Garnet Joe
Cadet
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2017
Hello,
I am wondering if you could put me right/affirm some of my impressions of Civil War cavalry tactics in the East:
As I understand it from reading bits of Henderson and Griffith, with a few others, shock cavalry was a rarity and there were few charges, with small ones like at Brandy Station or the cavalry fields at Gettysburg, what we may say were cavalry actions, clearly, though with mounted infantry/dragoon-like tactics also seen. Now, my understanding is that under Sheridan Union cavalry in 64 and 65 functioned mostly as 'true' cavalry, for shock, but also kind of like dragoons, to seize a flank in advance of infantry- as a kind of all-arms flanking force? The latter is how I understand it from Griffith, though Henderson seems to infer that former tactics were also employed. (It's quite likely I have misunderstood, so I thank you for your patience)
I am wondering if you could put me right/affirm some of my impressions of Civil War cavalry tactics in the East:
As I understand it from reading bits of Henderson and Griffith, with a few others, shock cavalry was a rarity and there were few charges, with small ones like at Brandy Station or the cavalry fields at Gettysburg, what we may say were cavalry actions, clearly, though with mounted infantry/dragoon-like tactics also seen. Now, my understanding is that under Sheridan Union cavalry in 64 and 65 functioned mostly as 'true' cavalry, for shock, but also kind of like dragoons, to seize a flank in advance of infantry- as a kind of all-arms flanking force? The latter is how I understand it from Griffith, though Henderson seems to infer that former tactics were also employed. (It's quite likely I have misunderstood, so I thank you for your patience)