1st Dakota Cavalry Battalion

The 1st Dakota Cavalry was a Union battalion of two companies raised in the Dakota Territory during the American Civil War. They were used for service along the frontier, primarily to protect the settlers during the Sioux Uprising of 1862.

Company A
By order of the War Department, organization of a cavalry unit was begun in the winter of 1861-2, with recruiting stations established at Yankton, Vermillion, and Bon Homme. At Yankton, with Captain Nelson Miner commanding, the 98 men of Company A were mustered into service on 19 April 1862. They first were stationed at Fort Randall under Lt Col Pattee of the 7th Iowa Cavalry, but detachments of the company were afterward sent to protect the settlements at Yankton, Vermillion, Sioux Falls and Brule Creek.

Upon the commencement of the August 1862 uprising, Company A escorted the settlers as they moved to protective stockades.Governor William Jayne also called for "every able-bodied man to arms in defense of the homes of Dakota", with 399 men responding.

Company B
At this time Captain Alpheus G Fuller, an early settler in the territory, began raising a cavalry militia in Bon Homme and Charles Mix counties, the "Miltia Brigade of Dakota". Failing to form a company for U.S. service, the men were merged in with volunteers being organized at Elk Point, and were mustered in as Company B on 31 March 1863 at Sioux City, Iowa with Captain William Tripp commanding. This company was known by the settlers as the "Dakota Rangers".

Both companies were engaged in the protection of the Dakota frontier towns, while Generals Henry Sibley and Alfred Sully, with regiments of infantry and cavalry from Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, sought out the hostile Indians throughout the territory. The two companies were split into detachments for use in the several settlements.

With the Civil War ended, and the Indian troubles drawing to a close in 1865, the two companies were mustered out, Company A on 9 May and Company B on 15 November, 1865. A list of soldiers gives the battalion a total of 194 soldiers.

Engagements
In June 1864, Gen Sully selected the 1st Dakota Cavalry to serve as his guard while he travelled to Fort Sully, to rendezvous with other forces joining him there. Upon the completion of the brigade, the expedition left Ft Sully on 24 June 1864. On 28 July 1864, Sully's force of 2,200 soldiers encountered a camp of between 5-6,000 warriors, and the Battle of Killdeer Mountain commenced. The US forces lost 5 killed and 10 wounded in the battle, but they were not said to be from the 1st Dakota Cavalry.