CAVALRY IN HISTORY
"We do not sing battle songs any longer. Nor do we make legend of our fighting men. Battle is grim and dirty, and the dead are too many. We kill as we live, by the machine, mass producing death. The legend making stopped with the introduction of the Gatling gun and the end of the cavalry."
(from "Night Attack," a short story by Harry Olive)
From the Bayeaux Tapestry: Norman knights charge Saxon infantry at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Note that stirrups -- an invention of singular importance to the mounted soldier -- are *not* depicted. The ability to control a war horse in battle required careful training of both horse and rider. It was from this art that the present day sport of dressage was born.
Spanish cavalry, 19th century
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Often overlooked in the period of the Napoleonic Wars, the Cossack cavalrymen were among the finest soldiers fielded by the Russian Army. Their legendary fighting traditions lasted well into World War II.
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French Cuirassiers charge British infantry squares at Waterloo, 1815. Despite repeated charges by the French, the British squares held. Both sides suffered heavy losses and Wellington later described his victory in the battle as "a damn near thing."
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British cavalry counterattack French forces at Waterloo, 1815
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The aftermath of the charge of the Light Brigade, Balaclava, 1854. The painting depicts troopers from the 13th Hussars, one of several units virtually destroyed in the attack.
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American Civil War re-enactors stage a typical cavalry function: covering the withdrawal of an army. The gray clad Confederate horse soldiers domintated their Union counterparts in the early years of the war, but the men in blue eventually developed the skills and leadership they needed to win.
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Custer's cavalry brigade captures Stuart's gun battery, 1863
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Yellow Tavern, 1864. Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart was killed by a soldier in Custer's command.
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Confederate cavalry attack, Trevilian Station, 1864
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Left to right: Generals George A. Custer, USA; Nathan Bedford Forrest, CSA; Alfred Pleasington, USA; Phillip Sheridan, USA; and J.E.B. Stuart, CSA.
Troopers of the U.S. 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments, aka "Buffalo Soldiers," were vital in the settling of the American frontier west. The Plains Indians were considered by many professional military men to be the finest light cavalry in the world.
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Across the Pacific, the Australian Army of the 19th century also found that mounted troops would prove essential, not only for peace and order at home, but also in wars waged on behalf of the British Empire.
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This page last updated
Friday, 23 October 1998 15:37 Eastern Daylight Time
