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The Early Campaigns
To respond to the increasing trouble in Florida during the Second Seminole War, President Andrew Jackson issued an executive order on 23 May 1836 forming the Second Regiment of Dragoons. Congress appropriated $300,000 to for the Regiment, and the headquarters were established in June 1836 in Washington, DC.
Colonel David Emmanuel Twiggs was the First Colonel of the Regiment. Nicknamed "Old Davey" or the "Bengal Tiger," his troops claimed that he could "curse them right out of their boots." Lieutenant Colonel William Selby Harney was second in command, and later became the Second Colonel of the Regiment. His temper was as fiery as his flaming red hair, and although brutal on the field of battle, his imaginative and conscientious leadership helped to shape the character of the Regiment. Twiggs and Harney set the initial tone of the Regiment and fostered many of its enduring qualities.
Recruiting began immediately. Companies A and I were organized in the Fort Myer Virginia area. Company B obtained recruits in Virginia and Louisiana, Harney’s home state, while Company C recruited from Tennessee. Companies B and C were not listed on the Regiment’s active returns until April 1837. Company D was organized from a detachment of the First Dragoons in Florida and saw service there immediately. Companies E, F, G, and H recruited mostly from New York, and Company K was recruited from New Orleans and activated in March 1837.
In April 1837, the Regimental headquarters was moved to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, where a "School of the Trooper" was organized for the remaining companies, numbering over 400 new recruits. The new troopers were excited to get their training under way. As fast as the "green" horses were received they were introduced to their new riders, equally "green" at horsemanship. It was said that their "ambitious mounting in hot haste" frequently resulted in their immediate dismounting. Veterans noted that their "quickness of time and variety of motions" were unparalleled in mounted tactics.
The Second Seminole War
Even before the arrival of the Regiment for its first assignment, the men who became Company D had their first encounter near Micanopy, Florida. They drew "first blood" as members of the Regiment in July 1836 in a spirited engagement at Welika Pond, near Fort Defiance, Florida, on 10 June 1836.
In December 1836, the first four companies sailed from New York to Charleston, South Carolina, for immediate service in Florida. Company I joined them in Charleston, and Harney took command. The Regiment arrived at the mouth of the St. John’s River, Florida, in January 1837 and marched to Fort Mellon on Lake Munroe, arriving on 6 February. This post fell under attack only two days later, embroiling the companies almost immediately in the war.
On 9 September 1837, three companies of the Second Dragoons and two of Florida volunteers surrounded an Indian village. At first light, the force captured the village, including the important chief, King Phillip.
This action represented a shift in tactics. Garrisons had previously waited in forts and responded when attacked, only to find that the Seminoles had melted back into the Florida Everglades. Though some experts doubted the wisdom of employing mounted troops in that terrain, the Second Dragoons pioneered the practice of taking the battle to the enemy. The Indians responded by signing what would be a short-lived peace treaty.
Chief Coacoochee and Osceola, however, did not sign the document and persuaded the rest of the members to return to the Everglades and continue the fight. This pattern of warfare would be repeated so often that a poet wrote:
"And yet ‘tis not an endless war,
as facts will plainly show,
Having been ended forty times
In twenty months or so."
Harney would go to any length to defeat the enemy. In March 1838, the Regiment took delivery from Samuel Colt of 50 Patterson Patent revolving carbines. Legend has it that Harney purchased these weapons with his own money. Fifty selected troopers were equipped with this new carbine and formed a Regimental corps of sharpshooters. Some say that the sharpshooters were so successful that Harney bought 50 more carbines in 1839. Thus, the Regiment earned its reputation both for daring new tactics and the use of new technology.
The Regiment earned one red and black battle streamer for its participation in the Seminole War.
Fort Jessup, Louisiana
As the war with the Seminoles began to wind down, the Regiment was repositioned in Louisiana, which formed part of the eastern frontier of the Louisiana Purchase. This was the Regiment’s first posting in the state of Louisiana. In October 1842, Companies A, D, E, F, and G were ordered to move to Fort Jessup, Louisiana, and Fort Towson, Arkansas. The remaining companies worked to improve their positions and to scout for the last band of hostile Indians in Florida. Upon completion of their tasks in Florida, these companies went to Louisiana, where the entire Regiment assembled. Headquarters were at Fort Jessup and additional postings were to the Arkansas Territory and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
In August 1842 Congress passed a resolution to dismount the Regiment as a cost-saving measure, and it was reconstituted as a Regiment of Riflemen. The Secretary of War noted in his report of 1842 that dismounting the Regiment saved very little money. It was also pointed out that the distances along the frontier and the mounted Indian tribes of the area necessitated more mounted formations. In March of 1843 the Regiment was re-mounted and again designated as the Second Dragoons.
Fort Jessup was home to the Dragoons for four years. They patrolled the border between the United States and the Republic of Texas while providing security along the famous El Camino Real, which took travelers from Natchitoches, Louisiana, to Nacogdoches, Texas. Life for the Regiment at Fort Jessup was a nice change from the deprivations of service in Florida. Twiggs established a steam-powered sawmill at the fort to begin an extensive building program. (Visitors to the historic site of Fort Jessup, six miles east of Many, Louisiana, can see some of the original buildings of this frontier post.)
Following a period of temporary duty in Europe, one Captain William J. Hardee briefly armed several of the dragoon's companies with lances. An Inspector General’s report said at the time that the unit was the "best drilled" outfit in the entire Army.
In 1836 the Republic of Texas was established after fighting for its independence from Mexico. For the next decade, Mexico refused to recognize Texas's independence and made sporadic attempts to recover its lost province. The country along the border was in constant turmoil as a result of these extremely ruthless raids. On March 1, 1845, Congress resolved to admit Texas into the Union. The Mexican Government promptly broke off diplomatic relations with Washington.
President James K. Polk continued to hope that the situation could reach a negotiated settlement. Not only did he wish to resolve the issue of the annexation of Texas, but he also wished to purchase additional Mexican territory extending all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Negotiations were further complicated by a long unresolved dispute regarding the southern border of Texas. Spain and Mexico maintained that the southern boundary was the Neuces River, while the Texas and the United States claimed that the Rio Grande River was the international border. In anticipation of hostilities, Brevet Brigadier General Zachary Taylor assembled an "Army of Observation" at Fort Jessup. | 
