A Revised System
Of Cavalry Tactics
For the use of the cavalry
And Mounted Infantry
C.S.A.
By Joseph Wheeler, 1863
490 pages, Searchable
Bonus #1 –
Cavalry Drill
And Savre Exercise
(C.S.A.)
Compiled Agreeably to the Latest
Regulations of the War Department
By George Patten, 1862
165 pages, Illustrated, Searchable
Bonus #2 –
The Trooper’s Manual
Or, Tactics for
Light Dragoons and
Mounted Riflemen
C.S.A.
By Col. J. Lucius Davis, 1862
284 pages, Searchable
Bonus #3 –
The Mounted Rifleman
A Method of Garrison Training
And Field Instruction
Of Cavalry
As Used by the First Cavalry
By James Parker, 1916
150 pages, Illustrated, Searchable
******************************************************************************
Digital EBook CD Requires Adobe Reader
7 or higher to View; or MAC Access
Autoboot Menu for Easy
PC Access; Manually open files on MAC
**************************************************************
There were four types of mounted forces prevalent in the Civil War.
Cavalry
were forces that fought principally on horseback, armed with carbines, pistols,
and especially sabers. Only a small percentage of Civil War forces met this
definition—primarily Union mounted forces in the Eastern Theater during the
first half of the war. Confederate forces in the East generally carried neither
carbines nor sabers. A few Confederate regiments in the Western Theater carried
shotguns, especially early in the war.
Mounted
infantry were forces that moved on horseback but dismounted for fighting on
foot, armed principally with rifles. In the second half of the war, most of the
units considered to be cavalry actually fought battles using the tactics of
mounted infantry. An example of this was the celebrated "Lightning
Brigade" of Col. John T. Wilder, which used horses to quickly arrive at a
battlefield such as Chickamauga, but they deployed and fought using standard
infantry formations and tactics. By contrast, at the Battle of Gettysburg,
Federal cavalry under John Buford also dismounted to fight Confederate
infantry, but they used conventional cavalry tactics, arms, and formations.
Dragoons
were hybrid forces that were armed as cavalrymen but were expected to fight on foot
as well. The term comes from the French Army, representing a cross between
light cavalry and infantry. The fighting tactics of the forces deployed by
Union General Philip Sheridan in 1864, and by Confederate General Wade Hampton
after the Battle of Yellow Tavern, fit the dragoon model, although those units
did not adopt the term.
Irregular
forces (partisan rangers or guerrillas) were generally mounted forces. There is
little commonality as to their weapons—in general, any available were used. The
Confederacy produced the most famous irregular leaders, including William
Clarke Quantrill, John S. Mosby, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and John Hunt Morgan
(although the latter two did employ traditional mounted infantry tactics in
some campaigns).
At the time of the Civil War, the cavalry had five
major missions, in rough priority:
Reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance screening
Defensive, delaying actions
Pursuit and harassment of defeated enemy forces
Offensive actions
Long-distance raiding against enemy lines of
communications, supply depots, railroads, etc.