(100 / 100 Soldiers)
Established May 24, 2018 `
(80 / 100 Soldiers)
Established Dec. 8, 2018
(10 / 100 Soldiers)
Established May 5, 2019
The 1st Maine Volunteer Cavalry — colloquially known as the 1st Cav — is one of the most unique regiments in the War of Rights community. Most companies fixate upon tight formations and line battles. In contrast, we function as a dismounted skirmisher unit and operate in tandem with Union infantrymen serving as their pickets. We also specialize in hit-and-run tactics with the express intention of delaying and confusing the enemy.
Although the ranks of the 1st Cavalry primarily consist of North Americans, our roster includes Australians, Irish, Norwegians, Kiwis, and other nationalities spanning the globe. Common to all, however, is the possession of good horse sense and the grit not to skedaddle under fire.
If you are seeking a company with a nervy yet calm disposition that does not abide by the usual line tactics, the 1st Cavalry is the right unit for you! Add a member of our Command Staff as a Steam Friend, and we will be glad to answer any enquiries and enlist you into our company... Flankin' and Shankin' since '61!
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To communicate with our officers, visit our Discord server: https://discord.gg/3Snae5N
Our Official Unit Events for training and battles occur as follows:
FRIDAY: 11:00 P.M. EST / 8:00 P.M. PST / 2:00 P.M. AEST* (Saturday) (AUS EVENT)
SUNDAY: 2:00 P.M. EST / 11:00 A.M. PST / 8:00 P.M. CET* (Sunday) (EU EVENT)
SUNDAY: 7:00 P.M. EST / 4:00 P.M. PST / 1:00 A.M. CET* (Monday) (NA EVENT)
MONDAY: 8:00 P.M. EST / 5:00 P.M. PST / 2:00 A.M. CET* (Tuesday) (NA EVENT)
Our public schedule varies, but we usually play at these times:
SATURDAY: 8:00 P.M. EST / 5:00 P.M. PST / 2:00 A.M. CET* (Sunday) (PUBLIC EVENT)
SUNDAY: 8:00 P.M. EST / 5:00 P.M. PST / 2:00 A.M. CET* (Monday) (PUBLIC EVENT)
MONDAY: 8:00 P.M. EST / 5:00 P.M. PST / 2:00 A.M. CET* (Tuesday) (PUBLIC EVENT)
*NOTE: Australians and Europeans must calculate for the day/time conversion.
The 1st Maine Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was counted among the hardest fighting mounted units in the Union Army. They suffered the greatest number killed in action of any cavalry regiment: 15 officers and 159 enlisted men perished in combat. In addition, 3 officers and 341 enlisted men died from other causes. They believed in staying till the enemy was whipped, and their mere appearance on the field at Fredericksburg bolstered Union morale. After the war’s end, three members of the 1st Maine Cavalry were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for their valorous actions in battle.
Who were these gallant men, and why did they fight? In 1861, the American Republic—riven by sectional hatreds—teetered on the brink of ruin. One of its regions, the South, denounced the federal government and disregarded its authority. Crazed by a solicitude for the safety of slavery, the South resolved to destroy the government and fired upon Fort Sumter. In response, a once divided North united against their Secessionist foes. “Sustain the Government!” and “Preserve the Union!” were the spontaneous exclamations of all. A zeal born of a noble cause took possession of the Maine people. They beat their plowshares into swords and their pruning hooks into spears. Young men flew to arms, and their bonneted maids helped them to tie on their sword baldrics.
Amid hurrahs and hard cider, twelve hundred citizens of Augusta, Maine, swore an oath to defend the United States of America against all enemies and formed the 1st Maine Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. The muster roll included men of every age and position in life. Some were smooth-faced schoolboys eager for military glory, while others were bearded cod fishermen seeking the dash and excitement of the cavalry service. There were also a few older men whose infirmities should have exempted them from bearing arms even in the service of so just a cause. All of these volunteers sacrificed their beloved comforts and home-cooked victuals for horse blankets and army rations.
The 1st Maine Cavalry mustered into active service on November 5, 1861. Due to chaos in the U.S. War Department and a lack of provisions, over two hundred men in the 1st Maine Cavalry froze to death while still bivouacked outside Augusta and awaiting orders which never came. The winter of 1861 was extremely cold, even for Maine. Malnourished and frostbitten, the men drilled on horseback in heavy snows. Finally, in March 1862, all companies of the regiment were conveyed by rail in boxcars to New York City and, after a calamitous train wreck, by steam ferries to Washington, D.C.
