The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-08
 LONG-DISTANCE CAVALRY RIDES.
Feats of British in Africa Compared

Feats of British in Africa Compared With American Achievements. There is much of interest to riders
 generally, but particularly to the United
 States cavalrymen. in reports that have
 come from South Africa of some of the | long hard rides made there by the | British mounted troops, The accounts
 of some of these rapid forced marches of
 cavalry are lacking in detail, but the specific statement is made that a squad ron of the Natal Mounted Rifles re- gently rode eightyfive miles in twelve consecutive hours. The English press
 speaks of the rides of sixty miles by detached cavalry troops which are com pleted within the limit of the daylight hours, and theee achievements of the troopers and their mounts are spoken
 of as if of frequent occurrence.
 At first thought it may not appear
 that these rides are particularly re-
 markable, but the fact must be taken
 into consideration that bodies of troops
 and not single individuals are concern-
 ed and where this is the case the rapid
 ity of the march must necessarily be
 gauged by the rapidity and endurance
 of the poorest horse of the outfit. More over, each animal engaged has to carry
 weight of man and equipment to an
 average amount of 250 pounds. Many
 of the horses used by the English troop
 CTS are American bred, and natural
 interest in this country is added to the
 rides, for 1t gives a chance to ''get a line" on the endurance of the American animal under absolutely strange climat-
 ic conditions.
 No army in the world, perhaps, has had the same opportunities to test the endurance of cavalry horses as has the small regular force of the United States.
 The long, level stretches of the plains and the activity of the marauding In
 dian mounted on his treless bronco have been the conditions which gave to Uncle Sams cavalrynian his matchless chances for long forced mounted march- es
 Colonel Theodore Ayrqault Dodge, United States Army, collected the off, cial records of long-distance cavalry rides, and has made them public, so that they may be compared with the performance of the soldier horsemen of other nations. Colonel Dodge declares specifically that he has rejected all
 'hearsay rides, of which there is no end" and has accepted only those prov- ed by official reports.
 Colonel Dodge, says that Captain S. F. Fountain, United States Cavalry, in the year 1891 rode with a detachment of his troop eighty-four miles in eight hours. This record is vouched for, and it Is better than that of the Natal Mounted Rifles by about four hours, the distance being within one mile of that made in South Africa. For actual speed this forced march stands perhaps at the head of the American army record, though other rides have been more re- markable. In the year 1879, when the Utes succeeded in getting some United States troops into what was afterward known as Thornburg's 'rat hole" several mounted couriers succeeded in slipping through the circling line of savages. All of them reached Merritt's column, ITO miles distant. in less than twenty four hours. The exact time was not taken, for, as Colonel Dodge puts it, rescue was of more importance than records.'
 It must be understood, of course, that Ill these American rides were made l without changing horses The steed at the start was the steed at the finish. 1 The best rider, according to cavalry ex- oerts is not the man who takes a five I barred gate or who can ride standing, | put he who by instinct feels the condi- I ion of his horse, and, though getting | he most out of the animal, knows how | o conserve his strength. The late Gen. | Lawton, who was killed in the Philip | )ines; in the year 1876 rode from Red | Cloud Agency, Nebraska to Sidney in | he same state, a distance of 125 miles, i n twenty-six hours. He was carrying important despatches for General Cook, l md, though the road was bad, his mount was in good condition when .awton, looking five years older than le did the day before, handed over his ,undle of papers to the black bearded seneral. General Merritt has forced- march record that has no American arallel when the conditions of his jour- ey are considered. He was ordered in he fall of 1879 to the relief of Payne's I which was surrounded by ostile Indians. Merritts command onsisted of four troops of cavalry, but t the last moment he was ordered to dd to his force a battalion of infantry. he dough boys" were loaded into rmy wagons drawn by mules, and with he cavalry at the Hanks the relief 1 olumn started. The distance to be reversed was ITO miles, and it was l lade notwithstanding the handicap of | le wagons, and trails that were muddy nd sandy by turns, in just sixty-six