Regiment of Mounted Riflemen – Jefferson Barracks
The Gibbs Papers · West Point & Pre-War
The Regiment of Mounted Riflemen
Jefferson Barracks, 1846 — where a new lieutenant and a new regiment set out for Mexico together, and won the name the Brave Rifles.
On May 19, 1846, the Regular Army constituted a new regiment at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri: the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen. Six weeks later, on July 1, 1846, Alfred Gibbs graduated from West Point, forty-second in his class, and was sent straight there as a brevet second lieutenant of the Rifles. Regiment and officer were born within weeks of each other, and they went to war together. This is where Gibbs’s cavalry life began.
The Oath
Sworn at Cold Spring, New York, July 29, 1846.
“I, Alfred Gibbs, born in the state of New York, appointed a Brevet 2nd Lieutenant in the Army of the United States, do solemnly swear, or affirm, that I will bear true allegiance to the United States of America, and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies or opposers whatsoever; and observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the Officers appointed over me, according to the Rules and Articles for the government of the Armies of the United States. Sworn to and subscribed before me, at Cold Spring, N.Y., this 29th day of July 1846.”
Alfred Gibbs, Brevet 2nd Lieutenant, Mounted Rifles · Signed: Lucius B. Pondy, Justice of the Peace.
Constituted at Jefferson Barracks
The 3rd Cavalry Regiment, formerly the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, sometimes called the “Brave Rifles,” is a regiment of the United States Army. As it applies to General Alfred Gibbs, the regiment’s history dates back to May 19, 1846, when it was constituted in the Regular Army as the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. At the early forming of the regiment, Gibbs was sent to Jefferson Barracks right after graduating on July 1, 1846, from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Gibbs graduated 42nd in his class and was promoted to Bvt. Second Lieutenant, Mounted Rifles, July 1, 1846.
The regiment was explicitly mustered to serve in the recently declared Mexican‑American War. Its name, “Mounted Riflemen,” set it apart from the Dragoons then in service. The Mounted Rifles used their mounts to move from point to point on a battlefield, then dismounted to fight; seldom did they fight from the saddle as the Dragoons and traditional cavalry did. Sent with General Winfield Scott on the Mexican campaign, the regiment fought in almost every significant engagement, and its colors flew from the balcony of the Mexican National Palace in 1847. It was there that General Scott gave them their immortal nickname, “the Brave Rifles.”
Still active after the war, the Mounted Rifles were deployed to Oregon Territory in 1851, with several companies sent to Texas to fight the Comanche, and later encounters with the Apache and Navajo. With the start of the Civil War in 1861 the regiment was renamed the U.S. 3rd Cavalry Regiment. Sent to New Mexico Territory, the 3rd was instrumental to Federal forces at the Battle of Glorieta Pass, where the Confederacy made a last attempt to seize the territory. Later the 3rd served with the Army of the Tennessee, fighting at Chattanooga and helping capture Little Rock, Arkansas.
Featured · Further Reading
The History of Jefferson Barracks, 1826–1860
The post where the regiment was raised has its own long story, told in full on this site: the founding of Jefferson Barracks and the six decades that made it the cradle of the frontier army Gibbs joined.
Read the full history ›From the Mounted Rifles to the 3rd Cavalry
After the Civil War the regiment fought the Apache under Geronimo. In 1876 the 3rd took part in the Great Sioux War, fighting at the Battle of the Rosebud. It served in the Spanish‑American War and was part of the line that assaulted San Juan Heights in 1898; after Cuba was secured it was sent to the Philippine Insurrection in 1899, fighting in more than sixty skirmishes. The regiment went on serving through the World Wars — in the Second under General George Patton — and through Korea, Vietnam, and the wars in the Middle East since the start of the Global War on Terrorism. The unit was reorganized as the 3rd U.S. Cavalry on August 3, 1861; re‑designated the 3rd Cavalry Group (Mechanized) in January 1943; and remained the last heavy armored cavalry regiment in the U.S. Army until it officially became a Stryker regiment on November 16, 2011, retaining its lineage as the 3rd Cavalry Regiment.
The line runs unbroken from a lieutenant’s oath at Cold Spring in 1846 to a Stryker regiment today. The 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment page carries the modern chapter of that story.
❦Additional History
The Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, also known as the First United States Mounted Rifles, was created in 1846 at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. Its creation marked the first time the U.S. Army had a dedicated unit of mounted infantry — soldiers trained to fight on horseback but also on foot when necessary — a shift from seeing mounted troops primarily as a means of transportation rather than as a fighting force. The regiment played an important role in the Mexican‑American War, sent as part of General Winfield Scott’s invasion force and seeing action at the Siege of Vera Cruz and the Battle of Cerro Gordo, where its ability to fight both mounted and on foot made it effective in the rugged Mexican terrain.
Reference: Glover, M. (2010). The History of the First United States Mounted Rifles. [An earlier account on this page traced the postwar unit to the 2nd Dragoons; the direct lineage of the Mounted Riflemen is in fact the 3rd U.S. Cavalry, as set out above.]
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