The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-11-26
The Rebel Cavalry.

The kSeOc1 l0V8lFys
The Richmond Examiner gives the fol-
lowing flattering notice Of the cavalry arm
of the rebel service. The article is from
the editorial columns Of the Examiner Of
Nov. Is:
The deficiency of our cavalry has been a
want Of drill-masters. The only persons
in the service who were competent to give
instruction in the broad-swOrd exercise
were the graduates of West Point; but
these young gentlemen were SO speedily
tenant and Major Generals, that none were
left to give practical utility to one OF the
most important arms of the service. As
soon as these young Lieutenant Generals)
became surrounded by aids and A. A. G.'s,
the greater portion Of our cavalry began TO
degenerate into mere mounted Infantry
Instead OF being composed of men promo
ted from the infantry for gallantry and eff
ticiency. it was soon made up OF an indis-
criminAte mass Of men, large portion Of
them detailed from the other branches of
the service, whose only qualification was
the possession Of a horse. Whoever was
able, by hook or by crook, fair means or
unfair, to get hold of charger" found
no difficulty in obtaining transfer from
Shank's mare to the saddle.
| Thus transferred and mounted, these cav.
alters were allowed to select from their own
body, their own officers, from sub-lieuten-
ant to Colonel, and the whole mass were as
ignorant Of the saber and its uses as Of the
| telescope. They were organized into brig
AIDES and divisions, and put under thecom-
mand Of young generals very familiar with
the cavalry arm, and fully approaching it's
value, but whose dignity forbids their de-
scending in person to the drudgery Of drill
masters. And thus the cavalry ofthe Con.
federacy betook themselves to pistols and
riAnes thu latter ,1oafn1 up1Nnvo thou
were dismOunted and fighting an infantry,
and somewhat valuable even in advancing
on horseback, but which became extreme
IL heavy and entirely useless on . retreat,
and in flight were the first things thrown
away.
The cost Of the mounted militia Of the
country is enormous. It has done more to
exhaust the resources Of the Confederacy
than all the rest Of the army; and in the
border cOuntry, where the worst regiments
Of this cavalry range and roam at will, the
inhabitants hold them in as much terror as
the enemy themselves. West of the Blue
Ridge they gather corn by cutting the
stock off at the ground and setting the
whole plant up in shocks; each shock pro-
ducing bushel and a half or two bushels
Of corn, Nothing is more usual than for
this roaming cavalry each to appropriate a
whole shock of this corn to his horse in a
single night, thus wasting in one day what
week or ten days, with proper care and
economy. The producer receives nothing,
or only the price of single ration for his
shock of corn, and the country loses what
is wasted.
All the frightful waste produced by the
cavalry results FROM the absence of disci-
pline, and this want of discipline is in great
part due to the fact Of each man owning
his own horse. A spirit OF greed and self
ishnes arises from this circumstance that
plays havoc with the crops falling in their
way, ana even in the most respectable cav
airy regiments there are frequently enough
thieves to make the passage of the regi
ment through a district Of country gene
raj stable-delivery for the best horses il
can boast.
1t spainfnl to speak unkindly Of great
arm Of the service, embodying many splen-
did corps OF galant men, entirely free from
these vices, and which, except for their
deficiency in respect to the saber, would be |
an ornament to any army in the world. 1t
is not OF our best cavalry that these re-
marks are made but of that large class OF /
cavalry chiefly to be found on the borders,
whose intficiency has become proverbial,
and whose outrages upon our own people
are so rapidly becoming matters OF public
record.
The necessity for thorough renovation
of the cavalry service has become SO urgent,
that it will doubles attract the attention OF
Congress at the present session. The
measures necessary TO effect the desired re-
form would seem 10 be chiefly the following
First, the abolition Of private ownership
as to the horses; Government taking it up
on itself to furnish these animals. Second,
the adoption OF some system Of promotion
by which the cavalry viii be composed Of
men who have distinguished themselves
by gallantry, and an observance Of the
rules of discipline in other arms OF TIE SER
vice. Third, the establishment of schools
OF instruction in tine broad sword exercise,
as = means Of obtaining experts in the art
sufficient in number to supply a drill
master to each cavalry company in the SER
vice. Fourth, some proper regulation by
which a more economical system Of forag-
ing shall be secured, and enforced by. pro-
per penalties. Fifth, 1t would probably be
jndicious, also, to make theft an offense
recognizable and punishable by the mili-
tary code.
A GREAT EUROPEAN CoNaREss.-It is