They went to where they wanted to go and then got off and fought like infantry, on foot. They were effective as hell, and were making life miserable nibbling around the edges of the Army of the Cumberland. Up with this Rosecrans did not any longer want to put. So he wrote to his boss, General in Chief Henry Halleck, back in Washington. Seems to work for the rebels, ought to work for us.
Mounted infantry is neither good cavalry nor good infantry.
Besides, Halleck added, it was almost impossible to provide enough horses for the demands of the artillery, supply wagons, and the regular cavalry. There were most certainly none to spare for this crack-brained idea of mounted infantry. It was at this point that we return to the colorful career of Col. Wilder. He had a knack for being the point man in difficult situations, sometimes by his own doing, sometimes not. At Munfordville, Kentucky, Wilder had been quite astonished to find his brigade of 4,000 men facing the whole damn Army of Tennessee.