History of Continental Lighthorse Cavalry’s Formation

During the first eighteen months of the war, there was no regular cavalry; mainly spotty state militia horse. Towards the end of 1776, the Continental Army commanders and Congress realized that with the war progressing in England’s favor, the mother country was not about to negotiate for peace anytime soon.  Longer enlistments were sought, additional infantry raised, battalions of artillery formed, naval privateers expanded, and of particularly interest to General George Washington, one of America’s finest horsemen, organization of a mounted branch. January, 1777, Congress authorized 3,000 Lighthorse to be formed.

There was a distinction between cavalry, lighthorse, dragoon, hussar, lancer, and legion:

• Cavalry: Historically, cavalry was split into three categories; heavy, medium, and light based on size of horse and weight of armaments. Later European wars relied on massive numbers of heavily armored units of cavalry to charge and break up enemy lines for the infantry to maximize their charge. They carried heavy sabers and fusee (also fusil), smoothbore small caliber muskets that were thinner, shorter, and much lighter than infantry muskets.
• Lighthorse: Lighter equipped than traditional cavalry, their mounts were generally smaller in size, more of a thoroughbred breed. Rather than a direct impact charge, they relied on speed and endurance as they were used independently for gathering intelligence, scouting, patrols, guarding an army’s van and flank when on the march, and screening flanks during general actions. Their curved sabers were often not as heavy as general cavalry. Fusee were still present; however, more often smoothbore pistols were used.  
• Dragoon: They were trained and expected to fight on horse and when dismounted, as infantry, often carrying fusees. During the American Revolution, the distinction was more liquid in description, i.e. Lighthorse and Light Dragoons.
• Hussar: Elite Lighthorse equipped for speed and rapid deployment. First used in Hungry and later adopted by European armies. They carried curved swords for close skirmishing, but were also equipped with heavy sabers. The largest distinction was the uniform and their swagger; flashy dress with elaborate etchings combined with a reputation for daring and aggressive attacks. Like Dragoons, they were trained to fight both from the saddle and as infantry, carrying small caliber fusee firelocks. In America, Polish cavalryman Casimer Pulaski introduced features to his independent legion common among the hussar in his independent Legion.
• Lancer: Born of medieval mounted knights who carried long, three meter pointed spears into battle. Lancers died off due to firearms, but made an 18^th century comeback, particularly among Polish cavalry called Uhlans. Predominantly used in mass heavy cavalry charge for shock impact to break the enemy line. Only one company of lancers were formed in America; raised and trained by Polish cavalryman Pulaski for his independent legion.  
• Legion: Lighthorse combined with a company or two of infantry. When moving rapidly, as British Lt. Colonel Banestre Tarleton’s Partisan Legion often did, a detachment of infantry was mounted. They usually dismounted before a general action and attacked as traditional infantry.

Congress’ approval for three thousand new recruits proved to be a pipe dream and were forced to accept far less numbers. This was due to the enormous expense of purchasing and equipping cavalry plus manpower; the colonies were struggling to even fill quotas assigned for regimental infantries. The cavalry branch was quickly reduced to four regiments of 400 troopers each, but even that was never reached with eventually each under 200. The regiments were to have six troops (infantry were called companies) of around 75 men each, but so too, the number was far off the mark and rarely got above 30. By the fall of 1777, the total number of Lighthorse in the Continental Army, including Brigadier Pulaski’s Independent legion, numbered just over 1,100 troopers.

Continental Light Horse were raised in different regions so not to overlap. However, officers were selected, mostly by General Washington, from the traditional ‘horse’ colonies of Virginia and Maryland. The first eight months, the cavalry were commanded independently by their colonel instead of any designated brigadier. Three important independent partisan corps are included who often worked closely with their Continental counterparts. They included:

