Editing Cavalry (section)

===United States===
{{Main|United States Cavalry}}
[[File:Union cavalry charge culpepper.jpg|thumb|left|[[Union Cavalry]] capture [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] guns at [[Culpeper, Virginia|Culpeper]]]]

In the early [[American Civil War]] the regular United States Army mounted rifle, dragoon, and two existing cavalry regiments were reorganized and renamed cavalry regiments, of which there were six.<ref>Gervase Phillips, "Writing Horses into American Civil War History". ''War in History'' 20.2 (2013): 160-181.</ref> Over a hundred other federal and state cavalry regiments were organized, but the infantry played a much larger role in many battles due to its larger numbers, lower cost per rifle fielded, and much easier recruitment. However, cavalry saw a role as part of screening forces and in foraging and scouting. The later phases of the war saw the [[Union Army|Federal army]] developing a truly effective cavalry force fighting as [[Reconnaissance|scouts]], raiders, and, with repeating rifles, as [[mounted infantry]]. The distinguished 1st Virginia Cavalry ranks as one of the most effectual and successful cavalry units on the Confederate side. Noted cavalry commanders included Confederate general [[J.E.B. Stuart]], [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]], and [[John Singleton Mosby]] (a.k.a. "The Grey Ghost") and on the Union side, [[Philip Sheridan]] and [[George Armstrong Custer]].<ref>Starr Stephen Z. ''The Union Cavalry in the Civil War, '' (3 vols. LSU Press, 1979–81)</ref>
Post Civil War, as the volunteer armies disbanded, the regular army cavalry regiments increased in number from six to ten, among them Custer's [[U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment]] of [[Battle of the Little Bighorn|Little Bighorn]] fame, and the [[African-American]] [[U.S. 9th Cavalry Regiment]] and [[U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment]]. The black units, along with others (both cavalry and infantry), collectively became known as the [[Buffalo Soldier]]s. According to [[Robert M. Utley]]: 
:the frontier army was a conventional military force trying to control, by conventional military methods, a people that did not behave like conventional enemies and, indeed, quite often were not enemies at all. This is the most difficult of all military assignments, whether in Africa, Asia, or the American West.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert M. Utley, "The Contribution of the Frontier to the American Military Tradition"|title=The Harmon Memorial Lectures in Military History, 1959–1987|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K4w69q1_IAYC&pg=PA531|publisher=DIANE Publishing|pages=525–34|isbn=9781428915602}}</ref>

These regiments, which rarely took the field as complete organizations, served throughout the [[American Indian Wars]] through the close of the frontier in the 1890s. Volunteer cavalry regiments like the [[Rough Riders]] consisted of horsemen such as [[cowboy]]s, [[rancher]]s and other outdoorsmen, that served as a cavalry in the United States Military.<ref>Paul Mathingham Hutton, "T.R. takes charge", ''American History'' 33.n3 (August 1998), 30(11).</ref>