BECAUSE OF THE TYPE OF LAND ON WHICH
the Plains Indian Wars were fought — fairly treeless and vast - and the fact that the Indian way of life was based on the horse, the arm of the service which bore the primary brunt of the Indian Wars was the cavalry.
When the Civil War broke out there were only six cavalry regiments. They were sent where they were most desperately needed - along the east coast to fight Confederates. As the Indians declined to stop fighting their own wars and making raids just because whites were fighting between them¬selves, cavalry had to be sent west. The main effort had to be made by volunteers.
During the war the cavalry regiments in the west were the 1st and 2nd California; 1st and 3rd Nebraska; 12th, 13th and 14th Missouri; 5th, 6th, 9th, 11th, 15th and 16th Kansas; 2nd and 3rd Colorado; 1st Michigan; 1st Nevada; 7th Iowa, 6th West Virginia; 11th Ohio; 21st New York; 17th Illinois; 3rd Massachusetts, and 3rd Wisconsin.
Captain Eugene F. Ware, 7th Iowa, later wrote that his regiment, '. . . was well mounted and had been provided with new uniforms, but was poorly armed. Each cavalryman had a Gallager carbine, an exceedingly inefficient weapon; a Colt's .44 calibre revolver, which loaded . . . with a paper cartridge; a heavy dragoon sabre, which was becoming obsolete and which, subsequently, before the regiment's term of service expired, was boxed up and stored.' Such a description would be typical of any of the volunteer regiments.
The volunteers served well enough - except for the disgraceful massacre at Sand Creek by Colorado Volunteers — until the Regulars could return. By 1866 only Regulars patrolled the plains.
CAVALRY ORGANIZATION
The basic organizational unit within the Army was the regiment, and this remained so throughout the period. But the strength of the regiment varied a good deal—and not only through death, disease and desertion, either. At times of apparent danger Congress would authorize the strengthening of the regiment by an increase in sub-unit establishment; but in years when the legislators decided that they could get away with a low budget, the unit was weakened in the same manner.
General Orders of 4 May 1861 spelled out the regimental organization. Each cavalry regiment had a minimum of: '975 battalion officers and enlisted men; one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, one regimental adjutant (lieutenant), one regimental quartermaster and commissary (lieutenant), two chief buglers, 16 musicians for band: aggregate, 997. Maximum: 1,167 battalion officers and enlisted men, for an aggregate, 1,189.'
Each regiment was potentially divisible into three battalions, each of four companies, the battalion being numbered and commanded by a major. (Note that at other times the term 'squadron' was used for 'battalion', and 'troop' for 'company'—the terms are used more or less interchangeably in this text.) The May 1861 orders defined the battalion as having a minimum of: '316 company officers and enlisted men; one major, one battalion adjutant (lieutenant), one battalion quartermaster and commissary (lieutenant), one sergeant-major, one quartermaster-sergeant, one commissary-sergeant, one hospital steward, one saddler-sergeant, one veterinary-sergeant: aggregate, 325. Maximum: 380 company officers and enlisted men, aggregate, 389.’
In practice, regiments and battalions/squadrons were widely dispersed in the West; the one-company troop fort was the normal posting. In 1861 each company was to comprise a minimum of: One captain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, one first sergeant, one company quartermaster-sergeant, four sergeants, eight corporals, two musicians, two farriers, one saddler, one wagoner, 56 privates: aggregate, 79. Maximum: 72 privates, aggregate, 95.'
Not only did Congress order variations in company troop strength from time to time, but also between unit and unit in the same year, depending on conditions in the different areas of deployment. For instance, General Orders of 9 May 1877 specified 54 privates per troop in the 1st, 6th and 9th Cavalry, and 84 privates per troop in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th and 10th.
The 12 companies or troops of each regiment were identified by letter, omitting 'J'. If there was a J Troop" it was the 'John' or recruit training group.
STRATEGIC PLACEMENT
The 1st Cavalry was sent to the Pacific Coast in 1866. In 1868 it was sent to Arizona to handle Apaches. A decade later, 1878, it was sent to posts in Nevada, Montana and Idaho. In 1881 four troops returned to Arizona. The entire regiment was reunited in the Dakotas in 1884 and returned again to Arizona in 1892.
The 2nd Cavalry, also known as the 'Dandy Regiment' because of the smartness of their turn¬out, was posted to Kansas in 1866. The First Squadron was sent to Montana in 1869, returning to the regiment in 1874. The regiment was used mainly against the Sioux and Cheyennes. In 1877 the regiment served in the Nez Perce campaign. From 1880 to 1883 it was again mainly employed against the Sioux, being sent to the Pacific Coast in 1884. In 1890 the regiment was sent to posts in Arizona and New Mexico.
