CONGDON'S

CAVALRY COMPENDIUM:

CONTAINING INSTRUCTIONS

FOR NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND PRIVATES

IN THE

Cavalry Service.

EMBRACING

FULL INSTRUCTIONS IN DISCIPLINE, DRILL, CARE AND
MANAGEMENT OF HORSES, CLEANLINESS, COOKING,
CARE OF ARMS AND EQUIPMENTS
TARGET PRACTICE, ETC.

WITH

Portions Of The Cavalry Tactics That Should Be Learned By Every Cavalry Soldier.

TOGETHER

WITH ALL THE REVISED ARMY REGULATIONS AND ARTI-
CLES OF WAR THAT APPLY TO ENLISTED MEN.

BY

JAMES A. CONGDON,
MAJOR TWELFTH PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY.

PHILADELPHIA;
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.

1864

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

PREFACE.

   The design of this book is to furnish enlisted men in the cavalry service with all the information necessary to enable them to understand their duties; also, to show them their rights, privileges, and allowances and to point out the relations that exist between them, the Government, the superiors appointed over them, and each other.
    A large portion of the information contained in this work is spread through a great number of expensive books, that soldiers would find it difficult to procure, and impossible to carry in the field. Much of the instruction here contained, although observed for many years in the regular cavalry, has never before appeared in print.
   As it is almost impossible for officers, during active operation in the field, to instruct non-commissioned officers and privates in their duties, it is hoped they will find this book a valuable assistant.
   The above are the reasons which impelled the author to prepare this little work. If it will lighten the labors of his brother officers, and tend in any degree to make the persons for whom it is designed more efficient, he will feel well rewarded.

J. A. C.

HARRISBURG, PA., April 22,1864.

CONTENTS.

CONGDON'S

CAVALRY COMPENDIUM.

______________

INTRODUCTION.

   To serve our country in a just war is the most noble duty on earth. The citizen of the United States who becomes a soldier should be actuated by the grandest and purest motives that were ever harbored in the human breast. He has a more glorious country to defend, better institutions to perpetuate, and more freedom to fight for, than any soldier ever had since the creation of the world. He is well clothed, fed, and paid. If he survives the privations and dangers of war, he will be the idol of his friends while he lives; if he falls in the line of duty, he is sure of a glorious immortality. If this is true of the Union soldier in general, it applies to a greater degree to the cavalry, who are subjected to more privations, hardships, and dangers than any others in the service. He

 

CONGDON'S CAVALRY COMPENDIUM.

should therefore, fight bravely, and, if necessary give his life more freely than the soldier of any other nation.
   I make the following extracts from Roenier's invaluable work on the "History, Management, and Uses of Cavalry in War,"--a book that should be owned by every cavalry officer. In that work it is shown conclusively that all the late great improvements in fire-arms, infantry drill, &c. have in no way affected the usefulness of cavalry, and that his is the view taken of the subject by every nation in Europe.
   "At Solferino, the Austrians fired about eight million four hundred thousand cartridges; which killed about two thousand French and Sardinians, and wounded some ten thousand more. On an average, then, one shot in seven hundred took effect; and one man was killed for every four thousand two hundred shots fired."
   To get an idea of what good cavalry can do, read the following extracts: 
   "One of the most remarkable cavalry exploits on record is that achieved by the cuirassiers of Montrun at the battle of Borodino, where they captured the great redoubt in the middle of the enemy's position, defended by the flower of the Russian infantry. General Caulaincourt was directed

 

INTRODUCTION.

