Regiment of Mounted Riflemen
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The Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, also known as the U.S. Mounted Rifles, was created by the 29th Congress in December 1845 and constituted in the following May. Congress created the regiment to establish "military stations on the route to Oregon." The regiment was provided with horses and long-range hunting rifles, a combination that was distinct from the infantry and cavalry of the time.
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[edit] War with Mexico
In spite of its purpose for creation, the regiment's first orders were to participate in the invasion of Mexico. After the Battle of Contreras in August 1847, General Winfield Scott arrived by horseback, and spoke to them in words which continue to inspire subsequent members of the regiment to this day:
- Brave Rifles, veterans — you have been baptized in fire and blood and come out steel. Where bloody work was to be done, “the Rifles” was the cry, and there they were. All speak of them in terms of praise and admiration. What can I say? What shall I say? Language cannot express my feelings of gratitude for your gallant conduct in the terrible conflict of yesterday and this morning.
- But, my brave boys, in the course of one hour more you will be engaged in a more sanguinary engagement than the one you have just passed through, and I hope and trust that you will take the same noble stand you did yesterday and this morning. And now, men of the Rifle Regiment, you may rest assured that a grateful country will reward you for your gallant deeds through this campaign. Goodbye for the present, and God bless you all.
About a week later Scott described the regiment's efforts of that day in a dispatch to William L. Marcy, Secretary of War:
- Smith's own brigade [the Mounted Rifles], under the temporary command of Major Dimick, following the movements of Riley and Cadwallader, discovered opposite to and outside of the works, a long line of Mexican cavalry, drawn up as a support. Dimick, having at the head of the brigade the company of sappers and miners, under Lieut. Smith, engineer, who had conducted the march, was ordered by Brigadier General Smith to form line faced to the enemy, and in a charge against a flank, routed the cavalry.
- Shields too, by the wise disposition of his brigade and gallant activity, contributed much to the general results. He held masses of cavalry and infantry, supported by artillery, in check below him, and captured hundreds, with one General (Mendoza) of those who fled from above.
- I doubt whether a more brilliant or decisive victory — taking into view ground, artificial defences, batteries, and the extreme disparity of numbers - without cavalry or artillery on our side — is to be found on record. Including all our corps directed against the entrenched camp, with Shield's brigade at the hamlet, we positively did not number over 4500 rank and file; and we knew by sight, and since more certainly by many captured documents and letters, that the enemy had actually engaged on the spot 7000 men, with at least 12,000 more hovering within sight and striking distance — both on the 19th and 20th. All not killed or captured, now fled with precipitation.
- Thus was the great victory of Contreras achieved: one road to the capital opened; 700 of the enemy killed; 813 prisoners, including, among 88 officers, 4 generals; besides many colors and standards; 22 pieces of brass ordnance — half of large caliber; thousands of small arms and accoutrements; an immense quantity of shot, shells, powder, and cartridges, 700 pack mules, many horses, &c. — all in our hands.
The regiment's greatest contribution was less than a month later, at the Battle of Chapultepec.
[edit] Oregon Trail
After the Mexican War, the regiment returned to Jefferson Barracks in Missouri, and in May 1849 began a 2,000 mile march to the Oregon Territory, a journey which took them to Fort Leavenworth and Fort Kearny, then except for a trading post in what is now Laramie, Wyoming, there were no American settlements until they reached The Dalles, Oregon. At the Dalles most of the men (minus their horses and wagons) continued by raft to Fort Vancouver; the remainder were ordered to take the Barlow Road to Oregon City.
[edit] 3d U.S. Cavalry
Starting in 1851 and continuing for the next decade, the regiment was in Texas and the New Mexico Territory, fighting in the Indian Wars.
In August 1861, after the American Civil War began, it was redesignated as the 3d United States Cavalry Regiment.
[edit] External links
- Regimental history in PDF format, from a Fort Carson website
- Dispatch from Scott about the Battles of Contreras and Churubusco, from the website of the Descendants of Mexican War Veterans
