5th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment
# 5th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment

Massachusetts U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiments 1861-1865 :

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The 5th Regiment Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry (or 5th Regiment, Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored)) was a cavalry regiment from Massachusetts, that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

## Service

The regiment was organized from January 9-May 5, 1864, at Camp Meigs, Readville. From May 12, 1864, it served dismounted and equipped as infantry until the end of war.

## Detailed service

The regiment fought at Baylor's Farm during the Second Battle of Petersburg and the Siege of Petersburg.

## Casualties

The regiment lost 123 enlisted men; 7 enlisted men were killed or mortally wounded, 116 enlisted men died of disease.

## Commanders

* Colonel Henry S. Russell (March 7-June 14, 1864; wounded at Baylor's Farm)
* Major Henry Pickering Bowditch (June 14-September 30, 1864)
* Colonel Henry S. Russell (September 30, 1864 – February 14, 1865; resigned)
* Colonel Charles Francis Adams, Jr. (February 14-August 1, 1865)
* Colonel Samuel Chamberlain (August 1-October 31, 1865; regiment mustered out)

## Notable soldiers and officers

* Private Prince Romerson (c. 1840–1872), a Native Hawaiian soldier from the Kingdom of Hawaii who also fought as a Buffalo Soldier.
* Joshua Dunbar, the father of renowned American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, served as a volunteer soldier in both the 5th Regiment Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry and the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment.
* Corporal William R. Meadows (c. 1842-May 6, 1868), moved to Claiborne Parish, Louisiana after the war. He served as a representative to the state constitutional convention of 1868 after Louisiana was readmitted to the Union. He was murdered by unknown parties outside his home on the evening May 6, 1868. [New Orleans Republican, May 22, 1868, p. 1]
* 2nd Lt. Daniel Henry Chamberlain, who'd become Attorney General and eventually Governor of South Carolina.
* George Lawrence Mabson, who becomes the first black lawyer in North Carolina
