U. S. Army Units In Utah, 1858-1861

Index For This Page

This page was last updated on November 12, 2026.

(Return To The U. S. Army In Utah, 1858-1861 Page)

Overview

(The focus of these notes is to document the units and quantity of personnel for the troops at Camp Floyd before and during the 1858-to 1861 period. This information is the result of numerous internet searches among contemporary sources, including newspapers and government documents. Additional summary, final editing and formatting were completed with the assistance of the Gemini AI.)

April 22, 1858
As reported in the St. Louis Globe Democrat, April 22, 1858, the U. S. Army units serving as the Utah Expedition were as follows:

3 batteries of light artillery.
1 battery of heavy artillery.
1 regiment (10 companies) foot artillery.
1 company sappers and miners.
1 ordnance company.
1 regiment of cavalry.
1 regiment of dragoons.
1 regiment of infantry.

Making a total of 76 companies, or about 6,000 men.

(This large number of 6,000 seemed far too many, so a research project was started to find out a more accurate number. Research found that the total throughout 1858 to 1861 was much closer to 3,500.)

In the U. S. Army of 1858, how many men would be in the above regiments and companies?

1858 Army Unit Authorizations

In the U.S. Regular Army of 1858, authorized unit strength was governed by the Act of June 17, 1850 (which allowed the President to expand companies serving on the western frontier from the standard peacetime establishment of 42 to 64 privates up to 74 privates per company) and the Act of March 3, 1855 (which raised the two new cavalry regiments).

Because frontier units, such as those organized for the 1858 Utah Expedition reinforcements, were routinely authorized at the 74-private frontier maximum rather than the eastern garrison minimum, the figures below reflect the authorized full frontier strength (including commissioned officers, non-commissioned officers, specialists (carpenter, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, harness-makers), musicians and privates) per the Official Army Register for 1858. (In actual field service, disease, desertion, and detached duty typically reduced effective strength by 15 to 30 percent.)

(The original documents use the term "artificer" to describe specialist personnel who were not officers, non-commissioned officers or privates, but who were tradesmen or craftsmen recruited or appointed for a specific civilian trade to keep an army's rolling stock, weapons, and equipment operational in the field. Today's Army calls this an E-4 Specialist. This document uses the term "specialist" as a generic term.)

(An Adjutant was a staff appointment, and was a specialized duty assignment rather than a separate rank. Under the 1857 Army Regulations, a regimental commander selected one of the regiment's 1st or 2nd Lieutenants to serve as Adjutant. Though only a Lieutenant by rank, when an Adjutant issued an order in the name of the Colonel, every Captain and Major in the regiment was bound to obey it as if it came directly from the commander. Because the workload was relentless and required sharp literacy and organizational skill, the Adjutant received an extra $10 per month on top of his regular lieutenant's pay, plus additional allowances for forage to keep horses mounted.)

(Almost all of these quantiles of personnel are approximate, and are shown as "~".)

