The morning call., 1892-01-24
STRUCK With
THE SABER. /"
Ii Is a Familiar Expression, but 1t
Rarely Happens.
Cavalrymen Find Little Use for the Sword
in Rattls-How a SILK Handkerchief
Saved Soldiers Life.

From the time we reached Sthe tate rem
devious until we went into camp on the
peninsula it was drill drill! drill! with the
saber. a corporal would take half dozen
the Captain the whole company, and for
an hour and half We would go through
the cuts ana thrusts and parties. There
was the front cut. the down cut, the savage
thrust, the back-hand cut and a dozen
others, and we were told that our lives de-
pended on knowing how to give and receive
each particular one. 1t was good exercise.
perhaps, but on the very first daY we went
into a fight as cavalry all Of us came to see
the absuldty of it.
was in thirty cavalry fights during the
war, and in none Of them did | witness or
have use for anything ike the saber exer-
else, writes a contributor for the Detroit
Free Press. Not that | did not see men
struck with the sabeT, but they were struck
during the confusion and melee when the
other party could claim no credit For ln-
instance, our regiment drove full tilt into
about 600 Confederate cavalry al Brandy Sta
ton. fused my revolver until it was empty
and then gripped my saber. The smoke was
very thick and men and horses were greatly
excited. In the mad whrl a COnfede rate
rode upon me and made a savage slash with
his saber. 1t missed my head and cut the
pommel of my saddle. Before he could get
away "Swiped" at him, and l know the
edge Of the saber struck his lace. L may
have knocked out some of his teeth, but the
edge was as blunt as hoe and could not
have cut the skin.
AT SHEPARD SHOWN
We were charged about the same way.
There were a great many sabers flashing as
bat on hut nv thp time shark
came the revolverS and carbines were doing
the heft Of the work. l had fair show In
that fight to give thrust and 1t was lam
entable failure. got the point OF the saber
in under the enemy's appraised right arm,
but | doubt if l drew blood. l simply
pushed him half out of his saddle and he
retaliated with a side cut which uncovered
my head and did no further damage.
There were probably more men hit with
the saber at Gettysburg than anywhere else
during the war. The main reason for this
was the equality of numbers, together with
the fact that very few of the Union cavalry
had TeYOlyeTs. We charged with our car
bineS slung to our backs, and ii was saber
or nothing. / had a heavy silk handker-
chief inside my new hat that day as pre-
Yeu tive of sunstrOke. 1t prevented a Con-
frderate cavalryman for splitting my head
open. | had young green horse and he
gave NE no end Of trouble. While was
trying 10 prevent him from going out Of the
fight backward q Confederate approached
me from the rear and administered the
down cut. 1t dazed me for moment, but
the heavy hat and handkerchief, backed up
by a thick growth of hair, saved my head.
lie drew blood. and / had Il sore head for a
week after, but he had wasted mis- blow.
After the first ten minutes Of that cavalry
encounter nothing but sabers were used.
We thrust hacked, and cut, hitting both
horse and man. but doubt II any one as
fri, nit tsr Aa Unit ka
To make a saber effective it must carry
keen edge. During my
THREE YEARS IN THE ARMY
l did not see above dozen sharpened
sabers. We had no orders to grind them,
aud so we carried them with hoe-edge.
Then il takes strOng-armed man to
WELD n common cavalry saber so as to
strike an effective blow. His horse must
be reasonably steady, so he can
control him with the bride arm,
and there must he plenty Of muscle in the
arm to give weight 10 the blow. With
sharp saber a man weighing 100 pounds
might split a mau skull, but a man weigh
ing thirty pounds less, WITH dull weapon,
would only make play toward It, In TACT,
realizing his lncapacity in that direction, I've
wouldn't try 1t.
In 4 cavalry encounter at KelIeys Ford |
struck a Confederate fair on the neck with
my SabeT, and struck as hard As | could. He
tuuiOled from MS saddle ana was cGptureI,
l did nOteven draw blood. / gave him such
a blow as TO stun him for a few minutes, the
same as If had struck him with club. but
aside from a stiff neck lie was all right. Big
strong men with keen-edsed Sabers would
do some awful cutting. and they would in
Splre fear wherever they charged. but aver
age men with average weapons accomplish
very little outside OF the moral effect.
Quantrell proved thatthere was something
far more effective than the saber Each of
his men was armed with at least two re-
volvers. Each one could shoot right and
left handed. A squad Of thirty OF them
thus armed never hesllattd 10 charge a
hundred regular cavalry, and they never