The Portland daily press., 1897-08-16

Drills of His Men-Records of the Off
Tactics.
The camp of Troop f, on the pleasant
hill overlooking the fair grounds on one
side and the western approaches of the
city ON the other, was a center of interest
all day Sunday. 1t is doubtful if troop
of cavalry of the United States army has
been seen in Maine since the First and
Second Maine Cavalry regiments came
here, the one from the battles of Virginia
under Sheridan, and the other from it's
raids and skirmishes in Alabama and
Louisiana. All day long the camp was
visited by orderly crowds who EcameE in
teams, on bicycles and on foot. The ordi
nary camp routine was observed by
curious and interested eyes, and OCCASION
ally the patience of the spectators was re-
warded by some trick of horse.or trooper.
About shutdown the men in charge of the
horses favored those there with an ex-
hibition of the horses in their act of lying
down together and arising at the word Of
command
The Third cavalry was organized about
the time of the Mexican war, and was
originally called the Mounted Rifles.
Their uniforms were faced with green in
stead of yellow, and they wore rifles slung
over their backs. They storrned the city
of Mexico, and previously Troop f had
been the first body to plant the American
flag on the soil of Mexico. 'But of
course said Lieutenant Dodd, dryly in
speaking of it, "the men and some of the
horses have been changed since then"
1t is not probable that there will be any
drill of the cavalry today during the ex-
ercises of the fair. The dress uniforms
have not arrived, and probably will not
be here before tonight.
The Third Cavalry band also will not
arrive until tonight. One of the most
taking of the evolutions of the company
is the march to music, the band leading
and the troop following, the horses pranc-
ing in time and the men waving their
sabres to the accompaniment. 1t is
probable that the Rigby track will allow
of this march with about SO troopers
abreast For the rough riding there is less
ground, but Mr.. Farnham is going to see
today if the bushes within the oval can
not be cleared away so as to allow of
evolutions. The Cossack charge, with
the famous horsemen of the Gar, and the
Indian charge, with the soldiers hanging
on the tanks of their steeds, are also very
interesting features of the manoeuvres.
These evolutions are not merely holiday
tricks for the diversion of crowds. Capt.
Dodd is one of the men who make military
history He is the first American soldier
to introduce the higher education of the
horse into the problem of cavalry
manoeuvres. One of his first achieve
ments was to put his troop of cavalry,
men and horses into an ordinary rifle pit,
in thirty seconds. This meant that both
men and horses swere perfectly covered in
that time. The horses were trained to lie
down with the men in the smallest place
possible. The advantage of this
manoeuvre in resisting infantry is easily
seen. The infantry charge having spent
itself against the breastworks, the
cavalry could return upon the scattered
and disorganized infantry a cavalry
charge, and every military man knows
how terrible cavalry are to disorganized
infantry. The first horses that Captain
Dodd educated were young horses, and
his critics said that would do well enough,
but that with the ordinary troop horses
~ he Io
practicable. Then he took old horses,
several of ages averaging about fifteen
years each, and he trained these also.
Then it was conceded that his ideas were
good and they were Incorporated in the
tactics. Captain Dodd's son, boy of
eight or ten years, took one of the older
troop horses and showed how it would lie
down and arise at the word of command
The English are the only nation whose
cavalry approach ours in the education
of men and horses both. The Germans
are proficient in the uses and manoeuvres
of large bodies of cavalry, but Individual
ly their men and horses are not in it with
ours.
Captain Dodd, although not an old
man, has seen eighteen years of service on
the frontier, and has comm anded for two
years company of Apache scouts
Probably this cam paign work against
Indians is as hard warfare as there is. In
proportion to the numbers engaged the
casualties are very large, and to fight an
Indian the soldier must live and work
just as the Ind ian does.
The individual records of the officers of
Troop f are as follows:
Captain George A. Dodd was commits
stoned captain August Slst, 1889, and or
dered to the command of Troop F. He
was cadet at the military academy from
Pennsylvania July lst, 1872, appointed
second lieutenant, Third cavalry, 18th
June, 1876, and promoted to first lieuten-
ant February goth, 1880. He is fifty third
on the list of captains of oavalry-or was
January LIST, 1Sa7-and is 282d on the
whole list of captains in the army, there
being $50 in all. He has distinguished