to penetrate through the Russian line, and, wheeling around, enter the redoubt by its gorge. Setting off at a gallop at the head of his followers, the glittering mass was soon lost in a volume of smoke as he approached the entrenchment. The Russians hastened to support the point of attack, Caulaincourt, advancing with the utmost rapidity, overthrew the regiments of horse, which Kutusoff opposed to him; while the great redoubt continued to vomit forth an incessant fire upon its assailants. Eugene, with his infantry, was advancing to the attack; the bayonets of his troops were already gleaming on its slopes, when the columns of the cuirassiers were seen ascending through the clouds of smoke, which enveloped the entrenchment. Its sides seemed clothed in glittering steel; and the fire from its summit, after redoubling in fury for a few seconds, suddenly ceased. The flames of the volcano were extinguished in blood, and the resplendent casques of the French cuirassiers appeared, when the smoke cleared away, above the highest embrasures of the entrenchment.''
   "General LaSalle, with only five hundred hussars, took Stettin, defended by six thousand Prussians with two hundred guns. In the same year --- 1806 --- General Curely, at the head of twenty hussars and fifty miles away from the army, filled Leipsic with

 

CONGDON'S CAVALRY COMPENDIUM.

terror and consternation, though it was held by three thousand Prussian infantry. The same officer, in 1812, at Polosk, at the head of one hundred chasseurs, took twenty-four guns, and made the general in-chief of the Russian army his prisoner."
   "And if we would learn what may be done by a single platoon, let us open the official record of service of Lieutenant, afterwards General Desmichels, and read that on the 28th of October, 1805, after the battle of Ulm, when the Archduke attempted to make a junction with the army of General Wornock, Lieutenant Desmichels, being very near Nuremberg, with thirty chasseurs of the Imperial Guard attacked and captured five hundred men of infantry, two standards, twenty pieces of cannon with their caissons, charged and pursued on a road four hundred dragoons of Thurn, made one hundred of them prisoners, killed and wounded as many more, and took with his own hands the colonel of the regiment."
   To illustrate what can be accomplished by a few cavalry, with but little training and no experience, when enthusiastic in a noble cause, read that on the 26th of October, 1961, Major Charles Zagonyi, with one hundred and fifty of General Fremont's bodyguard, made a forced march of over fifty miles to Springfield, Mo., charged through a rebel am- 

 

INTRODUCTION.

buscade, took down a fence under fire to get at the enemy, attacked and routed five hundred Confederate cavalry and fifteen hundred infantry, killed one hundred and six, wounded a large number, and captured thirty-six prisoners, sixty stands of arms, and the enemy's colors, with a loss of seventeen killed and twenty-five wounded.
   Captain E. A. Jones, of the 1st New York Cavalry, with a detachment of the 1st New York and 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry regiments, numbering one hundred and sixty men, attacked the rebels while they were retreating from Gettysburg, Pa., July 4, 1963. He disposed a few of his men so as to deceive the traitors as to his numbers: with the remainder he boldly attacked the enemy, capturing three cannons, three hundred and fifty loaded wagons, and over seven hundred prisoners. He secured his prize while the bewildered Confederates were making arrangements to repel what they supposed to be the attack of a whole cavalry corps.
   After such deeds, we may exclaim, with Marshal Saxe, "There is no telling what cavalry cannot accomplish.''

 

CONGDON'S CAVALRY COMPENDIUM.

CHAPTER I.

ENLISTED MEN.

   A solder, on entering the service of his own free will, taken a solemn oath to serve the Government faithfully, and to obey the orders of the superiors appointed over him. He should constantly keep this obligation in view: it is a duty he owes to God and the country. A violation of the oath is perjury, which makes a man infamous, and is punished by law as felony.
   The President, as commander-in-chief of the army of the United States, has published army regulation for its government. They are the most binding orders that can be given, because they emanate from the highest military authority and can be altered by him only. All of these order that affect the enlisted man are contained in this book.
   It costs the county about one thousand dollars a year to keep a cavalry man in the field. To render a just equivalent for this sum, a soldier should learn and do his full duty.
   On joining a company, the cavalry-recruit should

 

DISCIPLINE.

apply himself closely to the study of his duties, which are principally as follows. Military discipline. The care of his effects, horse, and arms. The use of his arms, and rudiments of drill. He should learn to ride well and boldly. He should become an expert swordsman and a good shot. He should learn to preserve his health and cook his rations. He should strive to be remarkable for his gentlemanly and soldier-like deportment, also for intelligence and bravery. The soldier who will make these things his constant study may attain any position in the Union army. If he fails to obtain high rank, he will gain what is worth more, - the esteem and respect of his comrades.

