[GeronL]

I am definitely wanting to hear the answers to these questions.

I wonder if there are any CW re-enactors on FR?

[Revolting cat!]

Sorry, I am a World War I fan, the massacres were fabulous.

[Hoodat]

Are you referring to the War of Northern Aggression?

[smokingfrog]

North - Joseph Hooker

South - J.E.B. Stuart

[Inyo-Mono]

One of my great-grandfathers was in a cavalry unit of the Confederate 36th Virginia Inf. All I know from info from the Nat’l Archives is that he was captured by Union troops with a saber and a double barrel shotgun.

[RedMDer]

American Civil War: Major General John Buford

... Buford was named Chief of Cavalry for Major General George McClellan's Army of the Potomac. A largely administrative position, he was in this capacity at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862. Kept in his post by Major General Ambrose Burnside he was present at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13. In the wake of the defeat, Burnside was relieved and Major General Joseph Hooker took command of the army. Returning Buford to the field, Hooker gave him command of the Reserve Brigade, 1st Division, Cavalry Corps.

Buford first saw action in his new command during the Chancellorsville Campaign as part Major General George Stoneman's raid into Confederate territory. Though the raid itself failed to achieve its objectives, Buford performed well. A hands-on commander, Buford was often found near the front lines encouraging his men. Recognized as one of the top cavalry commanders in either army, his comrades referred to him as "Old Steadfast." With Stoneman's failure, Hooker relieved the cavalry commander. While he considered the reliable, quiet Buford for the post, he instead selected the flashier Major General Alfred Pleasanton.

Hooker later stated that he felt that made a mistake in overlooking Buford. As part of the reorganization of the Cavalry Corps, Buford was given command of the 1st Division. In this role, he commanded the right wing of Pleasanton's attack on Major General J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry at Brandy Station on June 9, 1863. In a day-long fight, Buford's men succeeded in driving back the enemy before Pleasanton ordered a general withdrawal. In the following weeks, Buford's division provided key intelligence regarding Confederate movements north and frequently clashed with Confederate cavalry. John Buford - Gettysburg and After:

Entering Gettysburg, PA on June 30, Buford realized that the high ground south of the town would be key in any battle fought in the area. Knowing that any combat involving his division would be a delaying action, he dismounted and posted his troopers on the low ridges north and northwest of town with the goal of buying time for the army to come up and occupy the heights. Attacked the next morning by Confederate forces, his outnumbered men fought a two and half hour holding action which allowed for Major General John Reynolds' I Corps to arrive on the field.

As the infantry took over the fight, Buford's men covered their flanks. On July 2, Buford's division patrolled the southern part of the battlefield before being withdrawn by Pleasanton. Buford's keen eye for terrain and tactical awareness on July 1 secured for the Union the position from which they would win the Battle of Gettysburg and turn the tide of the war. In the days following the Union victory, Buford's men pursued General Robert E. Lee's army south as it withdrew to Virginia.

[SERKIT]

As for #3, I don’t think the horses were smart enough, plus there is the lack of thumbs.

[RedMDer]

Very good book to have around.

[blueunicorn6]

I’m not an authority on Civil War Cavalry, but they used sabers or sabres. They had a curved blade so you could deliver a good whack to the head of anybody you were riding by. You had a height advantage by sitting on a horse. There are some real Civil War experts here on Free Republic so be patient and keep posting.

[LS]

1. Most swords/sabers in both infantry (officers) and cavalry were the same general design (slightly curved) although made by different manufacturers.

2. Cavalry preferred a carbine, a shorter-barreled rolling-breach weapon. It had shorter range, faster reload, a rifled barrel, and was lighter than the Springfield musket. But it was expensive and so were its cartridges. 3. A cavalry regiment was the same as an infantry regiment, 1200 men, consisting of two brigades (600 men) of six companies each, with a brigade under the command of a colonel and a regiment under command of a brigadier general.

4. The U.S. did not have “heavy” cavalry. This was European and featured larger horses and men wearing metal helmets and metal breastplates. All American cavalry was “light.”

5. No American units of which I am aware ever used lances.

6. Wade Hampton and JEB Stuart for the South, Alfred Pleasanton and John Buford for the North.

[smokingfrog]

http://www.amessword.com/featured.php

[ought-six]

. What makes a cavalry sword different from a regular sword? More curve to the blade.

2. How big was a typical cavalry regiment? varied widely due to manpower availability. Figure 750, though, as an average.

3. What was the preferred horse rifle? Carbine.

4. Did any units use lances? No.

5. What were the differences between light and heavy cavalry? Light cavalry were self-sufficient (i.e., they carried all their weaponry on their horses and on their persons; Heavy cavalry contained units of horse-drawn weapnry such as cannon, gatling guns, etc.

6. Most notable cavalry officers (North and South)? Jeb Stuart and Nathan Bedford Forrest for the Confederacy; Phil Sheridan and John Buford for the Yankees (custer ws part of Sheridan’s command, but he was over-rated).

[central_va]

The first thing you need to know is that Yankee Cavalry was so bad that is was the butt of jokes on both sides. Confederate Cavalry was far superior until the last year of the war when shear numbers overwhelmed them.

The favorite weapon of the Reb Cavalrymen was the double barrel shotgun, when he could get one.