Unit / Detachment Standard 1858 Organization Authorized Frontier Strength (74 Privates per Company) Notes on Composition
3 batteries of light artillery 3 mounted companies (batteries) ~264 men (88 per battery) Each light battery had 4 officers (1 Capt., 2 1st Lieutenants, 1 2nd Lieutenant), 4 sergeants, 4 corporals, 2 musicians, 2 specialists, and 74 privates (90 maximum; often 88 when 1 lieutenant was detached).
1 battery of heavy artillery 1 company serving with siege/heavy guns ~87 to 88 men Drawn from the regular artillery regiments; identical company table of organization to a foot and light company at frontier strength (3 or 4 officers, 10 NCOs/specialists/musicians, 74 privates).
1 regiment (10 companies) foot artillery Regimental HQ plus 10 companies
(Note: full regiments had 12 companies, with 2 mounted as light batteries)		 ~890 men Regimental staff (~15 to 20 officers/NCOs, including Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, 2 Majors, Adjutant, Quartermaster, Sergeant Major, Quartermaster Sergeant) plus 10 companies at ~87 officers and men each.
1 company sappers and miners Company A, Corps of Engineers ~103 to 104 men The Army's sole enlisted engineer company (authorized by Act of May 15, 1846): 3 to 4 engineer officers plus 100 enlisted men (10 sergeants, 10 corporals, 2 musicians, 39 specialists, and 39 privates).
1 ordnance company Detachment / field company of Ordnance ~50 to 75 men Unlike line regiments, the Ordnance Department had no fixed tactical "companies"; its ~400 to 600 enlisted men (master armorers, carriage-makers, blacksmiths, specialists, and laborers) were assigned in detachments to arsenals and field depots. A field ordnance detachment/company typically numbered 1 or 2 officers and 50 to 75 enlisted specialists.
1 regiment of cavalry Regimental HQ plus 10 companies (Companies A?K, omitting J) ~885 men Authorized by the Act of March 3, 1855 (1st & 2nd Cavalry): ~20?25 regimental staff/field officers (Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, 2 Majors, Staff, Sergeant Major, Quartermaster Sergeant, Chief Bugler) plus 10 companies of 86 each (3 officers, 4 sergeants, 4 corporals, 2 buglers, 1 farrier/blacksmith, 74 privates = 88 maximum, typically 86 to 88).
1 regiment of dragoons Regimental HQ plus 10 companies (1st or 2nd Dragoons) ~885 men Organized on the exact same 10-company table as the cavalry regiments (3 officers and 85 enlisted per company at the 74-private frontier limit, plus regimental field and staff).
1 regiment of infantry Regimental HQ plus 10 companies (1st?10th Infantry) ~875 men Regimental field and staff (~25 officers/NCOs, including 2 principal musicians) plus 10 companies of 85 each (3 officers: 1 Capt., 1 1st Lieutenant, 1 2nd Lieutenant; 4 sergeants, 4 corporals, 2 musicians, 74 privates = 87 maximum, typically 85 when 2nd Lieutenants were detached).

1858 Summary Total

At full authorized frontier strength, this combined force totaled approximately 4,040 to 4,060 officers and enlisted men (roughly 3,000 to 3,400 in actual present-for-duty field strength).

(Note: For General Winfield Scott's spring 1858 reinforcement planning for the Utah Expedition, the Eastern peacetime garrison footing dropped infantry and foot artillery companies to 42 privates and dragoons troops to 50 to 64 privates until explicitly ordered to increase recruitments to the 74-private frontier standard.)

1858 Unit Authorization vs. 1858 Utah Expedition Troop Totals

The gap between the War Department's authorized frontier establishment (74 privates per company, roughly 85 to 90 officers and men per company) and the actual field returns of troops marching to or serving in the Department of Utah in 1858 reflects chronic pre-Civil War recruiting shortages, winter attrition at Camp Scott/Fort Bridger, and the diversion of troops to the Plains and Kansas.

Across the entire U.S. Regular Army in late 1858, Secretary of War John B. Floyd reported an authorized strength of 18,165 officers and men, while actual on-hand strength stood several thousand lower. For the Department of Utah specifically, the comparison breaks down across the two distinct phases of 1858: the1857 to 1858 wintering force under Brevet Brigadier General Albert Sidney Johnston and the Spring 1858 reinforcement columns organized at Fort Leavenworth.

(While the U.S. Army no longer uses the brevet system, the closest modern equivalent to an 1858 Brevet Brigadier General is a Colonel (O-6) who has been selected for promotion and, while awaiting formal advancement, is authorized to wear the single star of a Brigadier General, a practice known today as being "frocked." In 1858, a brevet rank was an honorary or temporary distinction granted for distinguished service, allowing an officer (typically a Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, or Major) to wear a Brigadier General's star and exercise higher command authority on special assignments without receiving general officer pay. Unlike a permanent, fully compensated Brigadier General (O-7), the 19th-century brevet system served as a workaround for slow, seniority-based promotions within a small peacetime Regular Army.)

Authorized Frontier Strength vs. Actual Field Strength (By Unit)

When the War Department ordered units west, companies were authorized to recruit up to the 74-private frontier limit (Act of June 17, 1850), yet almost none departed Fort Leavenworth at full paper strength.

