2nd Minnesota Cavalry Regiment

The 2nd Minnesota Cavalry Regiment was a Minnesota USV cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

The 2nd Minnesota Cavalry Regiment was mustered at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. for three year's service on December 5, 1863, and were mustered out on November 17, 1865, and May 4, 1866. It served entirely in Minnesota, Dakota Territory, and Montana Territory guarding the frontier against the Sioux Indians. In 1864 the 2nd Minn. Cavalry was headquartered at Fort Snelling under Colonel R.N. McLaren.

Battles and campaigns

 * Battle of Tah Kah A Kuty or Battle of Killdeer Mountain, July 28, 1864.
 * Battle of the Badlands, August 8 to 9, 1864.
 * Rescue of Fisk's Emigrant train at Fort Dilts, September 10 to 30,1864.

Colonels

 * Colonel Robert Neill McLaren

Casualties and total strength
The 2nd Minnesota Cavalry had 4 enlisted men killed in action or died of wounds received in battle and an additional 3 officers and 56 enlisted men died of disease. Total fatalities were 63.

War Poet
At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Edward Thomas, a Welsh-language war poet native to Centerville, Ohio and whose Bardic name was Awenydd, was living and working as a schoolmaster at the Welsh-American farming settlement at South Bend Township, in Blue Earth County, Minnesota. In 1862, he enlisted in Company E of the 2nd Minnesota Cavalry Regiment. During his military service, Thomas wrote many Welsh language poems, including Pryddest ar Wir Fawredd, which later won the Bardic Crown at an Eisteddfod held in Minersville, Pennsylvania. Following the end of the war, Thomas became a Presbyterian minister.