The 2nd Continental Light Dragoons , also known as Horse Sheldon after Colonel Elisha Sheldon, commissioned by the Continental Congress on December 12, 1776, and was first deployed in Wethersfield, Connecticut, in March 1777 to serve the Continental Army. The regiment consisted of four troops from Connecticut, one troop each mostly from Massachusetts and New Jersey, and two light infantry companies.
Video 2nd Continental Light Dragoons
Military action
The regiment sees action at the Battle of Woodbridge, Brandywine Battle, Battle of Kingston, Battle of Schoharie, Battle of The Flocky (first cavalry load on American soil), Battle of Paoli, Battle of Whitemarsh, Battle of Morrisania, Battle of Saratoga, Germantown Battle and Yorktown Battle.
This unit almost never works in its entirety. Usually individual troops are assigned as needed.
The regiment conducted various raids of submarines against British installations and Loyalists on Long Island. Some attacks captured Fort St. George, Ft. Slongo and Lloyd's Neck, Long Island.
The element of the unit consists of Washington's personal bodyguards. In 1778, when the Loyalist agents and British commando team overshadowed Washington for weeks in order to kidnap it, they had to abandon the operation because, according to British Intelligence reports, "The 2nd Dragoons (always) were with him." The 2nd Dragoons also guarded John Andre during his detention, trial and subsequent executions in Nyack, New York.
Major regimental patrol regions during the war were in Southern Connecticut and New York, where they intercepted British supplies and fought against Loyalist partisan groups targeting local residents. This assignment gave them the nickname "Watchdogs of the Highlands". They also get the nickname "Mata Washington", possibly because of their spy work. Major Benjamin Tallmadge became a spy who controlled one of the most successful spy rings in the war, able to infiltrate the British military command in New York City.
Maps 2nd Continental Light Dragoons
After the war
On January 1, 1781, the regiment was reorganized by the fall of two of its six armies and re-designated as the 2nd Legionary Corps. The regiment was driven on June 9, 1783, in Newburgh, New York and ended on November 20, 1783, with the proclamation of General Washington.
The Second Light Dragoons stand out in Colonel John Trumbull's paintings of the American Revolution.
Note
- The national color of the regiment from the 2nd was taken by Banastre Tarleton in 1779; on June 14, 2006, it was sold at auction.
- Sgt. Elijah Churchill was awarded the Merit Military Badge.
- The last remaining member of the second Dragoons Lemuel Cook died in 1866.
References
External links
- http://www.dragoons.info/- the Second Continental Light Second Dragoons site
- http://www.2dragoon.org/- the website of the Light Regiment Light Dragoons, Tallmadge's troop group
- The Continental Army Dragoon Bibliography compiled by the United States Army Military Historical Center
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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