Unit / Detachment Authorized Frontier Strength (74 Privates per company) Actual Field Strength in Utah Returns (1858) Notes on Composition
5th U.S. Infantry (10 companies in the 1857 column) ~875 ~500 to 550 (by spring 1858) Arrived from Florida understrength (~60 to 65 per company); suffered winter sickness and desertions at Camp Scott before entering Salt Lake Valley in June 1858.
10th U.S. Infantry (10 companies in the 1857 column) ~875 ~550 to 600 (by spring 1858) Raised in 1855; marched with Colonel Edmund Alexander's advance column at ~65 to 70 men per company, dropping below 60 per company by spring.
2nd U.S. Dragoons (6 companies in 1857; plus 2 companies in 1858) ~530 (6 companies)

~708 (8 companies)

 ~380 to 420 (6 companies)

~520 to 560 (8 companies)

 Held back in "Bleeding Kansas" until September 1857; Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George Cooke marched late in severe snows, losing nearly half his horses and arriving at Camp Scott with ~400 effective troops.
Light Artillery Batteries (Phelps' B/4th Artillery, plus Reno's and Barry's batteries) ~88 to 90 per battery ~65 to 78 per battery Capt. John W. Phelps' Battery B, 4th Artillery (heavy/light mixed) and Brevet Major William F. Barry's batteries marched near 75 to 80 percent of authorized strength.
6th U.S. Infantry (10 companies in the 1858 column) ~875 ~680 to 740 Ordered from Kansas/Missouri in spring 1858; filled out with recruits at Fort Leavenworth to ~70 to 75 total per company before marching west (later diverted to California in late 1858).
7th U.S. Infantry (10 companies in the 1858 column) ~875 ~650 to 720 Transferred from the Indian Territory/Arkansas frontier in spring 1858; supplemented by general depot recruits at Fort Leavenworth to reach ~70 per company.
1st U.S. Cavalry (6 companies in the 1858 column) ~530 (6 companies) ~420 to 460 Organized into the 1858 Leavenworth reinforcement columns (Colonels Sumner/Morrison/May) at ~70 to 75 officers and men per company.
Company A, Engineers (Sappers and Miners) 103 or 104 ~75 to 85 Deployed from West Point in spring 1858 with Lieutenant James C. Duane; marched at roughly 80 percent of its 100-enlisted statutory ceiling.

Planned Totals vs. Actual Totals (1858)

The Wintering Army (Camp Scott / Fort Bridger, Spring 1858) -- While the original 1857 expedition had been planned for2,500+ men, Johnston's actual command wintering near Fort Bridger stood at roughly 1,700 to 1,900 present for duty (out of ~2,100 aggregate on the rolls, with the remainder sick, detached, or guarding supply trains). When Johnston marched through Salt Lake City on June 26, 1858 to establish Camp Floyd, his column numbered roughly 2,000 to 2,200 regulars.

The Spring 1858 Reinforcement Columns (Fort Leavenworth) -- In early 1858, General-in-Chief Winfield Scott and Secretary Floyd organized roughly 3,000 to 3,500 reinforcements (arranged in six marching columns leaving Fort Leavenworth in May-June 1858, comprising the 6th and 7th Infantry, six companies of the 1st Cavalry, two companies of the 2nd Dragoons, light/heavy artillery batteries, and Engineer/Ordnance detachments).

Peak Department of Utah Strength (Late Summer / Autumn 1858) -- Because the Buchanan Peace Commission (Lazarus Powell and Ben McCulloch) reached a settlement with Brigham Young in June 1858, several of the 1858 reinforcement columns were halted on the Plains or diverted, most notably the 6th Infantry, which continued straight through Utah to California, and elements of the 1st Cavalry and artillery that were turned back toward Fort Kearny and Fort Leavenworth.

Authorized Paper Total (all units assigned/en route): ~5,500+ officers and men.

Actual Peak Concentration at Camp Floyd and Fort Bridger (Fall 1858): ~3,500 to 3,800 regulars (specifically the 5th, 7th, and 10th Infantry regiments, 2nd Dragoons, and attached artillery/ordnance detachments), still representing roughly one-fifth of the entire U.S. Army and the largest single peacetime garrison in the country prior to the Civil War.

The Discrepancy

Recruit Depot Padding -- Because frontier regiments like the 6th and 7th Infantry could not recruit locally in Louisiana or the Indian Territory, the Adjutant General's Office dumped hundreds of raw recruits from Carlisle Barracks (cavalry) and Fort Columbus/Newport Barracks (infantry) into the regiments at Fort Leavenworth in April and May 1858, bringing them closer to authorized strength than normal, though high desertion numbers along the Platte River trail quickly eroded those gains.

