The 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry Monument in the Year of the Fire Horse

In the southwest quadrant of Winchester National Cemetery, located in the town of the same name in Virginia, sits an impressive monument to the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry that pays tribute to both man and beast. The monument is adorned with a bas-relief of a horse’s head, wild-eyed and straining at its bridle. As February 2026 marked the start of the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Horse, this is an opportune time to explore the history of the regiment and its monument. According to Chinese astrology, the horse is hard-working, agreeable, and courageous, although it also chafes at being controlled by others, something the men of the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry experienced firsthand. Stated one soldier, “The taming of wild animals was something I did not dream of when I enlisted in ’62.”[1]

Horses played an important role in the Civil War, particularly in the later years. It is estimated that three million equines (both horses and pack mules) went into service, with half that number dying over the course of the war. At the beginning of the war in spring 1861, most Regular Army cavalry units were on duty in the western United States. Thus, volunteer state cavalry regiments were formed, though some of these units began as infantry regiments. Such was the case with certain members of the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry.

In late summer and autumn of 1862, the 41st Massachusetts Infantry formed at Camp Stanton in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. After training for several months, the regiment received orders to begin moving to the battlefront. It left camp on November 5, with eight companies, and was later joined by two companies of the 33rd Massachusetts. A month later, the troops were aboard the steamer North Star out of New York bound for New Orleans. Upon landing, the regiment marched to Baton Rouge where they expected to engage in their first battle. However, Union forces took the city without a fight.

In May 1863, while still in Louisiana, the men were given horses and the equipment of cavalry soldiers: sabers, carbines, and revolvers. Originally known as a mounted regiment, specifically “Mounted Rifles,” on June 17 the 41st was combined with three unattached companies of Massachusetts cavalry and designated the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry.

The Rev. James K. Ewer, a member of Company C, wrote in his history of the regiment about challenges encountered with the introduction of horses and noted that that “their fiery steeds furnished a large amount of fun.” One member of the regiment recalled:

I there learned for the first time to ride horseback. I was given a horse who had evidently never been ridden much. He objected to the bridle, saddle, and indeed to about everything I showed him. He seemed to have some conscientious scruples about joining the Union Cavalry. I remember the first time I tried to mount that animal. I got off as soon as I got on. I got off again. I recollect getting off that horse several times in one forenoon. I usually got off much more rapidly than I got on. It is wonderful how quickly a man can get off a horse, especially when the horse takes hold and helps.[2]

Another soldier, who apparently had some experience with horses, told a similar story:

The horse given me was a very lively animal. He could rear and run and jump, all in quick time. I saw at once that what the horse needed was exercise. I laughed to myself as I put on the bridle, and sought to ‘tone him down.’ I didn’t laugh again for a week. He rolled me off his back in no time. Then he just got up on his hind legs, and began waltzing toward me like an infuriated pile-driver.[3]

The regiment spent the rest of 1863 and first half of 1864 in Louisiana, part of the Union’s Department of the Gulf. After the Confederate surrender of Port Hudson, they protected telegraphic wires to maintain open communication with Baton Rouge and undertook foraging expeditions to gather food for the horses. In March 1864, the regiment participated in military exercises in New Orleans at the swearing in of Michael Hahn, who had been elected governor of Louisiana parishes controlled by the Union Army.

In June 1864, the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry was dismounted and equipped as infantry before moving north to join the Army of Shenandoah. From March through November, the regiment was engaged in battle as part of General Philip Sheridan’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign. Beginning with the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19 and ending with the Battle of Cedar Creek on October 19, the unit lost 19 killed and more than 120 wounded. Sheridan’s army successfully pushed Confederate forces out of the valley.

By February 1865, the regiment would again be equipped as cavalry and remained so until the war ended in April. While some men were mustered out at the end of hostilities, others remained in service. In June they were sent to St. Louis and attached to the Department of Missouri, and from there they served at various western forts and posts. Finally, in early October 1865, the regiment returned to Boston where the men were discharged. In total, the 3rd Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry Regiment lost 288 men: five officers and 101 enlisted men were killed or mortally wounded, and two officers and 180 enlisted men succumbed to disease.

Fifteen years after the end of the Civil War, 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry Veterans formed a committee to plan for a regimental monument in the Shenandoah Valley. After many years of fundraising and a “generous gift … from the State” in 1887, work on the monument began. While some regimental monuments were installed on battlefields, others were placed in national cemeteries. Such was the case with the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry Monument, which was placed among the graves of regiment members who died during the fall 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign and were later interred at Winchester National Cemetery.

A “Southern excursion” was planned for the dedication of the monument to include visits to the “Capitol at Washington D.C., the historic battlefields of the heroic General Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley; the famous Natural bridge, and the wonderful Luray caverns of Virginia.”[4] Newspapers from Boston to York, Pennsylvania, to New Orleans, reported on the monument dedication, which occurred September 19, 1888, the 24th anniversary of the Third Battle of Winchester. In addition to surviving regiment members and dignitaries from Massachusetts, the dedication of the 11-foot-tall Westerly Granite monument was attended by Winchester officials, ex-Confederate soldiers, and town residents.

Despite fighting as infantry during the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, the Veteran committee included the crossed swords of the cavalry, a horseshoe, and the horse head on the monument, perhaps remembering the days when they got to know their “fiery steeds.”

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[1] James K. Ewer, The Third Massachusetts Cavalry in the War for the Union. By Rev. James K. Ewer. Pub. By Direction of the Historical Committee of the Regimental Association (The Wm. G. J. Perry Press, 1903), 80.

[2] Ewer, 79.

[3] Ewer, 80.

[4] “The Third Massachusetts Cavalry,” Boston Globe, Sun, Sep 2, 1888, https://www.newspapers.com/image/430711563