OVERVIEW:
2nd Cavalry Regiment, about 1,200 strong, was organized in May, 1861, under the designation of the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles. It was reorganized in April, 1862, as the 2nd Cavalry Regiment. The men were recruited in San Antonio, Houston, Marshall, and Beeville, and the counties of Anderson, Houston, Nacogdoches, and Cherokee. Serving in the Trans-Mississippi Department, it was active in various conflicts in the New Mexico Territory and Louisiana, then saw action in the defense of Galveston. In November, 1862, the unit totalled 752 effectives, had 19 officers and 167 men in July, 1864, and about 150 present in April, 1865. Although it was included in the surrender on June 2, it had previously disbanded. The field officers were Colonels John S. Ford and Charles L. Pyron; Lieutenant Colonels John R. Baylor and James Walker; and Majors John Donelson, Matthew Nolan, William A. Spencer, and Edward Waller, Jr.