[central_va]

Link here.

When the Confederacy was threatened with invasion by Federal forces in 1861 so many Volunteers flocked to her standard that many were turned away for lack of arms. The different state governments scoured the countryside in search of sporting rifles, old flintlock pistols and shotguns; any weapon that could aid in arming their Volunteers.

In a short and to the point note dated May 18th, 1861 Confederate Secretary of War wrote to Mississippi Governor Pettus, “Can you give me two regiments for twelve months, armed with heavy double barrel shotguns?”

A few days later Virginia Quartermaster M. O. Harmon wrote to Virginia Governor Letcher “The Greenbrier Cavalry, a fine body of men arrived today, and I send W. H. Peyton, esq., down to get army pistols, double barrel shotguns, or single barrel shotguns”

Virginia Colonel (at this time) Jubal A. Early writes to Virginia’s Adjutant General, “There are now eight companies of cavalry here, well mounted and in fine condition, but for the arms necessary for them, which are mostly wanting. Two companies are armed with double barreled shotguns, and two more will soon have them.” In a following letter Colonel Early writes “I have directed them to get all the double barrel shotguns they could.”

In July of 1861 Kentuckian Wm. T. Withers wrote to the Confederate Secretary of War, “Many Companies of cavalry have tendered their services, who propose to arm themselves with shotguns and revolvers.”

On July 2, 1861, the Governor of Tennessee tendered the provisional Army of Tennessee to the Confederate President. Offering “twenty-two regiments of infantry, two regiments of cavalry”…. “part of the cavalry armed with revolvers and sabers, the balance with double barrel shotguns.”

In January of 1862, Col. W. H. Jenifer, commanding five hundred men of the 8th Virginia Cavalry reported that his men were armed with “mostly old shotguns, bowie knives, and a few long range rifles.”

The Confederate Cavalry’s extensive use of shotguns is frequently attributed to the Confederacy’s severe shortage of firearms early in the war. However, this is not the only reason. As early as August of 1861 the shotguns long term use was foreseen; Captain of Ordnance Wm. R. Hunt wrote to the Secretary of War from Memphis, recommending that contracts be let for 10,000 sword bayonets for double barreled shotguns. Nearly a year later Hunt wrote to Secretary of War J. P. Benjamin, “Colonel Forrest, the most efficient cavalry officer in this department, informs me that the double barrel shotgun is the best gun with which the cavalry can be armed.” A more qualified endorsement of the shotguns use could not be desired; it was the most efficient short range arm used during the war. As late as July 24, 1863, South Carolina Governor Milledge Bonham opines to Confederate Secretary of War Seddon that South Carolina had turned over all of her shotguns to the Confederacy.

The Confederate Cavalry continued to employ the shotgun for the remainder of the war though with less frequency. The attrition of close-in combat took its toll; cavalrymen began to skirmish at longer ranges and eventually to fight primarily as mounted infantry.

Where are all those shotguns? I suspect that there aren’t many surviving that had been converted for military use because a sawed off shotgun was of little value after the War. One could hunt game with a rifle or musket, or even a full length shotgun but, a sawed off shotgun is only good for one thing, killing men.

The only reason this one survives is because it was picked up as a souvenir of the skirmish between Kilpatrick’s Cavalrymen and Confederate Cavalry under “Grumble” Jones and Beverly Robertson in Monterey pass after the battle of Gettysburg.

The shotgun in its original configuration is of British manufacture. It has been shortened to a carbine length. A sling swivel similar to the one found on Richmond two band Carbines screws into the butt stock; another is attached to the upper ramrod channel. The sling is original to the shotgun. Half of a period silver quarter serves as a front sight blade. Its original wooden ramrod has a ball puller permanently affixed to one end and a forged iron ferule reinforcing the opposite, swelled end.

[LastNorwegian]

4. I’m sure I’ve seen mentioned that one Northern unit used them for a short time (perhaps never in actual battle). But lances were more a curiousity than a weapon of war in the US civil war.

(I’m not going through a few thousand pages for documentation unless it’s important)

[birdsman]

This may be off topic, but Civil War “fans”? I think you mean Civil War buffs. No sane person could be a war “fan”, e3ven if the war is justified.

[central_va]

Bump.

[Tucker39]

I don’t have any answers for you, but I have an observation of my own regarding Civil War Cavalry.

In the little town of Dillsburg, PA there is a historical marker to the July 1863 “visit” of J.E.B. Stuart and 6000 Confederate Cavalry.

Some of my daily hikes around town take me past that marker and I still cannot help shaking my head at the mental image of the amount of “fertilizer” that many horses would have left in the streets when they left to meet up with Lee in Gettysburg.

[OL Hickory]

Rommel,Patton and Norman schwarzkopf studied Jeb Stuart
the south’s greatest cav officer

North had a few but the most famous would prob be Custer
(NOT EVEN IN THE SAME BALL PARK AS STUART!)

[central_va]

Gen. Forrest-

"Forrest ... used his horsemen as a modern general would use motorized infantry. He liked horses because he liked fast movement, and his mounted men could get from here to there much faster than any infantry could; but when they reached the field they usually tied their horses to trees and fought on foot, and they were as good as the very best infantry. Not for nothing did Forrest say the essence of strategy was 'to git thar fust with the most men'."[41]