Discipline.

   All inferiors are required to obey strictly and to execute with alacrity and good faith the order of the superiors appointed over them. (Sec. I, Army Regulations.) On the manner in which the above order is observed depends the efficiency of the army: it applies with equal force to all grades in the service.
   Strict obedience to an order consists in doing exactly what the person who gave the order desires, in every particular.
   Alacrity requires that the order should be

 

CONGDON'S CAVALRY COMPENDIUM.

executed as soon as the person who gave it wishes it complied with.
   Good Faith requires that an order should be obeyed so as to accomplish the object that the person who gave the order desires.
   When you receive an order, determine what you should do, and where and when you should do it. If you do not understand the order, you should ask for an explanation.
   If from any cause a soldier should be unable to fulfill an order, he should report the reason as soon as possible to the person who gave the order.
An enlisted man is not allowed to make any remarks about what he may consider the justice or propriety of an order, but should obey promptly, to the letter, and without a murmur. The person giving the order is responsible for the legality of it, and is liable to be punished for any improper order he may give. A soldier has a right to complain to higher authorities of any order he may have received that he does not think just, but is not allowed to make that complaint until he has obeyed the order. Complaints must always be made at the proper time, in a respectful manner, and through the regular military channels.
   An enlisted man is not allowed to speak disrespectfully of his superiors, or do or say any thing

 

CONGDON'S CAVALRY COMPENDIUM.

to bring them into contempt or weaken their authority. The good of the service requires that discipline should be firm, strict, sometimes perhaps even severe, but never requires that it should be harsh, cruel, or tyrannical. Unnecessary severity, punishments which are not awarded by proper authority, are not allowed. Orders should be given in a firm decided manner. A soldier who refuses to obey should be confined, and the fault immediately reported to his company commander. Cases may arise when it is necessary to enforce discipline, as in battle, or when a detachment has not means to confine a prisoner; but in all such cases a noncommissioned officer must be sure that the emergency of the case will justify him, and that the means used are not more severe than the case calls for. In all minor cases, a soldier should be reported before confined. In cases of mutinous conduct, refusing to obey an order given, riotous or disorderly conduct, and in any case where it may be necessary to preserve orderly or quiet deportment on the part of the men, he will confine any one who so conducts himself, and report the facts immediately to the soldier's company commander. If a soldier thinks he has been wrongfully confined, he can complain of it to his company commander, or, if he sees fit, to higher authorities, through the commander of

 

CONGDON'S CAVALRY COMPENDIUM.

the company. Would he complain without reasonable grounds for doing, he will render himself liable to be punished for making a false statement.
   There is nothing degrading in military discipline. A soldier with a sincere desire to do his duty, and a cheerful disposition, will find no difficulty in being happy in the army.

The Cavalry Private.

   DAILY DUTIES.--The following are the daily duties, as they are practiced by privates in the regular cavalry in the field. They may be modified by the orders of company or regimental commanders; but, in the absence of any regulations, the private in the volunteer service will do well to observe them.
   At the first call before reveille, get up, dress in fatigue clothes, then arrange your bedding. Take your place in the ranks at the first note of the assembly (under arms, if ordered). After answering your name, when dismissed, return your arms (if used). The men are then paraded for stable duty. If ordered, conduct or ride your horse to water (see instructions for watering, page 24). After watering, groom our horse (see instructions for grooming, page 25). When you finish grooming, feed your horse ( see instructions for feeding); after which, if

 

THE CAVALRY PRIVATE.