• 1^st Lighthorse from Virginia under Colonel Theodoric Bland
• 2^nd Lighthorse from New England (primarily Connecticut) commanded by Colonel Elisha Sheldon
• 3^rd Lighthorse from the south (largely Virginia) led by Colonel George Baylor
• 4^th Lighthorse from middle states of New York, New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania under Colonel Stephen Moyan
• Pulaski’s Independent Legion, raised after Polish cavalryman Casimir Pulaski who arrived in late July, 1777. They were mainly from the New Jersey and the Philadelphia region.
• Armand’s 1st Partisan Corps from Boston foreign volunteers in 1778 commanded by Frenchman Colonel Charles Armand Tuffin. Posted mainly to the NY Highlands and later to the southern theatre.
• Lee’s 2nd Partisan Legion (at first just cavalry) from Virginia combined with the 1st Continental Light Horse until April, 1778 when they split and formed their own Legion of horse and infantry under Lt. Colonel Henry ‘Lighthorse Harry’ Lee.
• Throughout the war the four numbered regiments were more commonly referred to by their first commanders: Bland’s, Sheldon’s, Baylor’s, and Moyan’s Horse.

For the first five and a half years of the war, not until 1780, the four regiments did not act together as one brigade or corps, rather detached at points remote from each other. As lighthorse, they were used primarily for intelligence gathering or patrols while serving under different brigades of infantry. The new horse regiments had spent the majority of 1777 recruiting, finding mounts, and equipping their units; often finances were augmented by its officers. At the Battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777, the cavalry did not perform as a fighting unit. Individual regiments, most were little more than a company’s strength, were split up between brigadier commanders who used them to screen the enemy, curriers to communicate between infantry battalions, and occasionally skirmish in flanking and rear guard movements. The same was true a month later at the Battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777, in which cavalry served primarily as probes for enemy movements and independently screening the flanks of infantry. 

Though the cavalry were independent rather than one fighting unit, General Washington still believed they needed a general officer to coordinate needs and communication between each other and infantry division commanders. On August 27, 1777, Washington wrote to John Hancock (president of Congress) in which he referred to the four horse regiments: “The nature of the horse service with us being such, that they commonly act in detachment, a general officer with them is less necessary than at the head of Brigades of infantry…But though the horse will suffer from the want of a general officer than the foot…having endeavored, at the solicitation of Count Pulaski…giving him the command of the horse.”^[1]

Brigadier General Count Casimir Pulaski,^[2] newly commissioned as leader of Continental cavalry on September 21, 1777, never organized the regiments into an effective fighting corps, though not for lack of trying. Tradition indicated Pulaski trained Continental Lighthorse at Valley Forge, like another foreign officer, General von Stueben who instructed infantry. Pulaski’s impact on training the lighthorse was minimal at best. Used to glorified massed cavalry charges, he was far more concerned in developing horse along those lines. During the winter of 1777-1778, while Washington’s troops shivered at Valley Forge, Pulaski was headquartered at Trenton, New Jersey with the 1^st and 3^rd Lighthorse Regiments. The 4^th remained at Valley Forge until March, 1778, and the 2^nd was posted with the Hudson Valley forces. Failing to convince the need for one corps, Pulaski instead focused training his own independent Legion of volunteers he had raised in 1777. It included two horse troops; both were fashioned after European shock impact cavalry of one troop Hussar and the other troop of Lancer. As to the four regiment of horse under his command, his attention was basically limited to administration and complaining that the Continental regiments were poorly numbered, equipped, and trained.^[3]

By March of 1778, Pulaski had fully equipped his own independent Legion of 68 horse and 200 infantry and promptly resigned as head of Continental Cavalry.[4] On March 20^th, Washington wrote to Colonel Stephen Moylan, heading the 4^th Lighthorse at Valley Forge, “As Count Pulaski left the command of the Horse, never, I believe, to return general command in it again, I have to desire that you will [head] to Trenton and take on yourself the command of that corps…You will in utmost endeavors to have the Cavalry belonging to the four regiments put in the best possible order…”^[5]

For the rest of 1778 and into 1779, the light horse regiments continued their independent commands under various brigadier infantry commanders. Due to their mobility and ideal for small group raids, cavalry skirmished heavily at times with British and Partisan Horse [6] during the Forage War in Northeastern New Jersey and Westchester County, New York; a no-man’s-land between British in New York City and patriot forces along the Hudson Valley. The cavalry played a small role during the Battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778. The 4^th had closely pursued the retreating British across New Jersey and captured a portion of their trailing baggage. The 3^rd under Baylor was brutally attacked and bayonetted while asleep on September 27, 1778, by British General ‘No Flint’ Charles Grey at Tappen Bridge, New Jersey. The regiment was annihilated in what has been termed Baylor’s Massacre and spent the next ten months recruiting in Virginia under Colonel William Washington. Pulaski’s Legion was similarly mauled on October 14, 1778 during the Battle or Massacre at Egg Harbor, New Jersey.

