The professional world. (Columbia, Mo.) 1901-192?, 1902-08-29
CAVALRY OF VARIOUS AGES.
Peculiarities of Arms and Uniforms
Shown in London Tournament.

London Mail: The war has proved
the value and the need of cavalry, and
now, OPPORTUNITY, the military tourna-
ment has, as a special feature, a pretty
historical musical ride, which illus
trates the development of the British
cavalry SINCE the days of King Edward
III, 525 years ago.
Oddly enough, the earliest British
horsemen did not ride on their horses.
but in armed chariots, as did the races,
who were their relatives and perhaps
their ancestors, in the region of what
is now Persia.
Much later on. when the horseman
was the chief force in war, he was not
a common soldier, but a knight, and
then he grew to be so heavily armed
that the battles, where they were not
merely the sieges of castles, were more
or less only jousts between the knights
on the opposing sides. But after King
Edward | the great skill acquired by
the English archers, who were common
soldiers, put the knights into the shade.
1t was the English archers who won
the never-dying glory of Crecy and
Agincourt.
White the dTCHtI was utNtlODlIB lllo
the principal arm of battle shield
money" was largely doing away with
the knights, who preferred to pay the
tax rather than go on foreign wars in
which they had not personal interest.
The shield money" tax enabled the
king to provide himself with a paid
army, and Edward III put his archers
upon horseback.
These old mounted archers, the first
real English cavalry-for when their
arrows were spent, they could use their
bows as clubs in pursuit of the enemy
are shown in the historical ride" at
the military tournament.
They were strangely dressed, COM
pared either with the knights who pre-
coded them or the men who followed.
They wore helmets. relics of their foot
days, useful for pushing their way
through hedges. Their bodies were
merely covered with a kind of coarse
hop-sacking with a great cross upon
the back, a remnant of the Templar
times. Their arms were incased in
mail, a relic of the days of knighthood.
After them the historic ride" shows
how rapidly the cavalry developed. I'm
der Edward w, $50 years or more later,
they still wore queer iron helmets; but
they were horsemen's helmets then
and no longer of service for burrowing
through the bottoms of hedges.
1t is ir -eresting, however, to note In
these dresses, all of which have been
accurately produced for the tourna'
ment, how closely they followed the
fashion of the period. Under James
the cayalrymen wore wigs with Ions
hair hanging on their shoulders. I'm
der Charles they wore the well-kpowr
huge felt hats, bigger and more jaunty
than those of today.
Still more interesting is it to observe
in these old costumes the development
in the ideas of today. One can see in
the cavalry of a century ago the mod
ern idea of mounted infantry, for IL
that day the cavalry wore a bayonet
One can also notice that in all these
types the horseman's sword was not
as is the case today, attached to the
horse, but was swung to the rider, ant
this method is to be r~eintroduced.
But there is one point of development
which is not noticeable. Though the
uniforms become still gayer and more
fantastic, nowhere in the old types o
these FIVE and a quarter centuries il
there any sign of the modern rationa
uniform of active service. In fact, unit
the modern uniform the mounted arch
err of Edward III seems to have beer
the more serviceably dressed man TO
his purpose.
France has secured the patent right
of a new nitroglycerin powder which
it is contended. will send a rifle bulle
seven and one-half miles, and inIreaS
the artillery range to IL miles.