The United States Cavalry
The United States Cavalry

Author: Gregory J. W. Urwin

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 9780806134758

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With color and verve, Gregory J. W. Urwin presents the history of the mounted forces of the United States. He combines combat reports, personality profiles, and political and social overviews to present a complete picture of a bygone era extending from the Revolutionary War well into the twentieth century. For more than a century, the U.S. Cavalry played a prominent role in American military conflicts, serving as both a frontier police force and as a major combat arm in the republic's conventional wars. Urwin begins his story in New York City in 1776 with the Continental Light Dragoons and continues it through the days of the "pony soldiers" of the western plains, including detailed coverage of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry Regiment. Urwin concludes with descriptions of General John J. Pershing's 1916 Punitive Expedition into Mexico and the exploits of the 26th U.S. Cavalry, the only United States mounted outfit to see combat in World War II, during the defense of the Philippines in 1941-42.

Riding for the Lone Star
Riding for the Lone Star

Author: Nathan A. Jennings

Publisher: University of North Texas Press

Published: 2016-02-15

Total Pages: 455

ISBN-13: 1574416359

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The idea of Texas was forged in the crucible of frontier warfare between 1822 and 1865, when Anglo-Americans adapted to mounted combat north of the Rio Grande. This cavalry-centric arena, which had long been the domain of Plains Indians and the Spanish Empire, compelled an adaptive martial tradition that shaped early Lone Star society. Beginning with initial tactical innovation in Spanish Tejas and culminating with massive mobilization for the Civil War, Texas society developed a distinctive way of war defined by armed horsemanship, volunteer militancy, and short-term mobilization as it grappled with both tribal and international opponents. Drawing upon military reports, participants' memoirs, and government documents, cavalry officer Nathan A. Jennings analyzes the evolution of Texan militarism from tribal clashes of colonial Tejas, territorial wars of the Texas Republic, the Mexican-American War, border conflicts of antebellum Texas, and the cataclysmic Civil War. In each conflict Texan volunteers answered the call to arms with marked enthusiasm for mounted combat. Riding for the Lone Star explores this societal passion--with emphasis on the historic rise of the Texas Rangers--through unflinching examination of territorial competition with Comanches, Mexicans, and Unionists. Even as statesmen Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston emerged as influential strategic leaders, captains like Edward Burleson, John Coffee Hays, and John Salmon Ford attained fame for tactical success.

Cobb's Legion Cavalry
Cobb's Legion Cavalry

Author: Harriet Bey Mesic

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2011-03-10

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 0786464321

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"The best regiment of either army, North or South"--this was the description of Cobb's Legion offered by Confederate General Wade Hampton during the Civil War. This large and experienced unit played a crucial role for the South throughout the war. Their actions in more than 130 battles and other engagements over the course of the war are the subject of this book. Additionally, biographies of the officers and the nearly 1500 men of the regiment are included, as well as records of those who died, deserted, or were prisoners of war.

The Prairie Boys Go to War
The Prairie Boys Go to War

Author: Rhonda M. Kohl

Publisher: SIU Press

Published: 2013-01-31

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 0809332043

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Cavalry units from Midwestern states remain largely absent from Civil War literature, and what little has been written largely overlooks the individual men who served. The Fifth Illinois Cavalry has thus remained obscure despite participating in some of the most important campaigns in Arkansas and Mississippi. In this pioneering examination of that understudied regiment, Rhonda M. Kohl offers the only modern, comprehensive analysis of a southern Illinois regiment during the Civil War and combines well-documented military history with a cultural analysis of the men who served in the Fifth Illinois. The regiment’s history unfolds around major events in the Western Theater from 1861 to September 1865, including campaigns at Helena, Vicksburg, Jackson, and Meridian, as well as numerous little-known skirmishes. Although they were led almost exclusively by Northern-born Republicans, the majority of the soldiers in the Fifth Illinois remained Democrats. As Kohl demonstrates, politics, economics, education, social values, and racism separated the line officers from the common soldiers, and the internal friction caused by these cultural disparities led to poor leadership, low morale, disciplinary problems, and rampant alcoholism. The narrative pulls the Fifth Illinois out of historical oblivion, elucidating the highs and lows of the soldiers’ service as well as their changing attitudes toward war goals, religion, liberty, commanding generals, Copperheads, and alcoholism. By reconstructing the cultural context of Fifth Illinois soldiers, Prairie Boys Go to War reveals how social and economic traditions can shape the wartime experience.