Movie Cavalry
They Came to Cordura features a cavalry charge in the 1916 expedition to hunt Pancho Villa's forces in Mexico. What cavalry unit takes place in this charge?
According to the movies, most of the fighting in the Indian conflicts west of the Mississippi River was done by United States Cavalry units. Since the west had an area of about two million square miles, a lot of cavalry would be needed to garrison the west and intimidate potentially hostile Indian groups into staying peaceful.
General Sheridan said that there were a thousand communities in the west each depanding that an entire cavalry regiment be garrisoned there to protect it from hostiles Indians. So how many cavalry regiments did the US army during the Indian Wars era which more or less ended in 1890? Though militia units (ancestors of the national guard) sometimes participated, most of the soldirs int he western Indian Wars were regular army units (with United states Volunteers duirng the Civil war).
I note that the first and second US Dragoons, the Regiment of Mounted Rifes, and the First and Second cavarly were renumbered in 1861 as the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth US Cavalry.
The First Dragoons/Cavarly were created in 1833.
The Second Dragoons/Cavarly were created in 1836.
The Mounted Riflemen/Third Cavalry was created in 1846.
The First/Fourth Cavalry was created in 1846.
The Second/Fifth Cavalry was created in 1855.
The Sixth Cavarly was created in 1861.
The Seventh Cavalry was created in 1866.
The Eighth Cavarly was created in 1866.
The Ninth Cavalry was created in 1866.
The Tenth Cavarly was created in 1866.
And that was it for the Indian Wars.
The Eleventh Cavalry was created in 1901.
The Twelvth Cavalry was created in 1901.
The Thirteenth Cavalry was created in 1901.
The Fourteenth Cavalry was created in 1901.
The Fifteenth Cavalry was created in 1901.
The Sixteenth Cavalry was created in 1916.
The Seventeenth Cavalry was created in 1916.
The next regular army cavalry regiment to be created was the Twenty Sixth Cavalry (Philippine Scouts) in 1922.
The Cavalry charge in They Came to Cordura shows a national standard and a regimental standard, plus several forktailed company guidons. One is clearly shown wtth the regimental number in white on the red upper part and the company letter in red on the white lower part. The Guidon says "28" above and "C" below - troop C of the 28th US Cavalry,
The last actually mounted units of the US army were the 27th and 28th cavalry regiments, created in 1943 and deactivated in 1944.
So, just as western movies and tv shows sometimes showed cavalry units with regimental numbers higher than ten during the Indians Wars, They Came to Cordura shows a cavarly unit with an anachronistic regimental number higher than fifteen in 1916.