joined a 2,500-man expedition and began the march to Utah, and in response, Brigham Young, the Mormon leader, mobilized the Nauvoo Legion to combat this force. Peace talks succeeded before much blood was shed, but the 2nd Dragoons still had to complete a long and arduous winter march across the frontier. The Utah War ended in July 1858. On 14 June 1858, William S. Harney was promoted to Brigadier General, and LTC St. George Cooke was made the 3rd Colonel of the 2nd Dragoons. On 1 October 1858, other elements of the 2nd Dragoons that hadn't gone to Utah were engaging in operations against the Comanche in Texas. In the summer of 1858, a group of Dragoons pursued a number of Comanche who had captured a white child, but soon were ambushed by 25 braves. The firefight escalated and the Dragoons and Texas Rangers fought off a band of roughly 500 Comanches, and killed 70 after five hours of fighting. The captured child was rescued in the end, and the engagement became known as the Battle of the Wichita Village. Civil War At the onset of the Civil War in 1861, the regiment was recalled to the Eastern theater and redesignated on 3 August 1861 as the Second Cavalry Regiment. Thomas J. Wood was named the fourth Colonel of the regiment, but was promoted out of the job shortly after. Throughout the war, the 2nd Cavalry would be commanded by many company-grade officers such as Captains Wesley Merritt and Theophilus Francis Rodenbough. C Company was the last unit of the regiment to fight as dragoons, during the Battle of Wilson's Creek. For much of the war, the regiment was a key part of either the "Reserve Brigade" or the "Regular Brigade" of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac and served in numerous campaigns and battles. They fought in numerous battles, including the Siege of Yorktown, the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, and the Battle of Cold Harbor. During the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862, SGT Martin Hagan of the 2nd Cavalry and a small group of troopers held a Confederate cavalry brigade at bay, covering the Union retreat across the river. This action was completed without the loss of a man or a horse,