6th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment

Last updated
6th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment
Flag of South Carolina.svg
Flag of South Carolina
ActiveJuly 23, 1862, to 1865
Allegiance South Carolina
Confederate States of America Confederate National Flag since Mar 4 1865.svg
Type Cavalry
Nickname(s)Dixie Rangers
Aiken's 16th S. C. Partisan Rangers
1st Partisan Rangers
Engagements American Civil War

Battle of Wilderness

Battle of Spotsylvania Court House

Battle of North Anna

Battle of Cold Harbor

Siege of Petersburg

Battle of Vaughan Road

Carolinas Campaign

Battle of Monroe's Crossroads
Commanders
Current
commander
Colonel Hugh K. Aiken

The 6th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment (also called Dixie Rangers, Aiken's Partisan Rangers and 1st Partisan Rangers) was a regiment of cavalry in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. They were from the state of South Carolina and served at various times in both the Eastern and Western theaters.

Contents

Organization and history

This unit was originally called the 16th Battalion South Carolina Partisan Rangers – Aiken's Regiment, the 1st Reg. South Carolina Partisan Rangers, and Aiken's 1st Regiment South Carolina Partisan Rangers. It was a part of the state militia troops. The men were formally mustered into Confederate service as the 16th Battalion, South Carolina Cavalry on July 23, 1862. The 6th South Carolina Cavalry was then organized in January 1863, using the 16th Battalion as its nucleus.

Some of the men were from Columbia, including several students from The Citadel Academy. The 6th Cavalry saw action at Willstown and Pon Pon River in South Carolina, and then moved to Virginia with about 1,000 men and was assigned to the Cavalry Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. Assigned to General Matthew C. Butler's brigade, the regiment participated in the Wilderness and Cold Harbor operations and in various conflicts south of the James River. Later, it was engaged in the Carolinas Campaign assigned to Logan's Brigade.

The depleted regiment surrendered with the Army of Tennessee at Bennett Place in North Carolina.

Notable battles

Original commissioned officers

Noncommissioned officers

See also

Related Research Articles

Cobb's Legion was an American Civil War Confederate States Army unit that was raised from the state of Georgia by Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb during the summer of 1861. A legion in the Civil War usually meant a combined-arms unit, consisting of two or three branches of the military: infantry, cavalry, and artillery. When it was originally raised, the Georgia Legion comprised 600 infantrymen in the infantry battalions, 300 cavalry troopers in the cavalry battalions, and 100 artillerists in a single battery. The legion concept was not practical for Civil War armies and, soon after Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia on June 1, 1862, the individual elements were assigned to other units.

Loudoun County, Virginia, was destined to be an area of significant military activity during the American Civil War. Located on Virginia's northern frontier, the Potomac River, Loudoun County became a borderland after Virginia's secession from the Union in early 1861. Loudoun County's numerous Potomac bridges, ferries and fords made it an ideal location for the Union and Confederate armies to cross into and out of Virginia. Likewise, the county's several gaps in the Blue Ridge Mountains that connected the Piedmont to the Shenandoah Valley and Winchester were of considerable strategic importance. The opposing armies would traverse the county several times throughout the war leading to several small battles, most notably the Battle of Ball's Bluff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hampton's Legion</span> Military unit

Hampton's Legion was an American Civil War military unit of the Confederate States of America, organized and partially financed by wealthy South Carolina planter Wade Hampton III. Initially composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery battalions, elements of Hampton's Legion participated in virtually every major campaign in the Eastern Theater, from the first to the last battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McNeill's Rangers</span> Military unit

McNeill's Rangers was an independent Confederate military force commissioned under the Partisan Ranger Act (1862) by the Confederate Congress during the American Civil War. The 210 man unit was formed from Company E of the 18th Virginia Cavalry and the First Virginia Partisan Rangers. After the repeal of the Act on February 17, 1864, McNeill's Rangers was one of two partisan forces allowed to continue operation, the other being 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry. Both of these guerrilla forces operated in the western counties of Virginia and West Virginia. The Rangers were known to exercise military discipline when conducting raids. However, many Union generals considered Captain John Hanson McNeill (1815–1864) and his men to be "bushwhackers," not entitled to protection when captured, as was the case with other prisoners of war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion</span> Military unit in the Confederate army

The 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion, also known as 43rd Virginia Rangers, Mosby's Rangers, Mosby's Raiders, or Mosby's Men, was a battalion of partisan cavalry in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Noted for their lightning strike raids on Union targets and their ability to consistently elude pursuit, the Rangers disrupted Union communications and supply lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">35th Virginia Cavalry Battalion</span> Military unit

