Questions on Cavalry, Some Specific To Pleasanton Please?

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
Am endlessly reading and re-reading " The 6th United States Cavalry in the Civil War ", by Donald Caughey and Jimmy Jones. It's an ' easy' read on the surface- to get through it for a beginner not-so-much because you have to make sure you don't miss anything. Beginners tend to become distracted looking things UP- not a bad thing, that in itself is kind of fun, just adds a lot of time.

Honestly super book, the kind where you certainly will become immersed. Mr. Caughey never TRIES too hard, you know? Just never- he writes the action as it occurs without false literary methods of playing on one's emotions or making something simple sound like some military stroke of genius, you know? One thing I love is that he never takes off on tangents which chase his personal opinion all over a chapter- it must be there, you're just not aware he's done anything other than covered some section on say, Brandy Station, you know?

Having said that- also not too dry, lacks that ' thing' so many, many Civil War writers fall prey too. They tend to be SO well versed in their various subjects they forget a lot of us are not, and sprinkle references to divisions, companies, leaders, places etc. really frequently throughout some event. It's very, very good, sound research but is distracting if done more than once ' per' and breaks up the narrative to the point it is TOUGH to find the thread again.

Sorry- getting to the questions, it was difficult without raving about the book. Hope this does not do it a disservice. What if it is not a ' good' thing, if beginners find an in-depth work of non-fiction to be comprehensible and enjoyable?

So, question. At one point, while the 6th US cavalry is assigned elsewhere my grgrgrandfather's company, H, was not present. They are described as ' Still on Provost Duty '. What is this, does anyone know? How long would this kind of duty have lasted?

Also, there is a consistent and severe problem with lack of officers in the 6th US Cav, which seems to have been chronic. One trooper wrote that Pleasanton continually siphoned officers from the 6th, leaving the unit SP short handed that there just were not enough to fill all the duties. WHY would Pleasanton do this? Was it needed, or were the officers themselves needed on his staff to genuinely perform duties? Was he just addicted to the pomp- having a small crowd of underlings was his idea of being "Important " ?

He also literally swiped the band from the 6th- one which had signed up en mass for the duty in 1861- just decided to leave their home town, devote themselves to this forming unit. The band of a unit was much needed, literally part of them. Apparently their was extremely good plus the men were part of that team. Pleasanton just decided to reassign the entire band for his personal staff, which was one more dismantling of the 6th US cavalry by a commanding officer whose job it was to build UP his men. It sounds as if this man went out of his way to decimate. Did he, or was he merely not suited to his job? HOW on earth did the 6th manage their astonish reputation with THAT kind of leadership. I mean Buford of course- but he was so many levels away he could not have materially managed the regiment.

There are more, this is far too long, sorry!
 
Am endlessly reading and re-reading " The 6th United States Cavalry in the Civil War ", by Donald Caughey and Jimmy Jones. It's an ' easy' read on the surface- to get through it for a beginner not-so-much because you have to make sure you don't miss anything. Beginners tend to become distracted looking things UP- not a bad thing, that in itself is kind of fun, just adds a lot of time.

Honestly super book, the kind where you certainly will become immersed. Mr. Caughey never TRIES too hard, you know? Just never- he writes the action as it occurs without false literary methods of playing on one's emotions or making something simple sound like some military stroke of genius, you know? One thing I love is that he never takes off on tangents which chase his personal opinion all over a chapter- it must be there, you're just not aware he's done anything other than covered some section on say, Brandy Station, you know?

Having said that- also not too dry, lacks that ' thing' so many, many Civil War writers fall prey too. They tend to be SO well versed in their various subjects they forget a lot of us are not, and sprinkle references to divisions, companies, leaders, places etc. really frequently throughout some event. It's very, very good, sound research but is distracting if done more than once ' per' and breaks up the narrative to the point it is TOUGH to find the thread again.

Sorry- getting to the questions, it was difficult without raving about the book. Hope this does not do it a disservice. What if it is not a ' good' thing, if beginners find an in-depth work of non-fiction to be comprehensible and enjoyable?

