CHAP, xxviii.] AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, 1861-18G5. 



483 



rioldiers fully capable of appreciating and following these 

 well-known and brilliant precedents, had but the circum- 

 stances been similar. But not the men, but the times 

 and the means were completely changed. The mounted 

 rifle plan of fighting on foot from behind cover made the 

 detaining fire of the Federal cavalry as galling and 

 effectual as th. t of the best infantry; while by their 

 method of the alternate passing on of mounted bod'es 

 in rear of their dismounted skirmishers, these mounted 

 bodies again dismounting in selected positions further 

 on in their turn, they were enabled to present to the 

 Confederates an impenetrable hedge, constantly falling 

 back, and thuvS avoiding actual contact, but unbroken, 

 continuous, sheltered by obstacles of ground, and con- 

 stantly emitting in their faces a fire most deadly in its 

 precision and sustained rapidity. They were thus 

 enabled always to keep ahead and always to present 

 an impassable barrier to further retreat, while they 

 themselves, from being completely covered, avoided 

 any serious loss. The Confederates could not form 

 square against them, because on this formation their 

 ' repeating ' fire would have told with tenfold effect." ' 



It must be remembered also that these arguments of 

 Sir Henry Havelock are strengthened materially by the 

 fact, that in the instances he mentions at El Bodon, 

 Fuentes d'Onor, Cra6ne, and Rheims, as well as in 

 many other instances of like nature, the infantry were 

 armed only with flint-lock muskets of short range and 

 uncertain aim, while the Confederate troops had rifles of 

 long range, of precision of aim, and great power of pene- 

 tration. We may fairly assume that Sheridan, with his 

 mounted riflemen, accomplished what regular cavalry 

 could not have done, particularly when we remember 

 that the ground was broken and intersected. 



The accounts of actions contained in the foregoing 

 pages serve to show, that in the American Civil War 

 the contending parties had certainly originated and im- 

 proved a system of working cavalry that was capable of 

 producing great results. No one <'an read the accounts 



' Havelock, 99, 100. 



I 1 2 