The 35th Virginia Cavalry Battalion, also known as White's Battalion, White's Rebels and the Comanches, was a Confederate cavalry unit during the American Civil War raised by Elijah V. White in Loudoun County, Virginia in the winter of 1861-62. The battalion was initially raised as border guards along the Potomac River below Harpers Ferry but were ultimately mustered into regular service as part of the Laurel Brigade. Despite this, they continued to play a conspicuous role in the ongoing partisan warfare in Loudoun throughout the war. The battalion was particularly notable during the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, when it played a prominent role in the Battle of Brandy Station and subsequently conducted a series of raids on Union-held railroads and defensive positions in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The 35th was the first Confederate unit to enter Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2nd Maryland Cavalry Battalion (Confederate)</span> Infantry battalion of the Confederate States Army

The 2nd Maryland Cavalry Battalion, a.k.a. Gilmor's Partisan Rangers, was a Confederate unit in the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment</span> Military unit

The 4th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment was a regiment of cavalry in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. They were from the state of South Carolina and served primarily in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The 4th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment was organized on December 16, 1862, by consolidating the 10th Battalion South Carolina Cavalry, the 12th Battalion South Carolina Cavalry, the Charleston Light Dragoons and Company A of the St. James Mounted Riflemen. The 10th Cavalry Battalion was organized in the spring of 1862 with five companies, and Major James P. Adams and Major William Stokes were the commanding officers. The 12th Cavalry Battalion had also been known as the 4th Cavalry Battalion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1st Maryland Cavalry Battalion, Potomac Home Brigade</span> Military unit

1st Maryland Cavalry Battalion, Potomac Home Brigade, originally organized as the 1st Potomac Home Brigade Cavalry, "Cole's Cavalry" was formed under the guidance of Henry A. Cole. There are also references to it being designated as Cole's 1st Volunteer Maryland Cavalry. The unit, a battalion, originally consisted of four companies, A, B, C & D and was initially enlisted between August 10 and November 27, 1861.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">18th Virginia Cavalry Regiment</span> Military unit

The 18th Virginia Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought with the Army of Northern Virginia, in southwest Virginia, and in the Shenandoah Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">37th Virginia Cavalry Battalion</span> Military unit

The 37th Virginia Cavalry Battalion was a cavalry battalion raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly in western Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4th North Carolina Infantry Regiment</span> Infantry regiment of the Confederate States Army

The 4th North Carolina Infantry Regiment was a Confederate States Army regiment during the American Civil War, active from 1861 until the war's end in April 1865. Ordered to Virginia, the unit served in General Winfield S. Featherston’s, George B. Anderson’s, Stephen D. Ramseur’s, and William R. Cox’s Brigade. Its field officers were Colonels George B. Anderson, Bryan Grimes, Edwin A. Osborne, and James H. Wood; Lieutenant Colonels David M. Carter and John A. Young; and Majors Edward S. Marsh and Absalom K. Simonton. It was nicknamed "The Bloody Fourth" after the high rate of casualties at the Battle of Seven Pines.

The 3d Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (1861–1865) was a Confederate Army Cavalry regiment during the American Civil War.

The Jeff. Davis Legion was a cavalry regiment of the Confederate States Army. Made up of companies from Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia; it fought primarily in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. In 1865, it was reassigned to the Army of Tennessee, surrendering at Greensboro, N.C.

The 4th Mississippi Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry unit of the Confederate States Army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The 4th Regiment was formed by combining various cavalry companies into one consolidated regiment in the autumn of 1862. The 4th Cavalry fought in numerous battles in Mississippi and Louisiana before surrendering at the close of the war in May 1865.

The 56th Alabama Cavalry was a Confederate Partisan Ranger cavalry regiment from Alabama. Initially organized as 2 separate Partisan Ranger battalions, the 56th Regiment was created in the summer of 1863 and took part in several campaigns of the Western Theater of the American Civil War before surrendering in the spring of 1865.

The 2nd Mississippi Cavalry Regiment was a unit of the Confederate States Army from Mississippi. Formed in the spring of 1862, the 2nd Cavalry took part in many battles of the western theater in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee before surrendering in April 1865.

The 1st Mississippi Partisan Rangers was a unit of the Confederate Army from Mississippi. The 1st Partisans operated as a cavalry regiment in North Mississippi and Tennessee, but suffered serious setbacks in late 1862 that compromised its effectiveness as a unit. Reorganized as the 7th Mississippi Cavalry Regiment in 1864, the regiment surrendered at the close of the war in May, 1865.

References

Further reading

The following manuscript may be found in the U.S. Army Military History Institute's archives: