The United States Cavalry was formally created by an act of Congress on 3 August 1861 and ceased as a distinct Army branch in 1942.

[1] Immediately preceding World War II (1941–1945), the U.S. Cavalry began transitioning to a mechanized, mounted force.

During the Second World War, the Army's cavalry units operated as horse-mounted, mechanized, or dismounted forces (infantry).

The 26th Cavalry Regiment of the allied Philippine Scouts executed the charge against Imperial Japanese Army forces near the village of Morong on 16 January 1942.

George Washington personally witnessed the effect that a small mounted force of the British Army's 17th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons had on his troops, panicking and scattering American soldiers at the Battle of White Plains.

In late 1776, Congress authorized Washington to establish a mounted force of 3,000 men for service in the Continental army.

In March 1777, Washington established the Corps of Continental Light Dragoons consisting of four regiments of 280 men, each organized in six troops.

Many problems faced the light dragoon regiments, including the inability of recruiting to bring the units to authorized strength, shortage of suitable cavalry weapons and horses, and lack of uniformity among troopers in dress and discipline.

Congress appointed the Hungarian revolutionary and professional soldier Michael Kovats and the Polish Casimir Pulaski to train them as an offensive strike force during winter quarters of 1777–78 at Trenton, New Jersey.

Another independent corps of dragoons joined Pulaski's in the Continental Line during 1778 when a former captain in Bland's Horse, "Light Horse Harry" Lee, formed Lee's Corps of Partisan Light Dragoons, which specialized in raiding and harassing supply lines.

Battle engagements in South Carolina largely seriously attrited the 1st and 3rd Regiments in the spring of 1780, who amalgamated into a single unit.

Southern theater commander General Nathanael Greene reorganized part of Lee's Legion and elements of the amalgamated 1st and 3rd Light Dragoons in Charlotte and dispatched them on a series of raids against Loyalist forces in western Carolina.

The dragoons joined the "flying corps" commanded by General Daniel Morgan at the Battle of Cowpens, securing a crucial victory for the American forces in the early stages of the war.

Later, the 3rd Legionary Corps participated in Greene's maneuvers across North Carolina and fought well against Cornwallis's army at Guilford Courthouse.

[8] In 1798, during the Quasi-War with France, Congress established a three-year "Provisional Army" of 10,000 men, consisting of twelve regiments of infantry and six troops of light dragoons.

In 1813, Secretary of War John Armstrong Jr. granted Colonel Richard Mentor Johnson permission to raise two battalions of volunteer cavalry.

The regiment was disbanded on 3 March 1815, with the explanation that cavalry forces were too expensive to maintain as part of a standing army.

In 1832, Congress formed the Battalion of Mounted Rangers to protect settlers along the east[clarification needed] bank of the Mississippi River and to keep the Santa Fe trail open.

To correct what was perceived as a lack of discipline, organization and reliability, Congress formed the United States Regiment of Dragoons as a regular force in 1833, consisting of 10 companies (designated A through K) with a total of 750 men.

Shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War, the Army's dragoon regiments were designated as "Cavalry", losing their previous distinctions.

The change was an unpopular one and the former dragoons retained their orange braided blue jackets until they wore out and had to be replaced with cavalry yellow.

[11] As part of the National Defense Act of 1920, the Army created the Office of the Chief of Cavalry; the chief would be a temporary major general, and would be empowered to supervise cavalry activities, including personnel management, equipment development and fielding, and creation and implementation of tactics, doctrine, and training.

In a short time the divisions had the prescribed cavalry regiments and machine gun squadrons but not the majority of their support organizations.

Under political pressure the Army activated the 2nd Cavalry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas, on 1 April 1941, with one white and one black brigade.

During the war, many of the Army's cavalry units were mechanized with tanks and reconnaissance vehicles, while others fought dismounted as infantry.

[17] An impromptu pistol charge by the Third Platoon was carried out when the Troop encountered a machine gun nest in an Italian village/town sometime between 14 and 23 April 1945.

Several cavalry groups, each of two squadrons, were formed to serve as the reconnaissance elements for U.S. corps headquarters in the European Theater of Operations during 1944–45.

[citation needed] The M8 Greyhound was a six-wheeled, light-weight armored car, mounting a 37 mm gun in a movable turret that could swing a full 360 degrees.

In January 1969, the cavalry began transitioning from the Patton tank to the M551 Sheridan Armored Airborne Reconnaissance Assault Vehicle.

The individuals appointed to serve in this position were:[30] Cavalry in United States military heraldry is represented in a number of ways: