Ironside (cavalry) Ironside (cavalry) The Ironsides were troopers in the Parliamentarian cavalry formed by English political leader Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century, during the English Civil War. The name came from "Old Ironsides", one of Cromwell's nicknames. Cromwell first mustered a troop of cavalry (then referred to as "horse") at Huntingdon in Huntingdonshire, on 29 August 1642, early in the Civil War. John Desborough was quartermaster. The troop was late in being organised, and arrived too late to participate in the Battle of Edgehill, the first pitched battle of the war. Cromwell however did witness the defeat of the Parliamentarian horse
Indiana in the American Civil War service. On November 10, 1865, the 13th Regiment Indiana Cavalry became the state's final regiment to be mustered out of the U.S. Army. The 11th Indiana Infantry Regiment, also known as the Indiana Zouaves, under the command of Lew Wallace, was the first regiment organized in Indiana during the Civil War and the first one to march into battle. The 11th Indiana fought in the Battle of Fort Donelson, the Siege of Vicksburg, the second day of the Battle of Shiloh, and elsewhere. In 1861 the 9th Indiana Infantry Regiment became one of the first Hoosier regiments to see action