REPORT OF CAPT GEORGE B. M'CLELLAN. 281 



CAVALEY SCHOOL AND DEPOT. 



This ought to be established at some convenient point in the west, as for instance at Jefiferson 

 Barracks, and should be for the following purposes : 



1st. To afford the young officers of mounted regiments, before joining their regiments, thorough 

 instruction in the tactics, regulations for interior service, the general principles of field service, 

 all necessary knowledge in regard to the horse, the use of weajsons, &c. 



2d. To perfect the instruction of lieutenants now serving with the regiments in the same 

 branches. 



3d. The instruction of non-commissioned officers sent from the regiments ; it would be advisable 

 to detail picked corporals, and insure, to a certain number of the best, promotion as sergeants 

 immediately upon leaving the school. 



4th. To instruct the recruits, that they may be well drilled, and thoroughly instructed before 

 joining their regiments. 



5th. To break the remount horses, so that each recruit may take a well broken horse with 

 him when he joins his regiment, and that other remount horses may also be broken before being 

 sent to the regiments. 



6th. A veterinary school should be attached to the establishment, for the instruction of officers 

 and veterinaries. 



7th. A school for farriers. 



8th. A school for trumpeters. 



The systems of instruction and the organization of the French veterinary schools, and of the 

 cavalry school at Saumur, afford, perhaps, the most accessible models for the basis of our own. 

 The text-books there in use can readily be adapted to our own purposes, until experience enables us 

 to have others of our own. 



As a first step, we should have detailed special regulations for the use of mounted troops in 

 garrison and the field. 



To establish the veterinary school, I would propose the following, as probably the best and 

 easiest plan : 



Select an army surgeon, who has served in the field with cavalry, is a good judge of horses, 

 has turned his attention somewhat to the subject, and would be willing to assume the proposed 

 duty ; place him at the head of the veterinary school, and let him prejiare the necessary course of 

 instruction and text-books. In the first instance, at least, his assistants should also be of the 

 medical staff. 



It is very certain that no officer of the line possesses the technical and anatomical knowledge 

 necessary to initiate an establishment of this kind. 



Even if the school proposed cannot be established, there ought to be a work prepared by some 

 of the medical corps on the veterinary science, for the use of cavalry officers. A small work on 

 farriery would also be very serviceable. 



The pupils for the veterinary school might be selected from among the best recruits — indeed, 

 it is not improbable that the advantages of such an institution would induce excellent men to 

 enlist, for the purpose of availing themselves of its benefits. Should such be found to be the 

 result, it would then be well to require them to enlist for longer than the usual time, as a com- 

 pensation for the time spent at the school. The pupils at the farrier school should be recruits, 

 who are blacksmiths by trade. 

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