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Calvary

Ride to Glory John C. Pelham leads Stuart's horse artillery to support Jackson at Sharpsburg on September 17th, 1862.

The cavalryman was the epitome of the romantic soldier. Oversize boots, tinkling spurs, heavy gauntlets, and occasionally a plumed hat or yellow scarf contributed to the effect. A swaggering walk and an easy seat on his horse marked the trooper.

King of them all was J. E. B. Stuart, the Virginia cavalier who led the Army of Northern Virginia's horsemen. Gracious, cultured, courteous, and gallant, Stuart personified all that was best in the Southern gentry. He fought at First and Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and temporarily took over a corps at Chancellorsville when Jackson received his death wound. Stuart's absence at a critical time during the Gettysburg campaign cost Lee dearly, but the brilliant horseman served his leader well in the Virginia fighting of 1864, in which he met death in battle.

A far different man was Nathan Bedford Forrest, who led Southern horsemen, often irregulars, in the west. Lacking formal education, a former slave dealer, Forrest was a hard-driving leader and one of the Confederacy's most dynamic officers.

The North did not produce great cavalry leaders until late in the war. George Stoneman led the Army of the Potomac's cavalry for a time, fighting in the Peninsular Campaign. He was relieved by Alfred Pleasonton, who commanded Meade's cavalry at Gettysburg. A career officer, Pleasonton was competent but lacked dash, daring, and imagination.

Northern cavalry received the leadership it deserved in 1864, when Grant appointed Philip H. Sheridan to relieve Pleasonton. Peppery, vigorous, blunt, Sheridan was an all-purpose officer who later commanded the Army of the Shenandoah. During the time he led the Army of the Potomac's horsemen, he welded them into a body of troops who could meet Confederate cavalry on equal terms.

The roster of Rebel cavalry leaders is studded with illustrious names: Wade Hampton, Fitzhugh Lee, Turner Ashby, John Singleton Mosby, Joseph Wheeler, John D. Imboden. Among the able Northern horsemen were John Buford, Benjamin Grierson, David Gregg, Judson Kilpatrick, George A. Custer, and James H. Wilson.

Stuart's whirlwind dashes around the Army of the Potomac, Wheeler's slashing attacks on Union wagon trains, Grierson's thrust through the central South, Forrest's savage attacks on Federal supply lines, and Wilson's push into Alabama gave Rebel and Union horsemen a secure place in the history of the rebellion.

Southern cavalry superiority In the early weeks of the Civil War, the cavalry on both sides was compact, slow-moving, heavily accoutred, usually operating with the infantry. Experience brought striking changes, first in the Confederate cavalry, considerably later in the Union. After a few battles in conjunction with the infantry, the horse soldiers began cutting loose from their bases to destroy enemy communications and supplies. They burned bridges and stores, ripped out telegraph lines, and raided far behind the lines in attempts to keep the enemy so busy that he could apply only a part of his potential when battle was joined. In the South the lack of good highways had forced Southerners to travel by horseback from boyhood, while in the North a generation had been riding in wheeled vehicles. Rural young men in the North were also horsemen by necessity, but unlike many of the Southern beaux sabreurs, they had to bear the tedious burden of caring for their animals after plowing behind them all day. Young Northerners who knew horses seemed to have little desire to assume the responsibility of taking them to war, and instead joined the infantry. In the South also, long before the war, young men organized themselves into mounted militia companies, often with romantic names. Although these may have been more social than military, the men learned how to drill, ride daringly, and charge with the saber. Southern cavalry horses were superior to Northern horses, largely because of the Southern penchant for racing. Almost every Southern town had its track, and the sport developed a superior stock of blooded fleet-footed animals. In the North, muscular and slow-moving draft horses were the preferred breeds.

Mounting and equipping the cavalry, and maintaining it in the field, was a tremendous job. In the beginning, it was better managed in the Confederacy than in the Union. Southern soldiers brought their own horses when they joined the cavalry. Living a country life, Dixie youths had been trained in the saddle from childhood. They understood horses, used them well, and knew how to give them the care they needed.

A fair proportion of the Northern cavalry came from farm country, but many of its members were city bred. Attracted by the glamour of the mounted arm, they joined up despite their ignorance of horseflesh. Long, careful training was necessary before such volunteers could be expected to take expert care of their mounts.

Of necessity, some of the training took place in the field at the cost of the horses concerned. Ignorance and lack of care from the green troops produced a high mortality rate among Union animals. During the first two years of war, 284,000 horses were furnished the Federal cavalry, while the maximum number of Union cavalrymen in the field never exceeded a total of 60,000. The scale of the war, and its enormous demands, drained horseflesh from the North for officers' mounts, baggage trains, and artillery, as well as cavalry. The shortage was so severe in 1862 that only 800 mounted cavalrymen could be rounded up to chase Stuart when he raided Pennsylvania in October.

In 1863, a Cavalry Bureau was formed in the North and six depots were established. At these, recruits were trained and taught care of their mounts. Agents at the depots were charged with purchasing animals for the service. Prices paid averaged about $160 per head.

