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| The American cavalryman--1864 The type of American cavalryman developed by the conditions during the war fought equally well on foot and on horseback. In fact, he found during the latter part of the war that his horse was chiefly useful in carrying him expeditiously from one part of the battlefield to the other. Except when a mounted charge was ordered, the horses were far too valuable to be exposed to the enemy's fire, be he Confederate or Federal. It was only when cavalry was fighting cavalry that the trooper kept continually mounted. The Federal sabers issued at the beginning of the war were of long, straight Prussian pattern, but these were afterward replaced by a light cavalry saber with curved blade. A carbine and revolver completed the Federal trooper's equipment. |
