2nd Regiment of Cavalry , Massachusetts Volunteers The 2nd Regiment of Cavalry , Massachusetts Volunteers was a regiment of cavalry troops in the Union army during the American Civil War . It consisted primarily of men from the states of California and Massachusetts , and served in the Eastern Theater , despite its western roots . History . Politicians at the start of the Civil War began raising volunteer troops in response to President Abraham Lincoln ' s call to arms to force the return of the Confederate States of America to the Union . Owing to political divisions at the time of the Civil War and to the limited transportation facilities for moving troops great distances , the Lincoln administration did not request California troops for Eastern battlefields but instead called for volunteers to replace regular troops stationed at western garrisons . In the late summer of 1862 , a small number of men in California who had been raised in the East decided to enlist in the army , but wanted to serve in the Eastern Theater . They contacted Governor John Andrew of Massachusetts in the late summer of 1862 and offered to raise a company of 100 cavalrymen to serve in a state regiment . Andrews agreed on the condition the Californians would provide their own uniforms and equipment and pay for their own passage to Boston . The so - called " California Hundred " was organized in San Francisco on December 10 , 1862 , and took a ship to the East Coast , arriving at Camp Meigs in Readville , Massachusetts , on January 4 , 1863 . They were designated as Company A , and soon were joined by seven companies of Massachusetts . The Californians and four of the local companies were moved in mid - February to Baltimore , Maryland , then to Fort Monroe and numerous other locations in Virginia , where they primarily engaged in picketing , scouting , and outpost duty until July 1863 . Commanded by James Sewall Reed , the Californians first took to the field near Yorktown , Virginia . From July 1863 to July 1864 , the California Hundred engaged in numerous skirmishes with John S . Mosby ' s Confederate partisan rangers in the Loudoun Valley . In February and March 1863 , another 400 Californians were recruited and sent to Massachusetts to form Companies E , F , L , and M ( the " California Battalion " ) of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry . They arrived in the Bay State on April 16 , 1863 , completing the full complement of the regiment . They moved to Washington , D . C . , in May . In August 1863 , the regiment was combined in Centreville , Virginia , and became a part of King ' s Division in the XXII Corps . They later served in the Army of the Shenandoah under Philip H . Sheridan during the Valley Campaigns of 1864 . Among the many actions that the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry participated in were the battles of Fort Stevens , Opequon , Tom ' s Brook , and Cedar Creek . The following spring in 1865 , it participated in the Siege of Petersburg and the subsequent Appomattox Campaign pursuing elements of the retreating Army of Northern Virginia , then marched in the Grand Review in Washington on May 23 . The men were mustered out July 20 , 1865 , at Fairfax Court House , Virginia , before returning to California and Massachusetts in the weeks that followed . The regiment lost during its service 8 officers and 82 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded , and 3 officers and 138 enlisted men by disease for a total of 231 . Of the original California Hundred ' s 3 officers and 101 enlisted men , 40 were present the day the company disbanded . About 12 had died , others were discharged because of sickness or wounds or were transferred to other units , and 10 deserted , a greater desertion rate than from any other Massachusetts regiment . Two men of the regiment were awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 . The two men were :