Cavalry Horses

[Southern Unionist]

I'd like to know more about this. How were they selected and trained, on both sides? They needed to be the best of the best, for their demanding roles.

 

[Longhall]

Confederate officers and cavalry supplied their own mounts.

 

[EJ Zander]

For the Union side there were regs/ guidelines for procurement to inspect and size the horses.
You may find this link interesting reading.
http://www.mainecav.org/library/Poinsett/Part 1.pdf
We are fortunate to have some Cav experts on here hopefully they will contribute. Drafts and freight haulers are my area.

 

[Southern Unionist]

Confederate officers and cavalry supplied their own mounts.

How could you get a replacement horse many miles from home?

 

[donna]

Many took them from local farms. When John Hunt Morgan and his men entered Indiana and then on to Ohio for the Great Raid, they exchanged their tired horses for horses on farms they passed. That is how some great thoroughbreds got in Indiana and Ohio. The Ky. soldiers had some very good horses.

 

[Eagle eye]

How could you get a replacement horse many miles from home?

--------------------------
I assume you're referring to CSA cavalry since USA government supplied their cavalry horses (& regulations to provide maintenance for said horses) a CSA trooper was given leave to go home & get another mount or buy one from someone closer then home. No doubt as the war went on & CSA money became inflated at double digits (but soldiers pay stayed the same) many calavary men became infantrymen. Of course, as the war continued, the quality of horseflesh deteriorated and mules became the choice if a CSA trooper wanted to ride with the cavalry.

 

[Longhall]

If the mounted confederate could not procure a replacement mount he simply joined the infantry.

 

[diane]

It got to be a bad policy to have the cavalrymen supply their own horses - it depleted the troops because many would be gone home (or somewhere) to get another. Forrest, for one, had no qualms about dumping that policy - if you lose yours, steal theirs!

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

There was a cavalry depot, Geisboro, outside of Washington, DC- I'm unclear exactly how it functioned except I've seen it listed under ' remounts ' in indexes. SO massive! Brady did a series of era photographs. I'm also not clear on which would be the best references for Geisboro? Era papers tend to be excellent- official reports, etc. were printed as these war time resources were put in place.

This site seems pretty awesome- title states " Parking For 30,000 Horses ". It did not serve up all the horses needed, guessing- but wow, a lot.

" The area once known as Giesboro Point is now occupied by the Department of Defense's Joint Base Bolling-Anacostia. The installation's major tenant organization, the Defense Intelligence Agency, is observing its 50th anniversary this year. However, nearly 150 years ago, this parcel of land was not a military intelligence headquarters, but the logistics hub of the Union Army's cavalry in the Eastern Theater. By providing a ready supply of mounts to the Army of the Potomac, Giesboro Cavalry Depot made an important contribution as the army slugged it out in Virginia. Over 200,000 horses were received, issued, died or sold at Giesboro during the war. "
http://civilwarwashingtondc1861-186.../geisborough-point-cavalry-depot-parking.html

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

From the hill, overlooking row on row, all stables. Crazy huge.

HQ, coming into Geisboro

One paddock. For all its size and history, cannot seem to see many photos of horses at Geisboro

Tents, workers

 

[Booner]

I was just reading last night about the horses used by the Missouri Guerrillas' primarily those horses used by Quantrill. As the settlers of KY moved to the western frontier of Missouri, they of course brought their horses with them. So the bloodline of the famed KY thoughbreeds moved to MO.
In the counties of Missouri that had the highest guerrilla activity, they also had the highest ratio of horses to humans, hmmmm? These same counties also raised the greatest amount of feedstuff for horses. Hmmmmm again.
In the families who supported the guerrillas, either directly through their sons or nephews, cousins etc. These families also had the highest ratios of horses to humans. ( I think we have a pattern here).
To be a guerrilla, at least one of Quatrill's guerrillas, you had to have a horse. And since the family system that supported the those guerrillas had a large amount of horses, it was very easy to replace your tired or injured mount. This practice gave the guerrillas a tactical advantage over the Federals chasing them as the Feds didn't have this kind of a supply situation.
I've also read that when a guerrilla obtained a new mount, the first thing they taught the horse was how to jump over obsticals with a rider. Also, as the guerrillas had such a close bond with their animals, the horses were used as sentinals when the guerrilla were in bivwac as their hearing was so much better. The guerrillas learned to watch the horses ears as an early warning devise.

The superiority of theses KY/MO horses were well know and highly valued, especially by the jayhawkers and redlegs from KS. During the war and for years afterwards, a finely blooded horse with a KS bill of sale would read, "out of Missouri, by Jennison" If that was on the horses pedigree, you had a fine animal.

 

[zburkett]

Mosby once sent a telegram to Sec of War Stanton asking him how he was expected to win a war with the quality mounts Stanton had been sending him.

 

[Booner]

Mosby once sent a telegram to Sec of War Stanton asking him how he was expected to win a war with the quality mounts Stanton had been sending him.

I wonder why Morgan didn't get his remounts locally? Surely there were enough unionists in KY to supply him, but perhaps that type of action would have have been frowned upon by his superiors?

One sad fact that I've come across is that on some farms in MO., in order to keep your horse from being taken by either party, the farmers would blind their horses on purpose.

 

[diane]

At the start of the war, Forrest made a recruiting trip into Kentucky for supplies - the main one being horses. Got a lot of other stuff, too, but he'd be needing very good horses and knew where to get them.

 

[donna]

Morgan took horses and supplies also on his raids. But most of time they left their tired horses which turned out well for the farmers since the horses the members of cavalry units had were Thoroughbreds and Saddle Horse Breeds. Many of their horses were the cream of the crop, so to say.

 

[CivWar4me]

There was a cavalry depot, Geisboro, outside of Washington, DC- I'm unclear exactly how it functioned except I've seen it listed under ' remounts ' in indexes. SO massive! Brady did a series of era photographs. I'm also not clear on which would be the best references for Geisboro? Era papers tend to be excellent- official reports, etc. were printed as these war time resources were put in place.

This site seems pretty awesome- title states " Parking For 30,000 Horses ". It did not serve up all the horses needed, guessing- but wow, a lot.

" The area once known as Giesboro Point is now occupied by the Department of Defense's Joint Base Bolling-Anacostia. The installation's major tenant organization, the Defense Intelligence Agency, is observing its 50th anniversary this year. However, nearly 150 years ago, this parcel of land was not a military intelligence headquarters, but the logistics hub of the Union Army's cavalry in the Eastern Theater. By providing a ready supply of mounts to the Army of the Potomac, Giesboro Cavalry Depot made an important contribution as the army slugged it out in Virginia. Over 200,000 horses were received, issued, died or sold at Giesboro during the war. "
http://civilwarwashingtondc1861-186.../geisborough-point-cavalry-depot-parking.html

Thank you for this info and Photos. I did not see evidence of a RR? I'm needing information about shipping horses for sale to Giesboro. These would have been Morgans (the state horse in VT) that were sort after by Artillery as well as Cavalry. Information in VT reports a horse breeder could get between $120 - $150 Civ war dollars. Would the have been a rail link to Giesboro? Any help with this is much appreciated. Thanks

 

[EJ Zander]

Thank you for this info and Photos. I did not see evidence of a RR? I'm needing information about shipping horses for sale to Giesboro. These would have been Morgans (the state horse in VT) that were sort after by Artillery as well as Cavalry. Information in VT reports a horse breeder could get between $120 - $150 Civ war dollars. Would the have been a rail link to Giesboro? Any help with this is much appreciated. Thanks

I looked at 1900 topo map and the Alexandria branch of the B&O railroad went right past Giesboro Point.