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BJMarkland
Colonel
USA
Status: offline |
 Posted - January 25 2004 : 11:02:03 PM
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I found within the Executive Documents, War Dept., series of microfiche this 1873 manual:
Cavalry Tactics
United States Army
Assimilated to the Tactics of Infantry and Artillery.
I said 1873 but the manual was printed in 1876. General Order, No. 6 dated Headquarters of the Army, Washington, July 17, 1873 indicates that this "...was approved by the President and adopted for the instruction of the Army and Militia of the United States." One of the co-authors was Lt. Col. Emory Upton. Ironically, Capt. John E. Tourtellotte, 7th Cavalry, Colonel and Aide-de-Camp to the General, was also a co-author. I will look in Heitman to find what ever happened to him.
I have copied many pages but have only scanned & OCR'd the majority of the section regarding skirmishing. I haven't had time to code it into HTML yet but the RTF format text document can be found at this link:
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~familyinformation/upton/upton_skirmishers.rtf
Note: Ignore the (@)as I use those to add non-breaking spaces in HTML when I code. Amazing what a FIND & REPLACE can do 
I still have 3-4 pages left in Skirmishers but I have run out of steam (up all last night for a work project) and need some sleep.
For readers of the Wag the Dog thread, I did find this info:
Cavalry Tactics, 1873, pg. 477
"The average march for cavalry is from 15 to 20 miles per day. The walk is the habitual gait, but, when the ground is good, the trot may be used occasionally for short distances."
"The march is usally in column of fours; when practicable, it may be in double column of fours; in small commands it is often in column of twos."
"A halt of from five to ten minutes is made at the end of every hour, for the purpose of adjusting equipments, tightening girths, etc. The companies are dismounted in column at the command of their captains; if there be grass, each captain first obiques his column a short distance from the road to let the horses feed, as horses must always be encouraged to graze as much as possible on the march. When troops march for the greater part of the day, a halt of from twenty to forty-five minutes is usually made about noon. In campaign, videttes are posted during the halt."
"On long marches, officers and men, except the sick, are required to dismount and lead from twenty to forty minutes every second or third hour; to save their backs horses will always be led over steep ground, and particularly down-hill."
I found some stuff from the QM Dept. around that time-frame regarding pack animals but did not have time to look at it.
OHHHH! Almost forgot. In Cavalry Tactics, the authors wrote, and I paraphrase, "Before beginning a campaign, each troop is required to shoot 60 rounds of target practice..." I did not notate where in the book (what fiche) I found it but will find it again. I do believe the same series has QM returns from various forts for different years. It may be interesting to see if Ft. Abraham Lincoln is listed and if it did experience major increase of ammunition expended prior to that summer's campaign.
Yawn,
Night all,
Billy
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Edited by - BJMarkland on January 25 2004 11:07:33 PM
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Cavalry Tactics
