Dear List Members;
Just want to inject a few facts about Cavalry in general.
Light Cavalry was employed as flankers and partisans, and generally for all service out of the line.
Heavy Cavalry, belonged to the reserve, and is covered when necessary, in marches, camps, or bivouacs, by light troops, infantry of that line.
How they lined up by 1861 guidelines; the arrangements of the troops on parade or in order of battle was:
1st. The Light Infantry, 2nd. Infantry of the Line, 3rd Light Cavalry, 4th, Infantry of the line and 5th. Heavy Cavalry.
Cavalry Corps were not to exceed 6,000 horses (privates/troopers). And, because horses travel at a different pace; they often marched separate from the Infantry and on different roads.
Artillery followed the Cavalry. But, if the Artillery train is long--they march on a separate road from the Cavalry.
To give an example of a Cavalry march for approximately 20 miles, I will borrow the example straight out of the 1862 Army Officer's Pocket Companion-A Manual for Staff Officers in the field.
Art. 42 -pg. 93-4
Cavalry - Departure at six o'clock, march of forty-five minutes, halt of ten minutes, reconed from the moment when the last division has closed up to its distance (the troops forming, then halting, whatever may be the order adopted for the march), to the trumpet's call. The vanguard stops at the same time as the head column; and the rear guard keeps at a proper distance from the rear. During the halt, the horses have their girths tightened and their feet looked to. Some two and a half miles (2-1/2 miles) having been passed over in this first period of the march, the detachment will clear six or seven miles without any new halt, alternatively walking and trotting, in about 100 minutes (1 hr. 40 min); then it will halt in a proper situation in close column, if possible and half an hour (30 minutes) will be allowed the men to breakfast on the meat kept for that purpose. The second half of the distance will be preformed in two intervals of time, divided by a rest of five or six minutes, alternately walking and trotting, so as to make five (5) miles in an hour. The destination will thus be reached at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, five hours after departure. If the distance be more or less than twenty miles, the halts would almost always be the same in number, but the duration of each march would be lengthened or shortened by a few minutes. If the cavalry has any baggage, this should start as to arrive at the latest one hour after the column. Horse/mule walks approximately 2 1/2 miles per hour.
(Pg. 95-6) Cavalry does not generally make more than thirty miles a day when the march is to be long. A train of 250 wagons takes, at the rate of 12 yards to a carriage, a space of 3,000 yards in a file.
Art. 49-Pg. 114-- Calculation of the Times of Marches
Column of infantry passes over 2 1/2 miles an hour at the route step, including halts.
Column of Cavalry, alternating at a walk and trot, will get over six miles an hour.
(All depending upon the state of the troops whether fresh or not, and upon the delays occasioned by marching across fields).
Intervals between the ranks of infantry, cavalry, artillery may be 1 yard.
A division of infantry of 12 battalions, of 700-800 men each, marching in
close column by company and at a route step, will occupy a space in length of 700-800 yards (7 to 8 NFL/AFL Football fields).
Two batteries of artillery, with their caissons, marching in double file, will occupy about 350-400 yards. (3 1/2 to 4 football fields) (And this does not include the Artillery train, which carries ordnance, forge wagon, etc.).
A Corps of 25,000 men in close column march by company, with 1 yard separation, will occupy a sapce of about 2 1/2 miles in length, and will take a little over one hour to deploy by either flank, and about 30 minutes to deploy on the center.
A Division of Cavalry, of 24 Squadrons of 48 files each, marching by platoons, close column, will make a length of about 1,300 yards; it can deploy either flank in 8 minutes; at a trot; in four minutes on the center, in ground free of obstacles.
Division is 2 or more Brigades
Brigade is 2 or more (2 to 4) Regiments
Regiments are 10 or more Companies
Battalions are 2 or more Companies
Companies are 4 squads or 82 privates
Squadron -less or more than a company/Cavalry 2 troops (2 companies)
Platoon less or more than a company
Hopefully, this will help visualize things in the discussion.
Respectfully submitted for consideration,
M. E. Wolf
Bringing the