Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/156

148 CAVALRY and, notwithstanding the swollen streams and wintry weather, did not relinquish the chase till the remnant of Hood's army had crossed the Tennessee river. Wilson's corps went into can- tonments on the hanks of the river, below the Muscle shoals at the head of navigation, early in January, about 7,000 effectives. During the next six weeks the number was increased to 27,000 men, 17,000 of whom were mounted and thoroughly equipped. This did not include Kilpatrick's division, then detached with Sher- man. A system of drills and instruction was instituted, the single-rank formation prescribed by the new tactics was discarded, and the double-rank adopted, as being better calculated for manoeuvring so large a command in a thick- ly wooded country. After detaching one divi- sion of 5,000 men to join Canby in Louisiana, and leaving another in camp dismounted, 8,000 strong, Wilson marched from Eastport toward Selma on the 22d of March with nearly 15,000 men, 12,000 of whom were well mounted, and 8,000 dismounted. All of these men, except about 1,200, were armed with the Spencer magazine carbines or rifles. On the 2d day of April they arrived in front of Selma, having met and defeated a part of Forrest's cavalry the day before. This place, although strongly forti- fied by a continuous line of earthworks and stockades, and defended by 82 guns and nearly 8,000 men, composed about equally of regular troops and militia, was assaulted and captured, the principal attacking force consisting of 1,550 men and officers. After bridging the Alabama river, this corps marched rapidly through Mont- gomery toward Macon, Georgia, capturing on the way West Point and Columbus, the former by assault during the daytime, and the latter by a night attack conducted under the immediate supervision of Generals Upton and Winslow. On April 20 it reached Macon, where it was arrested by the termination of the war. Up to this time it had subsisted upon the country, marched 525 miles in 28 days, captured 6,820 prisoners and 280 guns, and destroyed two gun- boats, 99,000 stands of small arms, 285,000 bales of cotton, and all the mills, collieries, iron works, factories, railroad bridges, rolling stock, and military establishments which were found on the line of march. The lessons taught by the operations of the national cavalry daring the closing events of the civil war are not new, but they seem to have been neglected by the Euro- pean commanders of the present time. They are, that cavalry should constitute a large part of the army in time of war, and be so organized, mounted, equipped, and directed as to act with vigor and celerity upon the flanks, rear, and communications of the enemy. It should be armed with magazine rifles and carbines, using cartridges with metallic cases, march with great rapidity, at the rate of 40 or 50 miles per day, and fight generally dismounted like light in- fantry. It should usuaily subsist upon the en- emy's country, and on long marches, or in the presence of the enemy, have no trains except for the purpose of carrying extra ammunition. It should be kept in large bodies and be used mainly for great purposes. Properly handled and organized, it is capable of doing almost all the services of infantry, besides march- ing with twice or thrice their rapidity. In modern European armies riding is better at- tended to than formerly, though still not at ;ill to the extent it should be. The idea of re- ceiving the enemy carbine in hand is scouted ; Frederick's rule is everywhere revived, that every cavalry commander who allows the ene- my to charge him, instead of charging himself, deserves to be cashiered. The gallop is again the pace of the charge ; and the column attack has made way for charges in successive lines, with dispositions for flank attack, and with a possibility of manoeuvring with single detach- ments during the charge. Still much remains to be done before the European cavalry can claim to have caught the spirit of the Ameri- can improvement in the use of this great arm. The cavalry took but a comparatively insignifi- cant part in the last great wars between Prussia and Austria and between Prussia and France. It may be said that neither of the combatants showed any appreciation of the immense ad- vantages to be gained by using mounted troops in masses, upon the flank and rear of the enemy. From the history of cavalry let us now turn to its present organization and tactics. The recruiting of cavalry, as far as the men are concerned, is not different upon the whole from the way the other arms recruit themselves in each country. In some states, however, the natives of particular districts are destined to this service ; thus in Russia, the Malorussians (natives of Little Russia) ; in Prussia, the Poles. In Austria, the heavy cavalry is re- cruited in Bohemia, the hussars exclusively in Hungary, and the lancers (ulans) mostly in Ga- licia. The recruiting of the horses, however, deserves especial notice. In England, where the whole cavalry does not require in time of war above 10,000 horses, the government finds no difficulty in buying them ; but in order to insure to the service the benefit of horses not worked till nearly five years old, three-year-old colts, mostly Yorkshire bred, are bought and kept at government expense in depots till they are fit to be used. The price paid for the colts (20 to 25), and the abundance of good horses in the country, make the British cavalry certainly the best mounted in the world. In Russia a similar abundance of horses exists, though the breed is inferior to the English. The remount officers buy the horses by whole- sale in the southern and western provinces of th empire; they resell those that are unfit, and hand over to the various regiments such as are of its color (all horses beinjr of the same color in a Russian regiment). The colonel is considered as it were proprietor of the horses ; for a round sum paid to him he has to keep the regiment well mounted. The horses are ex- pected to last eight years. Formerly they were