President Abraham Lincoln Appoints an Officer in One of the Great Fighting Cavalry Regiments of the Civil War

William H. Harrison fought in scores of engagements, was promoted three times, and cited for meritorious service at the Battle of Winchester

The 2nd Regiment U.S. Cavalry was one of the great fighting regiments of the Civil War, and was attached to the Army of the Potomac. At the beginning of the year 1861 the regiment was in Texas and under the command of Lt. Colonel Robert E. Lee. Lee want back to Virginia, and on to fame. The unit went North. It fought in numerous battles, including the Peninsular Campaign, the Siege of Yorktown, Second Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam and aftermath at Winchester, the Battle of Fredericksburg, and the Chancellorsville Campaign where they were engaged at Brandy Station and were also present during the Stoneman Raid. This raid is regarded as the “resurgence of the Union Cavalry.” During the Battle of Kelly’s Ford, the 2nd Cavalry became the first Union cavalry regiment to engage Confederate General JEB Stuart’s cavalry in a head-to-head charge. This action hurt Stuart’s reputation in the eyes of Southern leadership, just three weeks before the Battle of Gettysburg. At Gettysburg, the regiment dismounted and skirmished the Confederates in a delaying action until the main Union force could reach the battlefield. They also fought Stuart by attacking the Confederate right and rear. They were at Mine Run late in 1863, and then took part in Grant’s Overland Campaign, fighting in the Wilderness, at Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Malvern Hill. They were with Sheridan at Cedar Creek. The unit lost almost 200 men killed in the war.

William H. Harrison was initially an officer in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry. He was commissioned on November 30, 1861 as second lieutenant and was promoted to first lieutenant on August 25, 1862. He was made brevet captain on May 6, 1864 for gallant and meritorious service at the Battle of Todd’s Tavern, Virginia; and brevet major on September 19, 1864 for gallant and meritorious service at the Battle of Winchester, Virginia. He is listed as a second lieutenant and then first lieutenant in histories of the unit, and the U.S. Army website cites him as serving at the front. There were 22 men under his direct command.

This is one of Harrison’s original appointment documents. Document signed, an ornate, vignetted commission, with an eagle, cannons and flags, Washington, February 5, 1862, naming Harrison “Second Lieutenant in the Second Regiment of Cavalry in the service of the United States: to rank as such from the thirtieth day of November eighteen hundred and sixty one.” The document is signed by President Lincoln and countersigned by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.

This document comes with his appointment signed by Lincoln, two signed by Andrew Johnson with a stamp, including one listing his bravery, and his discharge document from 1866 signed by himself.