This regiment of volunteers was mustered in July of 1861 and fought as part of the Army of Northern Virginia under the capable command of J. E. B. Stuart until his dead after the battle of Yellow Tavern in May 1864. The men of this regiment were recruited among the people of the state of Virginia, and the most of them were used to riding since childhood. As many confederate volunteers they furnished themselves of horses and weapons, even if not all the engagements in which they took part were fought from horseback, as it was very common to fight and advance on foot on skirmishes.
The regiment took part in important battles as the First Bull Run (First Mannasas in the North), the Seven Days Battles, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Brandy Station and Gettysburg, to mention just a few. The unit was disbanded in April 1st, 1865 and only one member of the regiment was present at the surrender of the army at Appomattox in April 9th, 1865.
The men wore homespun gray or sometimes butternut shell jackets with black facings in the front, in the style of the European hussar uniforms, black collars and cuffs, and black buttoned shoulder straps. Their main weapons were sabers, revolvers and single shot 1859 Sharps carbines carried in a wide sling. Completing their uniforms, they wore black slouch hats, sometimes with a black ostrich plume, as the very J. E. B. Stuart wore in his.