Hi Dustin,
The cavalry fought in many ways. They had several important jobs beyond fighting. One important job was to screen army movements and get information about enemy movements. They would act as couriers and scouts. They could be assigned as rear guard or flankers on moving columns of infantry or artillery. They were an intelligence gathering arm as well as a fighting arm. Raiding behind enemy lines was one thing people seem to note as a cavalry tactic however, this was not generally its purpose. The threat of raiding and hitting the flank was more of a detterent to the enemy moving beyond their source of supply and it kept them on their toes. It took numbers off the frontal assault forces in order to guard against these possibilities.
Light cavalry rarely fought other branches of service. Mounted infantry was utilized creatively instead of true cavalry for this purpose. Many times these men would not be armed with the traditional weapons of light cavalry (sabre/pistol/breechloader) but would instead be carrying infantry arms. They would dismount their horses and move forward as an infantry force. Forrest was noted as using his men in this way.
Within a cavalry brigade there would be regiments who had squadrons with breechloading weapons, sabres for others and pistols too. Some squadrons could even consider themselves sharpshooters.
As a general rule, with light cavalry, they could do many things as fighting tactics went. They could cover a length of ground as dismounts with the 4th man holding the horses while they moved in skirmish formation forward. There would be a reserve held in readiness for the possibility the enemy would fall back disorganized - where the mounted reserves job would be to take advantage of this and charge to rout them.
CSA cavalry never had multiple pistols, in fact they were lucky to be able to arm half the members of each regiment with one pistol. The Union cavalry did get issued one pistol per man. (
CSA guerilla forces such as Mosby's men and a few Texas units had multiple pistols due to the nature of their tactics) Shotguns went by the wayside soon after the war commenced, they were rare by mid-war. Some
CSA cavalrymen went through at least the early part of the war completely unarmed or armed with a poor or unreliable weapon.
Records I have show a
CSA cavalry division in the ANV had the below longarms listed in their inspection reports ('64).
Spencers, Burnsides, Smiths, Enfields, Sharps, Fayettevilles, Austrians, Robinsons, Merrills and Gallaghers.
Sabres were also used throughout the war by regular cavalry. In fact, they were fined for losing any weapon, including sabres. In the west, sabres were less important in the eyes of the
CSA cav leaders so they were sometimes turned in or never issued.
Union cavalry were issued their horses. It was said a Union cavalryman used up 5 horses a year from 1863 to 1865. Confederate cavalrymen brought their horses from home or bought them as private purchase. One reason Union cavalry went through so many horses was that while in enemy territory it was common practice to shoot any weary, lame or injured horses unable to keep up with the march in order to keep them out of enemy hands. Thus a horse that merely needed a few days rest was shot rather than turned loose to rest and recuperate.
You can find more information about cavalry at
http://9thvirginia.com
I hope this will help you out some,
Linneus Ahearn
9th Virginia Cavalry
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