In the 1858 War Department documents, the aggregate totals included officers and men on detached recruiting service, in hospitals, or under arrest. A regiment carrying 680 aggregate on paper routinely fielded only 520 to 560 present for duty on the march.

Compare Authorized Strength vs. Actual Field Strength (1858)

Compare the 1858 authorized U.S. Army unit strengths against the actual field returns and troop totals sent to Utah in 1858.

Between late 1858 and the end of 1860, the garrison at Camp Floyd (renamed Fort Crittenden in December 1860) underwent a dramatic reduction, shrinking from the largest peacetime concentration of U.S. regulars in the nation (~3,500+ men in late 1858) to a skeleton frontier post of roughly 400 to 500 men by late 1860.

Under the annual "Position of Troops in the Department of Utah" documents submitted with the Secretary of War's reports, the garrison's evolution divides into three distinct stages:

Comparison By Period (1858 to 1860)

Period Regiments and Corps Present at Camp Floyd Total Companies Aggregate Strength Commanding Officer
Late 1858 (October-December 1858) 5th, 7th, and 10th Infantry; 2nd Dragoons; 3rd and 4th Artillery; Ordnance detachment 38 to 40 companies (plus Ordnance) ~3,400 to 3,700 Brevet Brigadier General Albert Sidney Johnston
Late 1859 (October-December 1859) 5th, 7th, and 10th Infantry; 2nd Dragoons; 4th Artillery; Ordnance detachment ~34 to 36 companies (plus Ordnance) ~2,600 to 2,900 Brevet Brigadier General Albert Sidney Johnston (until February 1860)
Late 1860 (October-December 1860) 10th Infantry (4 companies); 2nd Dragoons (2 companies); 4th Artillery (1 company) 7 companies ~400 to 500 Colonel Charles F. Smith / Colonel Philip St. George Cooke

Infantry Regiments

Mounted Regiments

Artillery & Technical Corps

Why The Totals Dropped By 1860

Expiration of 1855 Enlistments -- The 10th Infantry (and many recruits pushed into the 5th and 7th Infantry in 1855) hit the end of their 5-year enlistment terms in spring and summer 1860. Because the War Department declined to march expensive replacement recruit columns across the Plains to Utah, company rolls dropped by 20 to 30 percent through discharges alone.

The May 1860 Transfer to New Mexico -- With Mormon tensions largely subsided and Navajo raids escalating in New Mexico Territory (culminating in the April 30, 1860 attack on Fort Defiance), the War Department stripped Camp Floyd of the entire 5th Infantry, the entire 7th Infantry, and most of the 2nd Dragoons, cutting the Utah garrison by more than 80 percent in a single summer.

Abandonment (May to August 1861)

A break down of the May to August 1861 abandonment of Fort Crittenden, the final troop departures, and the surplus property auctions.

Camp Floyd was renamed as Fort Crittenden in February 1861.

Following the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, the War Department stripped the western territories of U.S. Regulars to reinforce the Union armies in the East. On May 17, 1861, General-in-Chief Winfield Scott issued orders (received at Fort Crittenden by way Pony Express later that month) directing Colonel Philip St. George Cooke to abandon the post completely and march his remaining command east to Fort Leavenworth.

Because of the massive stockpiles accumulated at the Cedar Valley depot since 1858, closing Fort Crittenden required nearly two months of logistics, demolition, and fire-sale auctions before the final columns marched out in late July 1861.

Timeline of the Abandonment (May to August 1861)

War Department Evacuation Order (May 17, 1861) -- General Winfield Scott orders Colonel Philip St. George Cooke to evacuate Fort Crittenden, dispose of all immovable property and excess stores, and march the remaining Department of Utah garrison back to Fort Leavenworth.

Ordnance Destruction and Advance Train (June to Mid-July 1861) -- With wagons prioritized for hauling essential field equipment and payroll and records east, the post Ordnance detachment destroys tens of thousands of dollars' worth of surplus ammunition, gunpowder, and small-arms cartridges that cannot be transported or safely sold to civilians.

Major Surplus Property Auctions (July 1861) -- Post Quartermaster and Commissary officers hold public auctions in Cedar Valley, liquidating buildings, rolling stock, tools, and massive food reserves to Mormon settlers, Salt Lake merchants, and overland freighters at pennies on the dollar.

