The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-06-10
CAVALRY IN MODERN WAR.

The High Value Set by Some Experts
Upon This Arm of the Service-Its
| Record in Different Wars-Failures
at Gravelotte and Sadowa-Worth of
Well-Handled Charge.
| A good man on good horse Is the
| superior as an attacking force Of three
good men on the ground. This Is a
| matter of common knowledge in the
European capitals. wherein mobs are
| dispersed by cavalry using the flat of
the sabre only more quickly than they
! are scattered by the bullets Of militia
| in America. There is something in the
| speed. weight and size of a charging
| man and horse that shakes the nerve
of the most stout-hearted pedestrian.
The uncomfortable instinct of the foot
man is to get out Of the way, and he
| gets out of the way. A cavalryman
learns to love his horse with love sur
passing that of woman. He learns to
| depend upon him He absorbs conf
| dence from every swell of the giant
muscles between his knees. The man
| and beast conjoined furnish a mutual
| support that is admirable, and in battle
| of incalculable value. Dismounted
cavalry are the most difficult of troops
| to dislodge, for the reason that the
| riders, deprived of their horses, do not
| know when nor how to rum.
Military experts believe that the in
| vasion Of Cuba by the American army
| will furnish exceptional opportunities
| for the use Of cavalry. 1t is, for the
| most part, a good horse country, Of
wide fields and level spaces. 1t is be-
lieved, too. that this picturesque arm Of
the service will demonstrate that it's
usefulness is not ended by modren arms
and projectiles, though many theorists
incline to the opinion that the days of
cavalry as cavalry were ended in the
times Of Gravelotte and Sedan. The
celebrated and fruitless charge Of the
French cuirassiers, where men and
steeds went down in heaps and the
watching Wilhelm said, ut is magnifi-
cent but it is not war" sticks In their
memories. That charge was Balaklava
over again. Somebody Numbered.
/ The general efficiency of cavalry under
proper conditions is not discredited by
| it, nor is the centuries-old record of a
remarkably valuable arm to be stained
| by an individual failure. Men who re-
4 IlltHlueE WHdt tHt cavalry was tliu
what the cavalry did in the war be-
| tween the states demand something
! more than the crumpling of one column
| before they surrender the beliefs of
| years
The Napoleonic maxim that cavalry
cannot charge mistaken infantry was
due to Napoleon's experiences with
down forces. His mounted men
were badly drilled and his florseflesh
was poor. The great Frederick under
stood the high value of this branch
and his campaigns give many instances
Of the value of mounted troops in al
most all kinds of warfare. The records
of all great wars bristle with the
| achievements of the troopers. Even In
the Franco-Prussian struggle the actu-
al damage wrought by the Uhlans was
far out Of proportion with their num-
bers, and the value of the fear they
produced was immeasurable. At Sala-
manca lie Marchand's British 'heav-
les" were sent over bad ground against
the steadiest of French infantry. Mer
and horses fell in swarths twenty
yards from the line. The rear ranks
did steeple-chase jumping over piled
corpses to getto the front. LIE Mar
chand was instantly killed and many OF
his officers, but the infantry was
broken and the position carried. The
Peninsula campaigns furnish repeated
proofs of the fact that infantry will moi
stand against well-handled cavalry
Prince Frederick Charles, one of the
greatest of modern warriors, was 6
steady believer in the efficacy of caval.
~, and so, too, was Won Wrangel.
The opponents Of the trooper arm ant
prophets of its utter effacement are
used to instancing the failure of the
brilliant Austrian cavalry at Sadows
when sent against breech-loaders
These were troopers seasoned by Ions
service and so drilled that thirt.
squadrons of them were manoeuvred il
mass with the ease and certain
ty of one. They were. however, lee
over ground that sloped up three de-
grees. 1t was sodden with rain. The
horses were so wearied that many OF
them fell from exhaustion when the
charge began. The infantrymen who
received them had been selected by I've
l