page_title: Dragoon
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Dragoon / 19th century
context_page_description: Dragoons originally were a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry, trained for combat with swords from horseback.
  Dragoon regiments were established in most European armies during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
  The name is derived from a type of firearm, called a "dragon", which was a handgun version of a blunderbuss, carried by dragoons of the French Army.
  The title has been retained in modern times by a number of armoured or ceremonial mounted regiments.
context_section_description: During the Napoleonic Wars, dragoons generally assumed a cavalry role, though remaining a lighter class of mounted troops than the armored cuirassiers. Dragoons rode larger horses than the light cavalry and wielded straight, rather than curved swords. Emperor Napoleon often formed complete divisions out of his 30 dragoon regiments and used them as battle cavalry to break the enemy's main resistance. In 1809, French dragoons scored notable successes against Spanish armies at the Battle of Ocana and the Battle of Alba de Tormes.
  British heavy dragoons made devastating charges against French infantry at the Battle of Salamanca in 1812 and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. 31 regiments were in existence at the height of the Napoleonic Wars: seven Dragoon Guards regiments and 24 cavalry of the line regiments. The Dragoon Guards and Dragoon regiments were the heavy cavalry regiments of the British Army, although by continental standards they were not the heaviest type of cavalry since they carried no armour (unlike cuirassiers). While some of the cavalry regiments of the line were simply designated as regiments of dragoons, the lighter cavalry regiments, which were particularly mobile, became regiments of Light Dragoons, employing the 1796-pattern light cavalry sabres. From 1805 four regiments of Light Dragoons were designated Hussars (7th, 10th, 15th and 18th Regiments), differentiated by uniform, and the wearing of mustaches. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars (starting in 1816) some regiments became  lancers, identified by the lances that they carried.
  The creation of a unified German state in 1871 brought together the dragoon regiments of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Mecklenburg, Oldenburg, Baden, Hesse and Württemberg in a single numbered sequence, although historic distinctions of insignia and uniform were largely preserved. Two regiments of the Imperial Guard were designated as dragoons.
  The Austrian (later Austro-Hungarian) Army of the 19th century included six regiments of dragoons in 1836, classed as heavy cavalry for shock action, but in practice used as medium troops with a variety of roles. After 1859 all but two Austrian dragoon regiments were converted to cuirassiers or disbanded. From 1868 to 1918 the Austro-Hungarian dragoons numbered 15 regiments.
  During the 18th century several regiments of dragoons were created in Spain's American viceroyalties to protect the northern provinces and borders of New Spain in the present-day states of California, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Arizona, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. Some of these functioned as a police force. In 1803, the regiments of dragoons began to be called light cavalry (Cazadores) and dragoons disappeared from the Spanish Army shortly after 1815.
  In New Spain, soon to be México, dragoons were important and elite units of the Royal Army. A number of dragoons became important military and political figures, among them Ignacio Allende and Juan Aldama, members of the Queen's Regiment of Dragoons who defected and then initiated the independence movement in México in 1810. Another important dragoon was Agustin de Iturbide, who would ultimately achieve Mexican independence in 1821. He was known as the greatest horseman in México and became so renowned in battle during his youth that he acquired the nickname El Dragón de Hierro or "The Iron Dragon" (in Spanish, "dragon" and "dragoon" both sound and are written exactly the same). He would go on to become Agustín I, after being elected Emperor of México. The political importance of dragoons during this time in the nascent country cannot be overstated.
  Prior to the War of 1812 the U.S. organized the Regiment of Light Dragoons. For the war a second regiment was activated; that regiment was consolidated with the original regiment in 1814. The original regiment was consolidated with the Corps of Artillery in June 1815.
  The 1st United States Dragoons explored Iowa after the Black Hawk Purchase put the area under U.S. control. In the summer of 1835, the regiment blazed a trail along the Des Moines river and e
caption: United States dragoons charged Mexican infantry at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma in May 1846.
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