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17397 - UNION CAVALRYMEN, 1864-1865
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| The Civil War was the greatest cavalry
war in American history. More Americans fought from horseback during
this conflict than any before or since. When hostilities first erupted
in April 1861, the Union government counted only five mounted regiments
in its regular army, but they were soon joined by a sixth. By the
war's end four years later, Union authorities had raised 272 regiments
of cavalry, plus dozens of smaller mounted commands. With each regiment
entitled to contain more than 1,200 officers and men, the North mobilized
one of the largest cavalry forces ever seen.
Although the United States ranked fourth among the world's manufacturing powers in 1860, the rapid expansion of the Union cavalry caught the Northern weapons industry unprepared. Of the 7,431 cavalrymen assigned to the Army of the Potomac at Washington, D.C., in October 1861, only 3,163 were partially armed, and the other 4,268 had nothing to defend themselves. Within the first few months of 1862, most Yankee troopers received sabers and revolvers, but many regiments had to campaign with no more than ten to twelve carbines per company. It was not until 1863 that Northern industry attained a wartime footing and every blue horseman could be assured of taking the field with a saber, a revolver, and a shoulder arm. The growing availability of cavalry weapons caused other problems. The Union Ordnance Department purchased significant quantities of thirty-two different models of breech-loading carbines. The most commonly used were the .52-caliber Sharps carbine, the .54-caliber Burnside, and the .50-caliber Maynard. The Ordnance Department obtained 80,512 Sharps carbines, 55,567 Burnsides, and 20,002 Maynards. This diversity of weaponry complicated the already formidable task of supplying ammunition and spare parts to Union mounted units. Early in 1864, Brigadier General James H. Wilson, the head of the Cavalry Bureau, attempted to arm every Union trooper with the .52-caliber Spencer carbine, a seven-round repeater capable of firing ten to fourteen aimed shots a minute. A Rebel trooper exposed to this blistering firepower complained to his Yankee captors, "You'uns load in the morning and fire all day." The Ordnance Department purchased 94,196 Spencers, which helped the North's horsemen develop into superb mounted infantry. They not only outshot enemy cavalry, but learned to slow advancing enemy infantry and hold strategic positions until reinforced by their own foot soldiers. |
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