On January 1^st, 1781, Washington ordered the four regiments formed into Legions that included light infantry. They were to form one corps who were later sent to the southern theatre. After continual actions and ending enlistments, Colonel William Washington commanded three regiments into barely one fighting Legion. Cavalry under his command, along with Lee’s Legion, would be most effective during the southern battles of Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse, and Eutaw Springs. What was left of Pulaski’s Independent Cavalry, after Pulaski’s death on October 9, 1779 and the Southern Army’s capture at Charleston on May 12, 1780, was absorbed by Armand’s 1st Partisan Legion.

The American army was void of uniforms for rank and file during most of the war; the exception were Delaware and Maryland Continental regiments. However, cavalry, whose officers were drawn from southern elite, were the darling of the military and thus uniformly clothed from early on:

• 1^st Continental Lighthorse
  • 1777-1779: Blue Coats with red faced trim. Helmets of leather, steel, or brass, featuring bearskin trim and horsehair crests
  • 1780-war’s end: Blue coats with white faced trim.
• 2^nd Continental Lighthorse: Blue Coats with buff faced trim. Helmets of brass with blue turbans.
• 3^rd Continental Lighthorse: White Coats with blue faced trim. Helmets of leather with white horsehair cascading from tail.
• 4^th Continental Lighthorse:
  • 1777: Captured supply of British scarlet coats with blue facings: worn during Brandywine, Germantown, and Whitemarsh – caused some confusion in friendly fire.
• • 1778 Summer – 1781: Green coats with red trim. Helmets of leather with a black bearskin crest. Known historically as the Tarleton Helmet; the Fourth wore this famous design prior to Banestre Tarleton’s legion cavalry.
  • 1782 – End of War: Blue coats faced with red. Helmet remained same.
• Pulaski Independent Legion: Coat blue with red trim facings.  Helmet of black leather with turban and flowing horsehair crest.
• Armand’s 1st Partisan Corps: Dark Blue coats with buff trim. Helmets leather with tight ‘Tarleton style’ crest.
• Lee’s 2nd Partisan Legion: Short green jackets with white or doe color pants. Helmets were infantry caps. Outfit was similar to British Tarleton’s Legion.

Pulaski & Battle of Brandywine

Historically, Pulaski’s presence and use of cavalry at the Battle of Brandywine have been sensationalized by secondary accounts that he saved General Washington and his staff. The illustrious former Polish Uhlan was reported to have witnessed the British battleline’s forward surge towards Washington’s position. Pulaski rode and warned Washington of his danger. He then collected a number of routed infantry and, along with Washington’s horse guard, quickly organized them to repeatedly charge the British, temporarily halting them. His bravery allowed Washington and his staff to barely escape.

Repeated in secondary sources that has morphed into tradition, there are no primary accounts that this occurred. What is recorded states that as the battle ended, during the general retreat, Pulaski commandeered a dozen or so horse from Washington’s guard to join the rear guard as they skirmished with the enemy. As to a company strength of cavalry and infantry halting an entire brigade of veteran regular troops to a standstill, well, that alone is enough to place Pulaski’s incredible exploit among fantasized legends. Secondary sources pointed to Washington being so impressed with Pulaski’s brave performance at Brandywine, that he commissioned him Brigadier General of all Continental Lighthorse ten days after the battle. However, there is no mention of Pulaski’s exploits in Washington’s commission. In a letter dated August 27, 1777, fifteen days before the battle, he had already recommended Pulaski to the position of brigadier over cavalry.[7]

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ MORE; WE RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING BOOKS

OF SIMILAR INTEREST ON REVOLUTIONARY WAR JOURNAL

American Light Dragoons and Partisan Corps in the Revolutionary War

Battle of Germantown Part 1

Baylor Massacre and Earl Grey Tea: What Did They Have in Common?

