A large part of American history was written from the seat of a military saddle. While the United States Army used horse-mounted fighting men from the very beginning, it was in the nineteenth century - from the decade before the Mexican War through the Indian wars - that the dashing cavalry units captured the American imagination. The horse solders remained part of the army until 1943, when the military converted them to mechanized forces. Even so, West Point did not tear down its stables and abandon its riding-proficiency requirement until 1947. The long retention of the cavalry was due to affection for the memory of the glorious role of the cavalry in American military history.
The night after the commander of the 4th South Carolina Regiment sent his men home, he burned the wagon with the regiment's records rather than have it fall into enemy hands. Lloyd Halliburton has reconstructed the story from General Stokes' personal correspondence and memorabilia.
Boots and Saddles is in reality a bright and sunny sketch of the life of Mrs. Custer's late husband, General George A. Custer, who fell at the battle of Little Big Horn. After the war, General Custer was sent to the Indian frontier. His wife was of the party and she is able to give in minute detail the story of her husband's varied career since she was almost always near the scene of his adventures. She touches on themes little canvassed by the civilian, and makes a volume equally redolent of a loving devotion to an honored husband and attractive as a picture of necessary duty by the soldier. Book jacket.
The American Military Saddle, 1776-1945, (now going into its second printing) is the first comprehensive coverage of the history of the American Military Saddle using actual photographs and official army drawings of original saddles and other horse equipments. In chronological order, the history of each specific area covered in its own chapter with fresh, insightful text based on in-depth research and period military documention. SADDLES, SADDLE TREES, SADDLE BAGS, CANTLE BAGS and POMMEL POCKETS, BRIDLE BITS, STIRRUPS, SADDLE CLOTHS and SHABRAQUES, GIRTHS and SURCINGLES - they are all comprehensively covered from the earliest days of the Revolutionary War to the final dismounting of the US mounted troops after World War II. This work, with over 900 photographs and drawings, answers many questions about design, construction, modification, production and production facilities, issue and disposal of horse equipments through our nation's history. This is the standard reference work that is indespensibe for the collector, student, researcher, museum and antique dealer.
With its charismatic leader George Custer and its memorable encounters with Plains Indians, including the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the Seventh Cavalry serves as the iconic regiment in the post–Civil War U.S Army. Voluminous written documentation as well as archaeological and osteological research suggest that the soldiers of the Seventh represented a cross section of the men who joined the army as a whole at the time. In Health of the Seventh Cavalry, editors P. Willey and Douglas D. Scott and their co-contributors—experts in history, medicine, human biology, epidemiology, and human osteology—examine the Seventh’s medical records to determine the health of the nineteenth-century U.S. Army, and the prevalence and treatment of the numerous conditions that plagued soldiers during the Indian Wars. Building on previous comparisons of archaeological evidence and medical records, Willey and Scott follow multiple lines of inquiry to assess the health of the Seventh, from its organization in 1866 to its 1884 station on the Northern Great Plains. Pairing general overviews of nineteenth- and twentieth-century health care with essays on malaria, injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other specific ailments, Health of the Seventh Cavalry provides fresh insights into the health, disease, and trauma that the regiment experienced over two decades. More than 100 tables, graphs, and maps track the troops’ illnesses and diseases by month, season, year, and location, as well as their stress periods, desertions, and deaths. A glossary of medical terms rounds out the volume. As an ideal exemplar of regiments of its time, the Seventh Cavalry affords scholars and enthusiasts a better understanding of nineteenth-century health and medicine. This volume reveals the struggles that the post–Civil War Seventh, and the entire U.S. Army, faced on the battlefield and elsewhere.
Having evolved over the past two and a quarter centuries to become the premier military force in the world, the U.S. Army has a heritage rich in history and tradition. This historical dictionary provides short, clear, authoritative entries on a broad cross section of military terms, concepts, arms and equipment, units and organizations, campaigns and battles, and people who have had a significant impact on Army. It includes over 900 entries written by some 100 scholars, providing a valuable resource for the interested reader, student, and researcher. For those interested in pursuing specific subjects further, the book provides sources at the end of each entry as well as a general bibliography. Appendixes provide a useful list of abbreviations and acronyms and a listing of ranks and grades in the U.S. Army.
The focus of this book is on the horse equipment of the civilian and soldier (both U.S. and Confederate) in the era from approximately 1840 to 1870. In some places, it has been purposely broadened in scope of time in both directions to include significant items or information. This makes for a more definite identification of the actual Civil War items in many cases. It is full of clear, sharp photos and descriptions. Western saddles are also shown. The horse in American history, breeds, saddle and equipment manufacture are all comprehensively covered. Plus -- A special supplement -- "The Fighting Man and His Mount" which displays numerous original dragoon and cavalry photographs, many previously unpublished.
The New York Times–bestselling author of the Lost Fleet series tells tales of an alien ambush, time-traveling cavalrymen, and a military lawyer in space. In his New York Times bestselling Lost Fleet series, author Jack Campbell has taken readers and Captain “Black Jack” Geary on a fast-paced journey of conquest across vast reaches of space. Now, in the three novellas contained in Swords and Saddles, first in a series of short fiction collections from Jack Campbell, readers can explore the entire universe of Campbell’s fiction. A new author’s note accompanies each story. Begin by entering “The Rift.” Answering a distress call from a colonized planet, a combat team finds themselves ambushed. They manage to scrabble their way to a remote research facility in the countryside, joining a group of schoolchildren that have holed up with the researchers—three groups united in fear that their lives will last only as long as they can avoid discovery by the aliens that have come to their planet. When the aliens do come, it becomes clear that despite all the years of research, the humans’ understanding of the aliens is woefully incomplete. “Swords and Saddles” is one of several alternate history stories that Jack Campbell has written. When lightning strikes Captain Ulysses Benton and his U.S. Cavalry Fifth Regiment, they recover to find an ancient structure in the desert that they’ve never seen before—and writing in a language none of them recognize. When the next find themselves skirmishing with soldiers wearing armor more appropriate to Roman centurions than 1870s Kansas, it becomes clear that wherever it is they are, it isn’t Kansas. But where are they, then? And how do they make their way home? The Lost Fleet isn’t the only Jack Campbell series full of outer space intrigue. “Failure to Obey” is a novella in his Paul Sinclair series. When Lieutenant Jen Shen saves the day after a terrorist attack on a space station, she gets a medal, but Ivan Sharpe, a fellow officer and Paul’s former master-at-arms, gets a court martial. In a classic court martial scene that rivals the best in American literature, Paul must work behind the scenes to save Ivan’s military career.
