Evening star., 1900-03-01
England Waking Up to the Value of
This Form of Cavalry.

From the Ltndon Mail.
Military experts seem generally agreed
that the irregular horse now in South At
rica and being sent out will. when properly
organized play as important part in the
crushing of the Beers as our regular forces
Some facts indicating what irregular
horse is. what it can do and what it has
done, may not be without interest at this
juncture.
The name irregular horse in itself goes
to show that the men making up these
troops are not cut-and-dried disciplined SOL
diers, but bodies out of the common in the
regular military. Therefore, naturally, they
need special handling and unless they have
a gallant commander, who is quick to see
advantages in a moment, knows how to
lead his men with a reckless, slapdash sort
of valor. and also can see to the very mo-
ment when to call them off and run away
again, they are of less use than infantry.
And it seems from the present showing
that the only way for infantry to work
successfully where they now are is at the
very desperate game of attrition.
Leaders of irregular horse are born, and
not generally made, as the work cut out
for them of itself will show. The first pur-
poses of irregular horse are to harass the
enemy as much as possible, and on all con-
ceivable occasions to cut off his communi
cations and destroy his supplies; to con-
stantly get between him and his base, TO
be always ready to surprise him whenever
the opportunity offers, to perform flank
movements as regular cavalry, to follow
the enemy when he retreats and to bring
in prisoners, and, if the character of the
country admits it. to charge artillery with
infantry supports: in short, irregular horse
must be here, there and everywhere, and
always when least expected That is what
irregular horse always has done and what
is expected of it in the Transvaal.
The great virtue of irregular horse, and
that which alone admits of its tackling
these multifarious undertakings, is its free
dom from the need of mobilizaton-that
is. working from single base. Instead of
moving like regular army, doing marches
of many miles a day, and taking with
them a train of wagons carrying supplies
that need much guarding, the men galiop
about a certain territory assigned to them,
and Just pop in wherever and whenever they
a chance to effect much destruction
upon the enemy's lines as possible. They
live as best they can upon the country in
which they are operating, and at most only
take with them few pack horses or mules
to transport whatever forage or extra sup
plies they carry.
Perhaps the best organizations of irregu-
lar horse ever formed We're those that came
into being during the civil war in the
United States, and perhaps the most sue
cessful leader of them was General For
rest of the confederate forces. There never
was any telling where he was. and General
Grant afterward said in his Memoirs that
Forests rough riders Were always up to
some mischief or other when latest reports
had 1t that he was 400 miles away. If the
amount of damage done to railways and
the quantity of supplies that either were
captured or destroyed by this ubiquitous
generals forces were summed up to a total
in dollars it would reach into millions. An
other depredating and dashing leader of
rough riders on the confederate side was
little General Joe" Wheeler, who after
ward commanded the American cavalry at
Santiago and is now in command of divi-
sion in the Philippines
Speaking of General Wheelers efficiency
at the beginning of the Spanish-American
war Senator Davis of Missouri, formerly a
commander of Union cavalry during the
civil war, quantity and humorously con-
fessed that General Joe Wheeler is with
out doubt the best man living today to take
command of a cavalry division operating
anywhere. His methods are sure added
Senator Davis, his attacks always well
timed and his fighting qualities something
terrific. And 1 ought to know, for he
chased me through seven states when We
were at it together
Instead of Forward march, General
Wheeler always used to say, Come on,
boyS!"