470 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[PEBIOD V. 



cavalry officer of high reputation in the army. Wilson 

 for many weeks had been devoting his entire energies to 

 the drill, organisation, equipment, and discipline of his 

 command. Having the inexhaustible supplies of the 

 United States Government to draw from, his men were 

 magnificently armed and supplied, and every care was 

 taken in giving them thorough instruction, and in 

 bringing the whole force into the most complete state of 

 efficiency and mobility. The troops were drilled in the 

 double-rank formation. They were somewhat short in 

 horses, so that the mounted force was only 17,000 

 strong.* 



In front of Wilson was the indomitable Forrest, an 

 antagonist to be approached with care, but how different 

 was his position ! While Wilson was drilling and equip- 

 ping his force with every facility, Forrest had to scatter 

 his men to obtain food, to get clothing and remounts, 

 and to recruit his weak regiments. 



On the 18th March, General Wilson set out on his 

 expedition through Alabama. It was not intended 

 as a mere raid. The Confederate troops had become so 

 thinned by four years' desperate fighting, and the 

 Northern cavalry had been organised upon such a large 

 scale, that in this case a wh.^le invading army was 

 composed of cavalry.^ 



The force consisted of 12,000 horsemen, with artillery, 

 and 1,500 dismounted men to guard the trains, and to 

 be mounted as fast as horses could be obtained. Every- 

 thing that could give mobility to this column had been 

 considered. Every trooper carried five days' light rations 

 in haversacks, twenty-four pounds of grain, 100 rounds 

 of ammunition, two extra horseshoes. Pack animals 

 carried five days' extra rations of hard bread, and ten of 

 coffee, sugar, and salt ; while forty-five days' rations of 

 coffee, twenty of sugar, fifteen of salt, and eighty rounds 

 of extra ammunition, were carried in the waggon train 

 The supply train numbered only 250 waggons, and it 

 was considered that, with what could be gleaned from 



m 



^ Andrews, 243 ; Forrest, 659. 



2 Forrest, 659. 