you have groomed your horse thoroughly, you will be dismissed from stables. You should next repair to your tent or quarters, and wash yourself thoroughly, brush your clothes, &c. By this time, breakfast call will be sounded, when you will join your mess and eat your breakfast. Do not consider it your special duty to abuse every thing cooked for the meal: console yourself with the reflection that if you are on quarter rations you may be proud to tell of it some day. After breakfast there is usually parade, guard-mounting, drill or fatigue duty to perform. Whatever duty you are detailed for, make it a rule to be punctual and have your accoutrements, arms, &c. in perfect order. After those duties have been performed, you may have from one to two hours' leisure. Your next duty will be to attend midday-water and feed call, immediately after which dinner is usually served. There may be a drill in the afternoon; but it is not usual unless the regiment is very backward in drill. At an hour designated in orders, evening-water and stable calls will sound, After you are dismissed from stable duty, wash yourself thoroughly, and dress in your jacket and best pants. Put your equipments in perfect order for evening inspection. At retreat, take your place in the ranks in the dress ordered, with your arms on, ready for inspection. Give strict

 

CONGDON'S CAVALRY COMPENDIUM.

attention to any orders that may be read, and notice if you are detailed on any duty for the next day. Supper will then be ready.
   From retreat until tattoo you should employ your time in some pleasant recreation or study. At tattoo, arrange your bedding and retire for the night; placing your arms, saddle, bridle, and all your effects where you can find them in the dark.
   At all times be civil and obliging, Avoid annoying your superiors with unnecessary questions and requests: they have other duties to perform, that require their attention. If every private in a company would ask the attention of the captain once a day, he would find it difficult to attend to his other duties. The surest way to forfeit the esteem of those above you, is to be too obtrusive and familiar. If you loiter about an officer's quarters, you may prevent others from calling on important business. In the regular service, when an enlisted man enters an officer's tent he removes his hat, states his wants, and retires. No matter what former relations have existed between you and your company commander, such should be your deportment.
   This minutia may seem unnecessary, or even absurd, to that oracle who is known in camp as the old soldier: you may soothe the old gentleman by telling him that this little book was not intended for persons of his age experience.

 

THE CAVALRY PRIVATE.

   The cavalry soldier's surest and best road to advancement is by bravery displayed on the field of battle, which may be illustrated by the following:- "At the siege of Padua, in the year 1509, when the French, commanded by La Palisse, were united with the troops of the Emperor Maximilian, a singular affair occurred. Chevalier Bayard had in his company of gendarmes a young man of sixteen years, named Boutieres. This youthful warrior having engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with an Albanian officer of the light-horse of the enemy, made him prisoner, and brought him to the emperor. Surprised at their disproportionate strength, this prince remarked to the Albanian that he was astonished that so huge a colossus had allowed himself to be taken by a child, who would not have a beard for four years to come. The Greek, more ashamed of the reproach than his defeat, replied that he had yielded to numbers alone, having been seized by four horsemen. Bayard, who was present, turned to Boutieres and said, 'Do you hear that? It is contrary to your statement. This concerns your honor.' Boutieres, looking like a thunderbolt at his captive, exclaimed, 'You lie! and, to prove that I alone have taken you, let us mount again, and I will kill you, or make you cry mercy a second time.' The Albanian did not wish to fight again.

 

CONGDON'S CAVALRY COMPENDIUM.

'Boutieres,' then said Bayard, 'you have done as splendidly as ever young man did: go on thus, and you will one day become a great personage!' This prophecy of the French hero was verified, and Guignes Guifray, Sieur de Boutieres, became a famous chieftain. He was a lieutenant general under Francis I of France."
   Next to bravery rank education, deportment, and manners. A private, with these four recommendations, will soon be promoted to a corporal.

 

THE HORSE.

CHAPTER II.

THE HORSE.