Veterinary hospitals were established at the depots. In them, sick and injured horses from the field were cared for and allowed to recuperate. About 50 per cent of them returned to action. Foot diseases were the bane of the cavalry horse, and sore backs, from overloading or constant riding, disabled many animals.

Each Union cavalry company carried its own farrier, who shod horses and pack mules. Farriers in the Federal service nailed the shoes on four million horses during the war, and carried out veterinary duties as well. Cavalry recruits were trained to keep down back injuries on their mounts by grooming them carefully after a day's ride. Charged with keeping their steeds well fed, horsemen often raided Rebel barns to remove their supply of oats.

Southern farms kept the Confederacy well supplied with horses in the early years of the war, the cavalrymen purchasing their own mounts. The Rebel government paid its horsemen an allowance for upkeep and gave a compensation for horses killed in action, but not for death through any other cause. Men who lost horses by disease or exposure often found the expense of purchasing new animals too high, and the Rebel cavalry began to have holes in its ranks. The steady attrition of war also cut down the number of Southern animals drastically. In the later years of conflict, good horses were scarce. Southern cavalrymen never lost their fighting edge, but lack of mounts and inferior weapons worked against them in the crucial years of 1864 and 1865.

While cavalry was usually employed for reconnaissance and raiding operations, opposing horsemen occasionally met in the full shock of battle. After Gettysburg, a series of engagements occurred as Rebel troops commanded by Imboden, guarding Lee's retreat, clashed with pursuing Union cavalry under Buford at Boonsboro, Maryland.

Hand-to-hand cavalry battles were wild, whirlwind affairs, punctuated by the ring of metal on metal and the whinnying of frightened horses. They were seldom protracted. Attacking groups struck fast, cut up the enemy as much as possible, and broke off action quickly.

Horsemen were armed with sabers and revolvers. The long, straight sabers common in 1861 were later replaced by shorter weapons with curved blades for "cut and thrust" fighting. Most of the revolvers used by both sides were Colt models. The 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry, harking back to the days of Norman knights, was armed with lances up until 1863.

Up-to-date firearms gave the Union cavalry much of its power. In the later years of the war, Federal horsemen carried carbines, small rifles ideal for use in close quarters. Single-shot Sharps weapons were standard for a time, then gradually disappeared as the government issued Spencers, Colts, and Henrys, all of which were repeaters.

Union cavalry forces, armed with magazine carbines, became power-packed fighting units that could move with the speed of the wind. General officers began to use them in emergencies, sending them speeding to troubled sectors, where the troopers dismounted and fought as infantry.

Union cavalry was used cautiously in the first two years of the war, while Rebel horsemen rode roughshod over their opponents. The Yankee infantryman had a low opinion of his mounted brother-in-arms. "Who ever saw a dead cavalryman?" was a favorite question.

By the middle of 1863, Federal horse troops were beginning to display muscle. March 17 saw Union cavalry beat back the Rebels at Kelly's Ford, on the Rappahannock in Virginia. On June 9, at Brandy Station, Virginia, Pleasonton's men met Stuart's in a series of sharp engagements that went on for ten hours. Union cavalrymen handled themselves well, inflicted sharp losses on the enemy, and withdrew in order.

In a sense, Federal horsemen were blooded at Brandy Station. The battle gave them the confidence they had lacked in the past. By the time of Gettysburg, Yankee troopers were ready and willing. It was Buford's cavalry, fighting dismounted, that held off the Confederates as Union infantry fell back and entrenched on Cemetery Ridge.

Shortly after this, Custer struck the Rebels at Culpepper, Virginia, capturing a stand of Southern artillery in a lightning attack. Guns, heavy and hard to move, often fell to raiding cavalry. Artillerymen learned to keep an eye peeled for roving horse troops.

Sheridan took over the Army of the Potomac's mounted arm in April, 1864. In his hands, it became an aggressive body that sought out and struck Rebel horsemen wherever possible. Union foot soldiers began to change their opinion of the troopers. On May 9, Sheridan started south toward Richmond with 10,000 mounted men, making a thirteen-mile-long line. His raid was aimed at threatening the Rebel capital and drawing Stuart's horsemen away from Grant and Meade. Two days later, in the midst of pitched battle, Stuart received a fatal wound and Fitzhugh Lee took over. In Stuart's death, the South lost one of its most cherished heroes. When Sheridan took over a new army to ravage the Shenandoah Valley, well-trained cavalry paced the destructive expedition. Horsemen alone captured more than 2,500 prisoners and 71 guns.

In the west, Sherman took 15,000 cavalrymen on his drive to Atlanta, and 5,000 on the march to the sea. Under Wilson, troopers beat Forrest back in Tennessee, fought dismounted at Nashville, and carried out a fatal penetration of the Confederacy on their sweeping raid through Alabama and Georgia.

John S. Blay. Calvary. The Civil War; A Pictorial Profile. Bonanza Books, New York, 1958.

Sheridan in the Shenandoah Stackpole. This book is today, as it was 30 years ago, an excellent introduction to the climactic events in the storied Valley of Virginia, to the men who struggled there, and to the cause they served. This new edition brings the original book completely up to date with discussions of updated conclusions, amended dates and numbers, and new scholarship.

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