The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-03-09

4
months later, III east Tennessee
five nubbins Of corn were issued
to each of them this bountiful sup
ply being intended as full repast
for both the troopers and his horse
but when the troopers were fed
with nearly a hundred meals a
day for three weeks and each meal
consisted OF friend chickens, black
berry pie, crabapple jelly and home
made biscuit, hot from the oven,
all washed down with sweet milk
or buttermilk, then it was that the
veterans complained bitterly, cry
ing out in distress for their sus-
tanning food of "hard tack and
salt pork. "
In Morgan S sweep across three
states, for. a thousand miles, he
swept his line of march and for
some distance on each side, almost
clean of hcrses, giving his command
frequent remounts, leaving MS, his
pursuers. to find mounts with ex-
treme difficulty. Morgan took far
more horses than he needed, but
he had a purpose in this, and this
purpose was to keep his pursuers
from securing remounts. Morgan
set the pegs for us, and set them
high every day. He had now pass
ed the ''warming-up heat" and
was getting down to real work.
| During the entire raid the forces
under Morgan and Hobson. number
ed about 5000 men, starting with
5000 horses, but many of these
horses gave cut, and were abandon
ed on the roadside, the riders Sc
curing remOunts from the country
through which they travelled. Some
OF the riders wore out as many as
eight horses, and secured as many
remcunts. 1t would be entirely safe
to state that the men of Morgan IS
! and Hobson's commands employed
on this expedition not less than
$4,000 horses, averaging five horses
to each soldier.
| This may seem high estimate,
ibut Judge Henry l.. Stone, general
counsel OF the Louisville & Nash
vile Railway system, who was one
Of Morgan's men ON this raid,states
in a published paper, that be rode
down eight horses, and adds, cal
though this number was perhaps
above the average to the man,
there were doubtless $4,000 horses
ridden at different times by Nor
gan's men on this raid" Gen
eral Hobson's pursuing column
used not less than 10000 horses.
Morgan deprived us Of as many
mounts as we needed, or we would
have used more.
General Morgan's s command was
probably the best mounted light
cavalry that ever existed, and
while Morgan s command obtained
many remounts. they seldom aban-
doned the well-bred horses that
they brought with them from Ken
lucky, but allowed them to travel
light, and used them only i'm great
emergencies. Morgan s men had
many Of the best blooded horses of
Kentucky. horses capable of long
and rapid marches, and in JUS
tice to General Morgan and his Of
ficers it must be said they handled
their men and horses with superb
skill.
1T was on this raid that General
Morgan established the worlds rec
ord for moving cavalry. The longest
march maize by Morgan's S men at
one stretch was nearly one hundred
miles in 30 hours, being the
march he made from a point in
Indiana west of Cincinnati pass
ing in the rear of Cincinnati, to
Williamsburg, o. There are many
individual horses that can march
100 males in 30 hours, but the speed
OF column of cavalry is not meas
ured by the speed of its fastest and
best horses but by the speed of its
s.owest horses. Furthermore it was
Morgan's task to keep his 1000
horses in such a condition that thew
would be able to march 100 miles on
any day or every day that he might
call on them for the effort. this
with only the brief period of rast.
and with small rations.
The horses impressed by Morgan
land Hobson as we Travelled across
the @three states were not Of much
value as they were of soft. grass-fed
animals that after making only a
rew miles at a rapid pace set by the
seasoned cavalry horses hard as
naNs and as tough as leather, hor-
ses that were seasoned by campaign
ing and knew how to strike the pace
|of the column aud keep it at an ev
EN- gait day aud night
In General Morgan's command
and also General Hobson's there