Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-07-11
CAVALRY IN MODERN WARFARE.
Firearms of To-Day Have Made Its
Utility TO Be Solved Anew.
Chicago Times-Herald.

Unity TO Be Solved Anew.
Chicago Times-Herald)
A good man on good horse is the SUI
perior as an attacking force Of three good
men on the ground. This is matter of
common knowledge IN tho European CAPT
tails, wherein mobs are dispersed by
cavalry using tho Nat Of tho sabre only
more quickly than they are scattered by
the bullets OF militia In America. Ihere
Is something I'm the speed, weight, ana
size OF a charging man and horse that
snakes the nerve OF the most stout-heart-
cd pedestrian. The uncomfortable in
stinct Of the foOtman Is 10 get out OF the
way. a cayslryman learns TO love MS
horse with love surprising that OF Wo-
man. He learns 10 depend upon him.
He absorbs confidence from every swell
OF the giant muscles between his knees.
The man and the beast conjoined fur
nIsh a mutual support that IL admirable,
and IN battle of incalculatle value. DIS
mounted cavalry are the most difficult
l of troops 10 dislOdge, for the reason that
the riders, deprived of their horses, do
not know when or how TO run.
Military experts believe that the lnVa-
sion of Cuba by the American army VIII
furnish exceptional opportunities for the
use of cavalry. 1t IS, for the most part,
a good horse country. OF wide fields and
level spaces. II is believed, too, that this
picturesque arm OF the service Will de-
nlonstrate that it's usefulness is not ended
by modern arms and proiectiles, though
many theorists incline 10 the opinion that
the days OF cavalry as cavalry were end
ed IN the times Of Gravelotte and Sedan.
The celebrated and fruitless charge OF
the French cuirassiers, where men ana
steeds went down in heaps and the watch
ing Wilhelm said, 1T is magnificent, but
Il is not war" sticks In their memories.
Ghat charge was Balaklava over again.
Bomebody blundered. The general effi-
riency of cavalry under proper conditions
d not discredited by ii, nor is the cen
iuries-oid record of a remarkably Valu-
able arm 10 DO stained by an individual
failure. Men who remember what the
cavalry was and what the cavalry did in
the war between the States demand some
, thing more than the crumpling Of one
column before they surrender the beliefs
of years
The Napoleonlc maxim that cavalry
cannot charge mistaken infantry was due
40 NapOleonS experience with rundown
forces His mounted men were badly
drilled, and his horsefesh was poor. The
great Frederick understood the high
II
give many instances of the value OF
mounted troops in almost all kinds Of
warfare. The records of all great wars
bristle with the achievements of the
troopers. Even in the Franco-Prussian
struggle the actual damage wrought by
the Uhlans was far out of proportion with
their numbers, and the value of the fear
they produced was unreasonable. Al
Salamanca lie Marchand's British
"heavies" were sent over bad ground
against the steadiest of French infantry.
Men and horses fell in swaths twenty
yards from the line. The rear line did
steeplechase jumping over piled corpses
10 get to the front. lie Marchand was in
stantly killed, and many of his officers.
hut the infantry was broken and the
position carried. The Peninsula cam
paigns furnish repeated proofs OF the fact
that infantry will not stand against we'll
handled cavalry. Prince Frederick
Charles. one of the greatest of modern
warriors, was steady believer In the etti-
cacy of cavalry, and so, too, was Won
Wrangel.
The opponents Of the trooper arm and
prophets OF its utter effacement are used
10 instancing the failure of the brilliant
Austrian cavalry az Sadowa when sent
against breech-loaders. These Were troop
ers seasoned by long service, and so drill
ed that thirty squa9rons of them were
manoeuvred in mass with the ease and
certainty OF one They were, however
led over ground that sloped up three de-
crees 1t was sodden with rain. The
horses were so wearied that many OF
them fell from exhaustion when the
charge began. The infantrymen who re-
ceived them had been selected by five
hours OF savage and continuous fighting
n q
Is safe TO say that there was not Prus-
sian on the west ridge of Chlum that day
who did not wish 10 be there. Even un-
der these conditions the charge came very
close 10 success though all Europe was
shouting that cavalry was useless against
breech- loading fire.
The French got their chassepots In 1855
and 1859 No German officer believed
that his troops would be OF any good
against them. Yet at NiOnville the first
line Of the German cavalry halted un-
der heavy fire on the plateau. took In
seryals by passaging, went off the plateau
at q walk, and wheeled up TO the front
again as steadily as II on dress parade
This. too. was magnificent, ana II was
war II was done TO encourage the young
troops. cost only seventy men and horses
though the chassepots were barking In
thousands, and Il was worth what II cost
AGAIN at Vionyille Bredow's six squad
rons went over two lines of "unshaken
infantry as Ii they were paper In an
other charge the troopers went over the
French cannon. losing only fifty men.
They came so fast that the artillery
men found II impossible 10 dcpress their
pieces with sufficient rapidly and accu-
racy. In this battle thirty-siS squadrons
of German horse proved that the French
line OF foot lacked the strength OF cob
webs. yet this same French infantry
was so good that two days later 1t took
an entire division OF the German foot
mev A,srAa hours TO go through than, nj