At the nation’s imperiled capital, the 1st Maine Cavalry Regiment was equipped with sabers and pistols, but no rifles. Thus prepared—or rather unprepared—the inexperienced regiment hastened forward to fight Virginia horsemen who had been reared in the saddle and who frequently wielded deadly double-barreled shotguns. After several engagements, the Maine boys learned to stay out-of-range of these shotguns in combat. Throughout the summer of ‘62, the Maine cavaliers conducted operations in the Shenandoah Valley, and they fared surprisingly well against Stonewall Jackson’s veteran cavalrymen who deemed their unyielding 1st Maine foes to be “as stubborn as mules.”
By late summer, the various 1st Maine cavalry companies were reunified and attached to Bayard’s Cavalry Brigade in the Army of Virginia. Through months of campaigning along the Rappahannock River, the Maine boys learned to dispense with all unnecessary accoutrements such as picket-ropes, lariats, and nose-bags. At night, they slept in crude shelter tents which the men called “dog kennels.” They learned to cook coffee in minutes over a makeshift torch while standing in a rainstorm and to make three days rations last six days—that is, to eat one hardtack and then to imagine they had eaten two. They learned how to trek stealthily through dense forests without making a sound and how to kill a wayward sow within hearing of rebel sentries without letting it squeal.
In the early days of the Maryland Campaign, the 1st Maine Cavalry regiment—those companies not on detached service as couriers or escorts—surprised Fitzhugh Lee’s 1st Virginia Cavalry on the field of battle and repulsed them. Pursuit was given. The Secessionists attempted to make a stand in the streets of Frederick, Maryland, but were defeated thanks to the Maine boys, and Union troops occupied the city. Days later, the regiment moved through Boonesboro to near Antietam where they encamped.
While the major part of the regiment bivouacked nearby, detached 1st Maine companies participated in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. At South Mountain, Company G acted as the bodyguard of Gen. Jesse Reno. While protecting him, Reno was shot by a Union soldier in the 35th Massachusetts who mistook their party for rebel cavalrymen. At Antietam, Companies M and H served as guards for Gen. Isaac P. Rodman and as couriers for General Fitz John Porter. Throughout the fray, several 1st Maine cavaliers were wounded while ferrying messages through rebel pickets. One such man, Aurelius Parker, served as a courier for General Samuel D. Sturgis of the IX Corps and earned a commendation for bravery. Another 1st Maine courier, Sgt. Charles Goodwin, had his mount killed by sharpshooters while galloping across a stone bridge—known today as Burnside's Bridge—to deliver a communiqué to General Rodman. After delivering the message and awaiting a reply, Rodman was mortally wounded before Goodwin’s eyes.
Months later, General John F. Reynolds would memorably laud the 1st Maine couriers for their persistent courage under fire: “I have always found those 1st Maine men to be the best of my command.” As evidence of the daily perils of their courier and escort duties during their early months of service from March 1862 to November 1862, over seven hundred horses of the 1st Maine Cavalry were killed in action by enemy fire. Within the next year, that number would climb to over one thousand.
Throughout the War of the Rebellion, the 1st Maine Cavalry did their full share to preserve their beloved Union. In the discharge of that duty, they participated in more than fourscore scrapes against the Secessionists. As their casualty lists grew, the loyal state of Maine filled the vacancies and replenished their ever-dwindling ranks. Undaunted by their losses, the 1st Maine fought in many battles including Brandy Station—the largest cavalry engagement of the Civil War—and Gettysburg. Their commander, Colonel Charles H. Smith, received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valorous deeds while rallying the 1st Maine Cavalry at the Battle of Saint Mary’s Church in 1864. In the latter engagement, a badly-wounded Smith and his cavaliers successfully defended General Ulysses S. Grant’s supply trains against endless waves of attacking rebel horsemen.
From the Bristoe Campaign to Five Forks, the 1st Maine undertook reconnaissance missions and guerilla operations behind enemy lines. On April 6, 1865, the regiment fought in the Battle of Sailor’s Creek where Sergeant-Major Edward Tobie was wounded three times and, declining medical assistance, continued to serve until the battle’s end. Three days later, Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, and the 1st Maine served as the personal escort for General Grant. Six days thereafter, they learned of President Abraham Lincoln’s death at Ford’s Theater. They felt their great victory had been undone by an assassin’s bullet. Shocked by this loss, the 1st Maine Cavalry mustered out of service on August 1, 1865. By the time of its dissolution, the regiment had served as couriers and escorts for nearly every prominent general in the Union army.
After the war, the men returned to the good old state of Maine. In 1886, a reunion of old comrades met at Skowhegan to honor those who gave their lives so that the Union might live. Mustering into the war in ‘61, their band of brothers had participated in the conflict’s bloodiest battles. Today, the regiment is honored by a monument at Gettysburg.