Cavalry Corps (Union army)

Two corps of the Union Army were called Cavalry Corps during the American Civil War. One served with the Army of the Potomac; the other served in the various armies of the western theater of the war.

Overview

In contrast to the Confederacy, which early on spawned such brilliant cavalry leaders as J.E.B. Stuart, Nathan B. Forrest, and John S. Mosby, the Union high command initially failed to understand the proper way to use cavalry during the early stages of the war. At the time, cavalry units in the Union armies were generally directly attached to infantry corps, divisions, and "wings" to be used as "shock troops," and essentially played minimal roles in early Civil War campaigns. The Union cavalry was disgraced by Stuart's raids during the Peninsular, Northern Virginia, and Maryland Campaigns, where Stuart was able to ride around the Union Army of the Potomac with feeble resistance from the scant Federal cavalry. The Federals rarely even used cavalry as scouts or raiders in the early days of the war. Only a handful of Union cavalry officers, George Bayard, Benjamin Grierson, and John Buford among them, distinguished themselves in a positive way in the first two years of the war.

Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac

After the disastrous Fredericksburg Campaign, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker took command of the Army of the Potomac.