The Oskaloosa herald., 1900-05-31
LONG DISTANCE RIDES.


E0ECCu AA0ulNoN NAAANANHs ~aa9a
No army in the werld, 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 ma
rauding Indian mounted on his tire
less bronco have been the conditions
which gave to Uncle Sans Cavalry
man his matchless chances for long
forced mounted marches.
Col. Theodore Ayrault Dodge, United
States Army, collected the official re-
cords OF long-distance cavalry rides,
and has made them public, so that
they may be compared with the per-
Torrance of the soldier horsemen of
other nations. Col. Dodge declares
specifically that he has rejected all
"hearsay rides. Of which there is no
end" and has accepted only those
proved by official reports.
Col. Dodge says Capt. s.. f. Fount-
ain. United States Cavalry, in the year
1891 rode with a detachment of his
troops eighty-four miles in eight hours.
This record is youched for, and 1t is
better than that of the Natal Mounted
Rifles by about four hours. The dis
lance being within one mile of that
made in South Africa. For actual
speed this forced march stands per-
haps at the head of the American army
record, though other rides have been
more remarkable. In the year 1879,
when the Utes succeeded in getting
some United States troops into what
was afteTward known as Thornburg's
1 ttrnt hr1n - cnrrara1 panVIptp6L RnUGinFC
succeeded in slipping through the
circling line of savages. All Of them
reached Merritt's column, 40 miles
distant, in less than twenty-four hours,
The exact time was not taken, for, as
Col. Dodge puts it, rescue was OF o
Importance than records"
1t must be understood, of course,
that all these American rides were
made without changing horses. The
steed at the start was the steed at the
finish. The best riders, according to
cavalry experts, is not the man who
takes a f~ve-barred agate or who "a
ride standing, but he who by instinct
feels the condition of his horse, and,
though getting the most out of the
animal, knows how to conserve his
strength. The late Gen. Lawton, who
was killed IN the Philippines, in the
year 1876 rode from Red Cloud Agen-
cy, Neb. to Sidney, in the same State,
a distance of 125 miles, in twenty-six
hours. He was carrying important
dispatches for Gen. Cook, and though
the road was bad his mount was in
good condition when Lawton, looking
five years older than he did the day be-
fore, handed over his bundle of papers
to the black-bearded General. Gen.
Merritt has a forced-march record that
has no American parallel when the
conditions of his journey are consld-
cred. He was ordered in the fall Of
1879 to the relief of Payne's command,
which was surrounded by hostile In
dams. Merritt's command consisted
Of four troops of cavalry, but at the
last moment he was ordered to add to
his force a battalion OF infantry. Tht
dough boys" were loaded into army
wagons drawn by mules, and with the
cavalry at the tanks the relief column
started. The distance to be traversed
was 40 miles, and it was made not
w~ithstanding the handicap Of the wa
CONS, and trails that we're muddy and
sandy by turns, in just sixty-six hours.
At the end OF the march the troopers
went into the fight, and in the entire
command not one horse showed a lame
leg or a saddle sore.
Four troopers of the Fourth Cavalry.
who had volunteered for the particu-
lar service, were sent in the summer
of 1870 from Fort Harvey to Fort War
ner with dispatches and were told to
make the best time possible without
killing their horses. The men were on
their mettle. They made the distance
14O miles, twenty miles Of the way be-
ing through loose sand, in twenty-five
hours. the actual marching time be-
ing eighteen hours and thirty minutes.
At Fort Warner they rested n day,
and returned to Harvey on b same
horses at the uniform rate OF sixty
miles a day. Capt. Edmund F. Feehet'
started at midnight for the relief. OF
the Indian scouts who had been sent
out to arrest Sitting Bull, who, after
killing that chief, were beleaguered in
a log hut by his followers. Fetchet
took an ambulance wagon and Hotch-
kiss gun with him. The gun carriage
broke dowY. and he was compelled to
fasten the tail Of the piece to the tail
board of the ambulance and thus drag
It along. Notwithstanding this handi-
cap he made the first forty-fVe miles
in less than seven hours. He fought
and drove OF the young Sioux bucks,
then secuted the country for ten miles,
gave MS troopers soBse breakfast and
returned to the fort. Fourteen hours
were consumed in covering ninety
miles Of ground.
The cavalry horses of the American
army have undergone these endurance
and speed contests carrying weights Of
more than 200 pounds, and without
any training other than that received
in the ordinary course of frontier
scouting and daily drill ev~olutions.
The greatest military Col. Dodge, in
his summary OF remarkable rides tells
Of a professional express rider, whom
be personally knew, who for many
months carried mail from FL Paso to
chihuahua, through a hostile Apache
country. This man, on u horse. a
brancho, regularly made 300 miles In
sixty hours and then, resting his
mount for four days, made the return
trip.
Col. Dodge says that a composite
picture made Of 500 British and Of 800
| American troopers would show that
the three lines which establish the
seat Of the rider are practically the
same, and that upon this and the prop
er care of the horse depend largely
the matters OF distance accomplished
and speed maintained.