So, question. At one point, while the 6th US cavalry is assigned elsewhere my grgrgrandfather's company, H, was not present. They are described as ' Still on Provost Duty '. What is this, does anyone know? How long would this kind of duty have lasted?

Also, there is a consistent and severe problem with lack of officers in the 6th US Cav, which seems to have been chronic. One trooper wrote that Pleasanton continually siphoned officers from the 6th, leaving the unit SP short handed that there just were not enough to fill all the duties. WHY would Pleasanton do this? Was it needed, or were the officers themselves needed on his staff to genuinely perform duties? Was he just addicted to the pomp- having a small crowd of underlings was his idea of being "Important " ?

He also literally swiped the band from the 6th- one which had signed up en mass for the duty in 1861- just decided to leave their home town, devote themselves to this forming unit. The band of a unit was much needed, literally part of them. Apparently their was extremely good plus the men were part of that team. Pleasanton just decided to reassign the entire band for his personal staff, which was one more dismantling of the 6th US cavalry by a commanding officer whose job it was to build UP his men. It sounds as if this man went out of his way to decimate. Did he, or was he merely not suited to his job? HOW on earth did the 6th manage their astonish reputation with THAT kind of leadership. I mean Buford of course- but he was so many levels away he could not have materially managed the regiment.

There are more, this is far too long, sorry!
Super Review! I must read it.
 
One of the experts can probably answer better than I can, but my best answers:

1) Provost Duty is basically detaching them to be - well, the provost guard. Keeping order among the troops and all.
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/provost-guard.1115/

And unless otherwise stated, it's an until ordered to do something - no set time.

2) http://regularcavalryincivilwar.wor...brigade-attrition-in-the-gettysburg-campaign/

It's not just the 6th Cavalry - and something for the Regular Army infantry regiments or artillery batteries (very few commanded by captains by 1863) would show a similar lack of officers. Trained officers make good staff officers, and at least some of the Regulars were also of some rank in the volunteers - meaning that they're unavailable to their regiment while still carried on its rolls and taking up its allotment of officers. I'm sure pomp and having underlings was important, but I'd wager that the majority of those are volunteer aides - either as in from the volunteers, or just generic aides with no specific assignment (as opposed to say, the corps's chief ordinance officer).

The rest I'm not confident in making a statement on, but if the band was unusually good, that might have been enough of a reason. Pleasonton is not noted for putting the needs of his men first.
 
Thanks very much! Makes it less confusing, although when one is still in the process of learning terms, all reading is slower.

Yes, it sounds as if Pleasanton was a jerk over their band- I think they'd enlisted en mass, a band from Mount Joy, PA during the initial recruiting drive. The officers had all pitched in their own money for instruments, so were doubly angry with Pleasanton treating the 6th like a kind of personal pool from which to draw people at whim. I'd been wondering how on earth companies functioned without officers at all- 3 of the 6th's had none by Nov. 1862 ( The 6th US Cavalry in The Civil War, Donald Caughney, pg 68 ), and only 13 for 444 men. Sounds crazy! ( SO not arguing, have just learned being here not to put out numbers without source ) Would his superior officers not have known and if they did, why was it tolerated?
 
I'm not sure how much they would have known, but my money is on them not paying much attention.

And I'm guessing the 6th had some very good NCOs, in regards to the companies without any commissioned officers. Someone had to take charge.

But yeah, it sure sounds crazy. Must have been not worth telling him to stop or never passed on to his superiors, though.
 
Also remember that some regular army officers left to accept higher rank in the volunteers. This could help account for the lack of officers. It did not always work out. Orlando Poe, for example, left a captain position in the corps of engineers for a brigade command slot in the volunteers. He ultimately returned to the engineers as a captain and served as Sherman's staff engineer.
 
Elennsar has it just right, Annie.

There are plenty of things to criticize Alf Pleasonton for, not the least of which is his terrible allergy to the truth. However, to give the devil his due, Pleasonton had a real eye for talent, and if he spotted someone talented, he would move that person to a spot where needed.

David Gregg came out of the 6th US Cavalry.
 
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