The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-04-24
From the Chicago Post.

T EiOlil tiO Nllitu8o OSb.
 N MEXICAN soldiers have made PV some long, hard rides in the . campaigns in which the forces have been engaged since the First regl- ment of regulars was made possible py the law of the land. In recent article, the magnificent horsemanship of an in- dlvidual soldier was touched upon more than briefly. but it should not be under stood that endurance and skill are not the part of the vast majority of the men- bers of Uncle Sam's mounted service.
 No army in the world, perhaps, has had the same opportunities to test the endur- ance of cavalrymen and cavalry horses as has the small regular force of the United States. The long, level stretches of the plains and the activity of the narauding Indian mounted on his tireless bronco have been In part the conditions which gave to the mounted arm Of the United States army It's matchless chances for long, forced marches.
 Colonel Theodore Ayrault Dodge of the army has collected the official records Of long distance cavalry rides and has made
 
 pared, if one wishes the comparison, with the performance of the soldier forces or other nations.
 Some time ago a squadron of the Natal Mounted Rifles rode eighty-fve miles in twelve consecutive hours. The English press speaks of this ride as being re- markabie achievement. From the stand the ride is almost the reverse of remarkable. In the year 1891, at the time of the SIOUX uprising in South Dakota. Captain F. ,. Fountain, United States Cavalry, with detachment of his troop. rode eighty-iour miles in eight hours. This record ls vouohed 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 by the South African troops. For actual speed this forced march stands. perhaps, at the head or the American army record, though other rides have been more remarkable in other respects.
 In the year 1879. when the Utes suc- ceeded in getting some United States troops into what afterward was known as .'Thornburgs rat hole" three mounted couriers succeeded in slipping through the circiing line of savages, Every one of them reached Merritt's column, one hun dred and seventy-five miles distant. in less than twenty-four hours. The exact time was not taken for. as Colonel Dodge puts it. Rescue was more important than records.''
 2 It must be understood, of course, that these rides. all Of them, were made with out changing horses. The steed at the start was the steed at the finish. The best rider. according to cavalry experts, Colonel Dodge in particular, is not the man who takes five barred gate or who can ride standing, but the man who by instinct knows the condition of his horse and, though getting the most out of the animal, knows how to conserve his strength.
 In the year 1876 Major Henry W. Law ton. who afterward. when he had won his stars, met death in the Philippines, rode from Red Cloud Agency, Neb., to Sidney, in the same state. distance or l25 miles, in twenty-four hours. General Crook had sent him with dispatches. The road where there was road, was or the worst. but Lawton delivered his mes sage though he looked five years older than he did when 1t had been given nm tho day before. The horse that Lawtoh rode was fit for service again inside of days time.
 Four troopers of the Fourth Cavalry
 f..r bn narfcnIar service rode in the summer of 1870, from Fort Harney to Fort Warner with dis patches. Their route lay through an ln-