the regiment executed an estimated 12,500 patrols and 480 weapon storage site inspections, supervised the removal of over 12,000 mines, and oversaw 350 training exercises for the former warring factions.

On 1 June 2006 at Fort Lewis, Washington, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division conducted a joint re-flagging and Casing of the Colors ceremony.

On 13 September, the regiment replaced the 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at Camp Liberty, Baghdad as part of President George W. Bush's surge campaign.

E Troop was quickly lauded for its aggressive operations against Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) extremists, which resulted in 10 wounded Dragoons and 13 enemy killed in action.

[5] Fires Squadron (Hell), with A, B, and C Batteries along with support from K Troop, was based out of Camp Taji to secure the region of Agar Quf northeast of Baghdad.

In Operation Glad Tidings of Benevolence 50,000 Iraqi soldiers and police officers assisted the regiment in aiding the community, as well as clearing out villages, roads, and farms controlled by terrorist forces.

[5] On 15 March 2010, the Department of Defense announced that the 2nd Cavalry Regiment would deploy to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and the International Security Assistance Force in July 2010.

In July 2010, 1st Squadron assumed responsibility of Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan in Uruzgan Province as well as the Shah Wali Kot District serving alongside Australia's 2nd Cavalry Regiment.