Massacre at Egg Harbor New Jersey

Road to Guilford Courthouse

The Battle of Eutaw Springs: Bloodiest of the American Revolution

African American Dragoon John Redman

Battle of Waxhaws: Tarleton’s Quarter

RESOURCES

Griffin, Martin I. J.  “General Count Casimir Pulaski: The Father of the American Cavalry; First Commander of Washington’s Cavalry; Commander of the Independent Pulaski’s Legion. The American Catholic Historical Researches. Vol. 6, No. 1 (January, 1910) pp. 1-128. Published by the American Catholic Historical Society.

Lumpkin, Henry.  From Savannah to Yorktown: The American Revolution in the South.  Columbia: University of South Carolina University of South Carolina Press, 1981

Maurer, C. F. William.  Dragoon Diary; History of the 3^rd Continental Light Dragoons. 2005: Authorhouse, Bloomington, Indiana.

Murphy, Daniel.  William Washington, American Light Dragoon: A Continental Cavalry Leader in the War of Independence. Yardley, Pa.: Westholme, 2014.

National Archives. “George Washington to John Hancock, 27 August 1777.” Fonders on Line. 

Schenawolf, Harry. “American Light Dragoons and Partisan Corps in the Revolutionary War.” March 5, 2019. Revolutionary War Journal.

Waldo, Don.  “A Brief History of the 4^th Legion” https://4thlegionarycorps.com/History.html

“William Washington of Stafford County; Virginia.” The William and Mary College Quarterly.  Vol 15, No. 2 (October 1906)Pp. 132-134.

ENDNOTES

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[1] Griffin, pg. 9-10.

[2] Pulaski arrived from France at Marblehead, Mass on July 23, 1777.

[3] General Pulaski resigned as head of Continental Cavalry in March, 1778 to focus on his own separate legion of horse and infantry. Pulaski was one of Ben Franklin’s foreign ‘finds’ in France. The dashing cavalryman came highly recommended, by none other than Pulaski himself. Highly skilled at rodomontade, Pulaski could talk the talk while describing his military exploits, leaving out that he rarely followed orders and only one engagement he led succeeded in what was lightly called a victory. As we refer to presently, grandstanding seemed to be his main strength while charging blindly into action with little concern for self or his command, often leaving the battle field littered with his troopers. Though given the reins of the cavalry, he was more concerned with the glory of leading his own legion independent from the Continental Army and in March of 1778, resigned to do so.

[4] Pulaski’s tenure with Washington’s army was far from the flamboyant cavalryman’s dreams of American glory. After resigning, he and his legion were stationed in Baltimore. He was busy recruiting for his legion and missed the Battle of Monmouth. After forming his legion, he was stationed in southern New Jersey were on October 15, 1778, at Little Egg Harbor, his Legion was surprised at camp and suffered heavy casualties – upwards of 50 troops were bayonetted to death with multiple wounded. He spent the winter reforming his decimated command and on February 5^th, was ordered to join Lincoln in the southern command. He met his glorious end leading a cavalry charge during the Battle of Savanah on October 9 1778.

[5] Griffin, pg. 54.

[6] Partisan Horse, like Partisan infantry, were loyalist colonials trained and equipped as British Dragoons and mounted infantry. They wore uniforms similar to British cavalry units.

[7] Washington, like many Americans, were in awe of Pulaski’s dashing presence, augmented by his rodomontade describing boastful exploits leading Polish cavalry charges. Fact escaped impressionable colonists that the refugee in France was considered a reckless ‘hothead’ who rarely followed orders. As leader of cavalry, Pulaski had rarely succeeded in battles in which the flamboyant leader left most of his command strewn across the field of honor before a hasty retreat. He was broke and desperate for work when an impressed Benjamin Franklin shipped him to America.