The date George J. Hamlet enlisted will determine where he served with the 2nd Texas Cavalry. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd 5th and 7th Texas Cavalry regiments were organized in San Antonio in the fall of 1861 by Brig. Gen. Henry Hopkins Sibley. The brigade consisting of 3,000 men was marched to Franklin (El Paso) on the primitive San Antonio-El Paso-Santa Fe Mail Road and arrived in Franklin by Christmas. By July 1862, Sibley's New Mexico Campaign proved to be a disaster and after the loss of a third of the brigade, they returned to San Antonio to be reorganized.

Special Order #81 reorganized the new "Arizona Brigade" immediately after Sibley's and what was left of the brigade arrived back in San Antonio. The reorganized Arizona Brigade is a paradox in contridiction. The new Arizona Brigade never set foot in the New Mexico - Arizona Territory. With the exception of the 1st and 4th Texas Cavalry, the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th Texas Cavalry of the Arizona Brigade served in Louisiana.

On February 21, 1863, Col.George W. Baylor was placed in command of the 2nd Texas Cavalry. Battles in which the 2nd Texas Cavalry participated in was Brashear City (June 23, 1863), Cox's Plantation (July 1863), and many battles and skirmishes of the Red River Campaign of March-May 1864, including the major battles of Mansfield (April 8, 1864) and Pleasant Hill (April 9, 1864).