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.
