The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-23
MODERN CAVALRY.
Dragons and tnelr weapons.

more open to debate than those relating to
cavalry. While artillery aud infantry have
progres sed with rapid strides, the cavalry of
European armies remains az it was at the be-
ginning of the century. Depending for its
success in battle not on the perfection OF its
firearms but on the impetus OF its charge, it
has fallen back in the struggle for superiority.
The horse can no gallop fastera aud ths swords
man can strike no harder than when Nsy's
splendid squadrons were shattered to pieces
against the British squares on the plains of
Waterloo; but the flashes of flame that then
he1alded the fatal storm of bullets now burst
forth with fvefold rspidity from the faces of
the infantry squares. Young troops may
still be dislnayed by the thunder of the ad-
vancing hersemen; but if once the foot-soldier
has learnt what his breech loading rifle can
do, the powerful moral effect OF cavalry charges
must surely be destroyed. The withering fire
which line of infantry can now pour forth
would seem to make charges against troops
in formation almost an impossibility-at all
events a rash enterprise, in which success is
nearly hopeless. Bat even If cavalry has lost
its place in the line of battle--if it dare no
longer rush hsadlong against the ssrried
ranks of the enemy's inianIy-it has uses Of
its own from which neither infantry nor artil-
lery can divorce it; and IL is rs essential to q
general now as it was in the days of Napo-
leon. II may possibly BE-, though We dare
offer no such prediction, that heavy cavalry,
designed TO break the enemy'5 ranks by its
force, may disappear by degrees from the
muster rolls of armies; but it is more than
probable that in its place will spring upa
light active force, powerful enough to roll up
the enemy's flank by its Wsll-direoted charge,
and yet fitted TO perform those duties of out
look and intelligence to which mounted man
alone is equal
4 DR.. Johnson has defped q dragoon as q kind
Of soldier that fights indiferently on foot or on
j horseback; and so little bas this mounted in
fantry found favor in the eyes OF European
nations, that the dragOol, as III our service,
has entirely lost his original character, aud
become heavy cavalry soldier, and nothing
II else. Neither his equipment nor his training
n is suited for the work for which, in The first
II instance, he was designed. The truth Is, that
II the parade and dash of cavalry are SO much
II more exciting and pleasant than the duller
II work of infantry, that pressure is put on by
II the officers commanding troops OF this nature,
ard by degrees they are assmilated in all but
name to pure cavalry. We see this tendency
N in every branch OF the service-in our
II field batteries of artillery striving for the
II rapidity and system of herse artillery, in
our volunteer artillery quitting their true
\ position as garrison gunners to become field
Il astillery, and in the universal desire to bs
mounted which runs throughout the army.
Yet the late American war has taught no les
son more distinctly than that the dragon, or
mounted ritlemeD, is of the greatest value.
The doctrine taught by Marshal Marmont,
who says that nothing is more useful than the
establishment of dragons (who should not
! be perverted from their original chsracter),
and by Napoleon, who wrote that cavalry
should be furnished with firearms, aud know
how to man@uvre on foot, receives its latest
continuation from the practice of the American
war OF secession.
Colonel Dennison thinks that cavalry
should be divided into two distinct Species
heavy cavalry, or cavalry of the line, and
light dragons, Or mounted rifles. Of the for
mer there was little or none in the Coufede
rate army, and had there been it would have
found but little employment. General Fitz-
hugh Lee, i'll a letter to Colonel Dennison,
Says--'T eschew heavy cavalry-the cuiraosier
ianS peur. They can only be employed during
actual conflict, and in this country, from its
typographical features, opportunities seldom
occur for charging with large masses OF
cavalry, Ike Murat and B7ssiere5 at Eylau,
or Seidhtz at ZOrndOrf, for instance; SO sell
dom, indeed, that the expense does not JUS
tiy keeping up such organizations while
awaiting such opportunities. participated
in every battle fought between the two prin-
dpal armies in Virginia during the late war
IVbetween the North and South, and cannot
yIecall a single instance where cavalry en-
JmasSe was employed on the battlefield, save
in few instances against cavalry itself"
And Major-Geperal Rosser dismisses the
subject more tersely in these words:-"Nei
ther the Yankees nor Coniederates employed
cavalry IN the late war; IL was all mounted
\ rifles. Cavalry was not used on the battle
fields as Ney and Murat used it under the
great Napoleon; and the reason was, that it
was not cavalry"
1t is useless, then, to seek in that four
years. struggle ,sofruitful of interest in strate
gcal and tactical science, for any examples Of
the use of cavalry as the offensive arm on the
battlefield; but We may learn much Of the
employment of genuine dragons both as
cavalry and infantry. One of the first points
to attract notice in the use of dragons as
cavalry is tha superiority conceded to the re-
VOlvng pistol over the sabEe-an idea which,
as Colonel Depnison says, will be secuted by
most cavslry officers as absurd, and contrary
Ito the whole traditions and genius of the SER
vice. Yet We have here collected a number
Of instances in which the success of the pistol
land the comparative failure OF
the sword are con -piouOus. Major
Scott, describing q conflict between a
squadIOn Of Blazers f. deral cavalry and a
squadron of Mosby's parts2ns speaks OF the
remarkable dem snstration OF the superiority
4 the revolving pistol. OF hundred Frde
Ais twenty -four were killed and twelve
fRounded by the revOlvers OF the COntederates
50n this point, also, General Stephen d. Lee
writes: s:-"The sword is a good weapon though
but little used during the recent war. 1t has
lost much OF its effectiveness by the improved
revolver with which the eaYalryman will
make the dashing charge with more confidence
Ny experience was that the oa7alryman wat
tmid with his sabre in fighting against the
fevolvers, and for the least excuse will droI
the sabre for the revolver, and in many in
stances is compelled to do so in actual conflict