The horse is the most important care of the cavalry soldier. No one is fit to be in the mounted service who will not look after the welfare of his horse with more solicitude than he does after his own. The Government offer the following inducements to all who desire to own their own horses:- "That each non-commissioned officer, musician, artificer, and private of cavalry shall furnish his own horse and horse-equipments, and shall receive forty cents per day for their use and risk, except that if the horse shall become disabled, or shall die, the allowance shall cease until the disability be removed or another horse be supplies." (Sec. 5, Act July 22, 1861.)
   "Every officer and man should be the owner of the horse in his use. No officer or other person belonging to the command (company or regiment) can be the owner of, or in any manner have interest

 

Missing Pages 24 to 41

CONGDON'S CAVALRY COMPENDIUM

particularly, in which direction they are marching. If the vedettes positively observe troops marching towards them, but at a great distance, they ride the circle in a trot. If the enemy's troops approach to within a mile, the vedettes circle at a gallop. If the enemy us so close at hand that the vedettes are obliged to gallop to their guard for their own security, they should first discharge at him both their carbine and pistols.
   Should a deserter approach, the vedette is to make a signal to the sentry of the guard, and a party will be immediately sent to bring him in.
BY NIGHT. - As soon as the vedettes hear a suspicious noise, even though a great distance, such as the rattling of carriages or artillery, the barking of dogs in the villages in front, or if they observe any fire, one of the vedettes must instantly report it to the officer of the grand guard, in order that the circumstances may be inquired into by a patrol.
   Any person approaching the vedette at night must be challenged in a loud tone and made to halt. Should the person refuse to halt, being challenged twice in a loud tone, the vedette is to fire, retiring, if in danger of being overpowered, by the road pointed out to him, &c. Vedettes will not allow a mounted man, nor more than one man at a time to approach nearer than three yards, and

 

OUTPOST AND PATROL DUTY

they will keep their cocked pistol directed against him.
   If deserters come from the enemy, the vedettes must order them to halt at some distance, and by no means allow them to come too near. The guard is sent for and advances; the deserters are ordered to approach, one by one, and are immediately disarmed and sent to the rear. Vedettes or enlisted men must hold no conversation with deserters from the enemy.
   FLAGS OF TRUCE. - No person coming from the enemy with a flag of truce must be allowed to advance farther than the chain of vedettes. When they approach, the vedette signals for the officer of the guard, but holds no conversation with the bearer of it; for flags of truce are frequently only pretexts by which the enemy hope to gain information.
   Vedettes should obtain full and explicit instructions from the officer who commands them, and under all circumstances exercise their best judgement: in cases of doubt, err on the side of strictness rather than the reverse.
   Vedettes must not hesitate to shoot deserters or others who pass through the lines towards the enemy without permission. They must not consider this an authority to wantonly kill ignorant, unarmed persons.
   ADVANCED GUARDS. - Advanced guards are

CONGDON'S CAVALRY COMPENDIUM.

usually selected from the best-disciplined, coolest and bravest men. They are generally composed of a corporal and two men in advance; two hundred yards in rear, a sergeant, and eight men; five hundred yards in rear, a sergeant, an officer and twenty-four men; and five hundred yards between the officer and the column. The head of an advanced guard is never composed of less than three men. Their duty is as follows. If there is a height in front, the center man of the three trots on until he can look over it and beyond; if one is seen to the right or left of the road, one of the other two must do the same. Near an enemy, this precaution must never be omitted, not even if the hill be two thousand yards distant. Men that go up a hill in this manner (they may belong to an advanced guard or patrol) must proceed with more than ordinary caution, remembering that it is of as much importance not to be seen by as to see the enemy. For this reason, when nearly on top, they should take off their caps and creep up only just far enough to be enabled to look over. If he sees any person, he must act according to the instructions of the officer. There is no service when men should give more cheerful and implicit obedience to the orders of their superiors. The honor of the regiment is involved in the conduct of a few men in the advance

OUTPOST AND PATROL DUTY.

guard, and the slightest alarm given to the enemy may prevent his being defeated.
   On approaching a village, one of the three goes round it to the right, another to the left, and the third straight through. The non-commissioned officer of the advanced guard quickens his gait, reinforces this last man with three others, of whom one is sent to the right, the other to the left, through the by-streets, while a third, keeping the leading trooper always in sight, follows him through the middle of the village. These men should examine the village thoroughly, and all the paths leading into it. The sergeant, with the rest of the men, follows slowly on, passing through the village. The guards resume the original position.
   If the advanced guard at night should unexpectedly meet the enemy, it has no choice but instantly to attack him. The non-commissioned officer at once disperses his men to the right and left, and fires as much as possible. The officer advances with his division and charges. In no other way can the column gain time for preparation. It is, therefore, an unpardonable fault in an advanced guard to get frightened and fall back on the column. Everything would then be confusion. It would be better to have no advance-guard at all. Should an advanced guard, after a gallant struggle

