In 1949, the corps found an additional sponsor in the American Legion Thaddeus Kosciuszko Post 712 of Chicago's Little Warsaw neighborhood.

[2] The corps entered the world of field competition for the first time in 1950, adopting the name of Chicago Cavaliers and green as their main color.

They capped the season by finishing in seventh place at their first American Legion Junior National Championship in New York City.

Although the win was considered by the East Coast corps to be just a fluke, the Cavaliers repeated as VFW champions two years later in Los Angeles.

In 1963, the corps traveled to Canada for the Toronto Optimist's "International" competition, then to Seattle to VFW Nationals, and had marching members from as far away from Chicago as Rockford and Milwaukee.

The corps stated that not only were they having their creative potential as artistic performing groups stifled, but they were being financially starved.

The Combine members further declared that the corps should be making their own rules, operating their own competitions and championships, and keeping the bulk of the monies those shows earned.

At the first DCI World Championships in Whitewater, Wisconsin, The Cavaliers finished in ninth place in a competition that featured thirty-nine corps from the East, the South, the West Coast, the Midwest and Great Plains, and Canada.

Money was tight; recruitment was difficult; the staff was having a hard time dealing with a rapidly changing activity It was not widely known until later that Don Warren was considering shutting down The Cavaliers.

The hangover from the incident carried over into 1978, as the corps, with many new staff members, largely alumni, managed only a sixteenth place finish at DCI.

Although it was not immediately apparent, the foundation had been laid for future success with the naming of Adolph DeGrauwe as corps director.

But 1982 saw The Cavaliers forge a solid association with the Village of Rosemont and its mayor, Donald E. Stephens, a relationship that would relieve the corps of many financial worries.

Everything seemed to be in place: the musical program, the drill, the talent to take it all, including a large number of members marching their last, "age-out" year.

The Cavaliers seemed to be "on a roll" as they went to Drums Along the Rockies in Denver, where they crashed back to earth and finished in third place, far behind the Santa Clara Vanguard and the Blue Devils (BD) on the score sheets.

After semi-finals at the DCI Championships in Madison, The Cavaliers were behind all four corps that had beaten them earlier, with Garfield in first, followed by SCV, Phantom, and BD.

Before the start of the 1991 season, Adolph DeGrauwe stepped down as Corps director, and was replaced by Jeff Fiedler.

The Cavaliers won DCI North in Buffalo, but at the Preview of Champions in Nashville, the corps found themselves trailing not only Star, but also BD.

It won the DCM crown, but it was only good enough for second-place finishes in Regionals and fourth at DCI Finals in Boston.

Gustav Holst's "The Planets" had been a crowd-pleaser and had earned The Cavaliers their first finish in the upper half of DCI's Top Twelve as the largest part of the show in 1985.

The 1997 season saw wins in only three minor shows, and The Cavaliers' return of "The Firebird" slipped to seventh place at DCI Finals.

In 1998, The Cavaliers reclaimed the DCM title, but they failed to win any of three DCI Regionals, and they finished in fourth place at the World Championships, held for the third consecutive year in Orlando.

As the Twentieth Century came to a close, The Cavaliers performed a show of Michael Daugherty's "Niagara Falls" and an original composition by Richard Saucedo.

Additionally, The Cavaliers set a world record for highest ever score in DCI history twice: 99.05 in Semifinals and 99.15 in Finals.

The 2003 show, "Spin Cycle" by Richard Saucedo won the last DCM Championship before the top corps abandoned the circuit, and the DCI Southwestern Regional before The Blue Devils caught up and won both the Midwestern Regional and DCI East.

Then The Cavaliers' "007" show of tunes from James Bond movies powered through the season, losing once to the Devils and twice to The Cadets en route to the sixth DCI title that had eluded the corps the previous year.

[6][7] The Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization sponsored by The Village of Rosemont, Illinois and has a board of directors.

[10] the Classic Cavaliers alumni; Midwest Connection, an all-age community-based drum and bugle corps that will compete in DCI's SoundSport; and GearWORKS which hosts "Chop Sessions"– intensive workshops geared towards students looking to develop their individual skills for drum corps, winter percussion, indoor winds, and other performing ensembles.

In conjunction with the all-male Cavaliers Indoor Percussion that performs in WGI Independent World class, the organization is also co-sponsoring, with the Crystal Lake Strikers performing arts organization, Crystal Lake Thunder, a new co-ed percussion ensemble that will compete in WGI's Independent A class.