Frontier Cavalry

The Frontier Cavalry was a volunteer cavalry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was organized under special authority of the War Department, to serve on the northern frontier of New England for one year. It was created in response to the St. Albans raid, which occurred on October 19, 1864.

From October 1864 until January 1865, the northern frontier was guarded by a provisional force consisting, at least in Vermont, of recently returned veterans, militia, cadets from Norwich University, and other volunteers. These groups were replaced by a regiment of cavalry and members of the Veteran Reserve Corps.

The regiment of cavalry (formally known as the 26th New York Cavalry) consisted of seven companies from New York, three from Massachusetts, and two from Vermont, Companies F and M. The Vermont companies were stationed at Burlington and then St. Albans, and the others along the Canadian border in New York.

The Field and Staff Officers of the regiment included two Vermonters, Maj. Josiah Grout, Jr., of Barton, late of the 1st Vermont Cavalry, and Regimental Commissary Elisha May, of Concord, late of the 2nd Vermont Infantry.

The 1st Vermont Company of Frontier Cavalry, Company M, was recruited in Rutland, on January 4, 1865, and left for Burlington the next day. The subsequently moved to St. Albans on February 24, and returned to Burlington on June 27 for discharge.

The 2nd Vermont Company, Company F, was recruited in Burlington on January 3. They also moved to St. Albans on February 24, and returned for discharge on June 27, 1865.

Both companies were organized at Burlington by Vermont Adjutant & Inspector General Peter T. Washburn in early January 1865, and were quartered in the barracks at the old fair grounds until midwinter, while they waited for new barracks to be completed there. The two companies remained in St. Albans until the end of June, when they were mustered out due to the end of the war.

The companies, 206 strong, never engaged the enemy, and only lost two men, an officer who resigned in March, and an enlisted man who deserted.