Cavalry
mounted soldiers. Cavalry as a military force originated, no doubt, on the vast treeless plains of Asia, the native home of the horse. The fabled centaurs of mythology appear to have been suggested to the fertile Grecian imagination by the incursion of horseback warriors from Thessaly. The ancients very generally employed cavalry as an important arm of public service. The Assyrian horseman is depicted on monuments. Miriam's song of rejoicing gives thanks for the overthrow of the Egyptian horse and his rider. Alexander's cavalry was well drilled and efficient. The cavalry of the Romans was put to flight by the elephants of the Carthaginians. The invading hordes of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane overran eastern Europe with incredibly large bodies of light cavalry. The Cossacks on their wiry ponies, each man carrying his own means of subsistence, are an important part of the military force of Russia.
During the Middle Ages the knight in heavy armor was almost useless without his horse. Even though archery and the invention of gunpowder set aside the coat of mail and the war-horse, modern nations have never ceased to regard cavalry as indispensable. Cromwell's dragoons were too much for the English cavaliers at Marston Moor and Naseby. Claverhouse's troopers harassed the Scottish covenanters for many a year. The moss trooper and the border raider rode mettled steeds. During the war of the American Revolution Marion and his midnight riders had more than one tilt with the British horse. During our Civil War cavalry was used skillfully on both sides. Sheridan, Custer, Kirkpatrick, Morgan, Forest, and Stuart led many a daring raid. The charge of Napoleon's old bodyguard at Waterloo is one of the most dramatic incidents in modern warfare. The charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava has been immortalized by Tennyson. The Uhlans of the Germans and the French Chasseurs had many a spirited skirmish during the Franco-Prussian War. The Lancers are a crack British cavalry regiment.
Most of the European governments take pains to foster the raising of such horses as may be needed for cavalry service. Germany in particular maintains a fine establishment where horses are raised for royal use and for sale to horse-breeders throughout the empire.
The plains Indian has been well mounted for two centuries on tough ponies, cayuses, bronchos, or mustangs--the descendants of horses introduced into America by the Spaniards. Without cavalry it would have been a hopeless task for the United States army to attempt to afford protection to the rancher, railway builder, and pioneer of the West.
At present the authorized strength of the United States regular cavalry consists of fifteen regiments. Each regiment contains three squadrons of four troops each. A full troop consists of 100 men, but disability of men and horses seldom permits a display of the full fighting strength of 1,200 men per regiment. The cavalryman is provided with a breech-loading carbine, a pistol, and a saber. His horse is equipped with a saddle, a bridle with a rein and a curb bit, a halter, a blanket, and a pair of saddle-bags. In 1910 the United States cavalry force of fifteen regiments included 765 officers and 13,155 enlisted men. A cavalryman must be not less than 5 feet 4 inches, and not more than 5 feet 10 inches high, with a weight not to exceed 165 pounds.