CONGDON'S CAVALRY COMPENDIUM.

with a superior force, be compelled to retire, its retreat must be made on either side of the column; but never on the column, for fear of throwing the latter into confusion.
   On all of these subjects the men should be well instructed beforehand. Every commanding officer of a detached party must consider it as one of his first duties to give his men clear and circumstantial instruction how to act in every case. Unless he do so they will frequently act in a manner contrary to his ideas, even with the best intentions. He should always take the name of every man in the advanced guard, and bring any to punishment who misbehave in any manner, and request the commanding officer to mention all those in orders who display gallantry, courage, &c.
   REAR GUARD. - The object of the rear-guard is to prevent the enemy approaching unperceived. Two men at the extreme rear are sufficient; but them must be picked men.  They should often halt on the heights they are passing, carefully screening themselves from observation while doing so, to see if perchance the enemy is not following.  If the enemy should follow closely with a few men, it may be well for the whole rear-guard to try and drive him off, or form ambuscades and take some prisoners from him.  But, should the rear be attacked, it must

 

OUTPOST AND PATROL DUTY.

instantly be supported by the sergeant's and officer's troop.  Both of these must immediately advance, and do their utmost to prevent the enemy coming too near the column.  If the enemy should follow with a considerable force (say one squadron), without attacking, the rear-guard will follow the column in the manner about to be described.  Halting until the column has got a thousand yards, the officers party trots on to the ordinary distances of five hundred yards, halts, and faces his party to the rear; as soon as the sergeant sees this done, he trots on to within five hundred yards of the officers party, faces his men to the rear; the two men in the rear do the same.  In this way the enemy is kept off, while at the same time an engagement is avoided, and the horses are saved.  Whenever the column halts, the different parties of the rear-guard face to the rear.
     Acting as rear-guard in a retreat in the presence of the enemy is a good test of a soldier's qualities; and those who will act well should be, and generally are, promoted.
   Enlisted men must not be depressed by retrograde movements.  In war, retreating sometimes helps the general success of a campaign more than gaining a battle; and good cavalry always place confidence in the wisdom of their commanders.

CONGDON'S CAVALRY COMPENDIUM.

    FLANKERS . - Flankers are bodies of troop thrown out from the sides of columns, to protect them from being harassed on the march.  The duties of flankers are similar to those of advanced and rear guards.
    PATROLS. - Patrols are usually instructed by the officers who send them out; they should have advance, rear-guards and flanks, according to their strength.
    Patrols should move very noiselessly.  Their scabbards should be placed between the leg and the saddle, that they may make no noise; and the rest of the equipment should be so arranged as to prevent the metal parts from rattling against each other.  The horses should move where the roads are soft, so their steps may not be heard.  In Portugal, the French wrapped their horses' feet in sheepskins, and in that way marched over stony roads, near the English pickets, without being heard.
   By day, the men steal along the hedges, walls, fences, shrubs, hollow ways, ravines, &c.  They should disappear in woods, peep through the glades, in short, see every thing, and avoid being seen themselves as much as possible.
   At night they avail themselves of every irregularity, remain on low ground, and avoid hills, lest their forms be seen standing out in relief against

OUTPOST AND PATROL DUTY.

the sky.  They often stop to listen, and occasionally alight to hearken, with their ear to the ground, whether an enemy be advancing.  Smoking and conversation are absolutely forbidden.
   If the enemy is met, the patrol should, ordinarily, neither fire nor show himself; he should count his numbers and endeavor to find out his intentions.  For further information on this subject, see authorized "Instructions on Outpost Duty," published by the War Department.  Enlisted men must always bear in mind that the officer in command can modify these instructions according to circumstances.