Final Garrison Departure (July 27, 1861) -- Colonel Cooke marches the remaining garrison out of Cedar Valley. Before departing, Cooke presents the Fort Crittenden garrison flagpole to Brigham Young as a gesture of goodwill.

Crosses into Wyoming / Post-Abandonment Sales (August 9, 1861) -- Cooke's command clears Fort Bridger and exits Utah Territory (leaving only a 17-man caretaker detachment at Fort Bridger), while final clean-up auctions of remaining structural salvage wrap up in August.

Final Troop Departures (July 27, 1861)

By the summer of 1861, the Department of Utah had already been reduced from its 1858 peak of ~3,500 men down to 10 remaining companies across Utah Territory (7 at Fort Crittenden and 3 detached/rotating at Fort Bridger).

Roughly 400 to 500 officers and enlisted men marched out of Fort Crittenden on July 27, 1861 under Colonel Cooke, uniting with the Fort Bridger detachments to cross the border east on August 9, 1861.

Southern Resignations & Departures -- Prior to the July 27 march, dozens of Southern-born officers and enlisted men resigned or obtained discharges to join the Confederacy, following the example of former post commander Albert Sidney Johnston (who had departed in February 1860 and resigned in California in April 1861).

The last departing company in July 1861 traveled by way of Provo River canyon to Heber City, then crossing over between the Provo River drainage to the Weber River drainage at Francis and Kamas, then north to Echo canyon, then east into Wyoming and Fort Bridger. Then, following the well established immigrant trail to Fort Leavenworth and St. Joseph, Missouri, then by train through Quincy, Illinois, to Chicago. Then by train to Washington DC.

Surplus Property Auctions and Ordnance Disposal

When Camp Floyd was constructed in 1858-1859, the Quartermaster Department spent roughly $4 million building over 400 adobe, lumber, and stone structures (barracks, officers' quarters, storehouses, stables, hospitals, and magazines) and stocking supplies for an army of several thousand men. Because hauling bulky goods 1,100 miles back to Missouri cost more than the goods were worth, the Army liquidated almost everything on site.

Category Quantities & Items Liquidated Auction Prices & Disposition
Food Stores 100,000 pound of flour, 45,700 pounds of bacon, plus coffee, sugar, beans, salt, and dried vegetables Sold at fractions of original freighted cost, often $0.50 to $1.00 per hundredweight for flour (which had cost the Army $30 or more per hundredweight delivered to Utah).
Buildings and Lumber ~400 adobe, wood-frame, and stone structures (warehouses, barracks, officers' quarters, doors, windows, iron hardware) Buildings that cost $200,000 or more to erect brought only a few thousand dollars total; buyers immediately dismantled them for roofing tin, window glass, pine flooring, and hardware to haul to Salt Lake City and Utah County settlements.
Wagons and Rolling Stock Hundreds of heavy freight wagons, ambulances, water carts, and harness sets (building on earlier spring 1861 sales) Wagons that originally cost $175 each sold for $10 to $14 each; harness sets and yokes sold for pennies on the dollar.
Tools, Iron and Quartermaster Gear Blacksmith forges, bar iron, horse and mule shoes, tents, camp stoves, and lumber Horseshoes and muleshoes sold at 1/4 cent each; bar iron, nails, and carpentry tools stocked Utah blacksmith shops for the next decade.
Ordnance and Ammunition Cannons/caissons (taken east by the artillery battery), small arms, gunpowder, artillery shells, and musket cartridges Destroyed rather than sold. Under strict War Department policy against putting military munitions on the civilian frontier market, ordnance crews dumped loose powder into trenches/wells, burned or exploded fixed ammunition, and dismantled unserviceable small arms before marching. (Locals salvaged lead and brass from the burn pits for years afterward.)

Impact on the Utah Territory Economy

The July 1861 auctions injected an estimated $4 million worth of original-cost U.S. government property into the cash-strapped territorial economy for less than $100,000 in cash (reported by the Quartermaster-General at $93,703.61 in realized proceeds). Brigham Young's church agents and Salt Lake merchants, including William Jennings, Hooper & Eldredge, and Walker Brothers, purchased massive quantities of iron, wagons, lumber, and provisions, providing the capital and industrial materials that fueled Utah commercial expansion during the Civil War years.

###