The 3rd Cavalry was sent to forts in Arkansas and Texas in 1866. The next year it was sent to various posts in New Mexico, Arizona and throughout the south-west, fighting Apaches. It was sent north, serving against Utes and Sioux in 1872, returning to Texas in 1882.
The 4th Cavalry was sent to Texas and the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in 1866. Between 1875 and 1881 it was mostly fighting Utes and Cheyennes. It was sent to New Mexico in 1881. In 1884 the regiment was assigned to Arizona forts. It was sent to the Pacific Coast in 1890.
The 5th Cavalry was sent to Kansas in 1866. In 1871 it was sent on to forts in Texas, going on to Arizona the next year. In 1875 it was returned to Kansas, going on campaigns from there against the Sioux, Cheyennes and Nez Perce. In 1879 it was sent against the Utes. In 1880 the regiment was split among posts in Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
The 6th Cavalry was sent to Texas in 1865. In 1871 it was sent on to various posts in the Indian Territory and Kansas. In 1875 it was sent to garrison posts in Arizona and New Mexico, being united in New Mexico in 1885. In 1890 it was sent to the Dakotas.
The 7th Cavalry was organized in various posts from Kansas to the Rocky Mountains in 1866. In 1875 it went to posts in Texas and the south-west. From 187310 1876 it served against the Cheyennes and Sioux, being virtually destroyed at Little Bighorn in June 1876, and having to be newly recruited. From 1877 to 1890 it served in posts in the Dakotas and Montana.
The 8th Cavalry was organized in the Presidio (fort) of San Francisco, California, in 1866, serving there until 1870 when it was sent to Arizona. In 1875 it was sent on to Texas, and in 1888, the Dakotas.
The 9th Cavalry was an all-black regiment — 'buffalo soldiers' to the Indians, 'brunettes' to the whites. It was organized in New Orleans, largely from among blacks who had seen service during the Civil War, in 1866. Officers were white. The next year it was sent to Texas, serving there until sent on to New Mexico in 1875. In 1881 the regi¬ment was split among posts in Kansas and the Indian Territory. In 1885 it was sent to posts in Nebraska and Utah, while two troops went to Montana in 1887.
The other black Cavalry regiment was the l0th Cavalry, organized at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1866, where it was stationed until 1868. It was sent then on campaigns in the Indian Territory, and the next year to posts in Texas and the Indian Territory. In 1875 the regiment was divided among posts in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, ending up in posts in Texas and Arizona alone in 1882.
WEAPONRY, UNIFORMS AND EQUIPMENT
Cavalrymen were armed with a variety weapons. The first was a brass-hilted Model 1860 light cavalry sabre, slung from a black leather waistbelt with a rectangular brass buckle bearing an eagle and silver wreath. When the men went into the field, however, sabres were often boxed and stored.
Balancing the sabres, which hung on the left side, was a revolver on the right, worn butt to the front in a covered black leather holster. In the early years of the Plains Indian Wars these were Colt and Remington 0.44 calibre percussion revolvers. They used a paper-wrapped cartridge, ignited by the hammer hitting a copper fulmite-of-mercury-filled cap on a nipple behind the chamber. Loading was a fairly slow procedure.
In 1872 a new model of Colt 0.45 calibre revolver was approved by the Army, the famed 'Peacemaker', which used a self-contained brass cartridge. Issue was not immediate to the troops however, with, for example, the 7th Cavalry not receiving their new pistols until the first half of 1874.
Each man carried a carbine. These were breech loading, with the ones used in the early years those used in the Civil War, e.g. Sharps, Smiths, Spencers, Gallaghers and Burnsides. They were usually 0.52 calibre, with a rather short range; little further, in fact, than pistols. They also used, except for the Spencers and Henrys, paper cartridges and copper caps. The other two used brass self-contained cartridges, stored in magazines.
In 1873 the same breech loading system as used in infantry rifles was adopted for carbines. As with pistols, issue was not immediate and the 45/70 Model 1873 Springfield carbine was not issued to the 7th Cavalry, for example, until mid-1875.
Officers often used non-issue weapons. Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, for example, carried a brace of British-made revolvers and a Remington sporting rifle, while Crook preferred a shot-gun.
Cavalrymen also generally carried 'butcher knives' in their belts.
Ammunition for this arsenal was originally intended to be carried in leather cartridge boxes — large ones for carbine ammunition sometimes carried on the carbine sling and small ones on the waistbelt for pistols. Caps were carried in small black leather pouches worn on the front hip. As caps for both weapons were different sizes, often two cap pouches would be worn at one time.
As with the infantry, cavalrymen didn't like the old cartridge boxes when metallic cartridges for breechloaders were issued. The Ordnance Department therefore issued another type of cartridge box, the Dyer pouch, which had twenty-four canvas loops to hold cartridges inside each pouch. They were still unpopular with the troopers, who preferred using looped waistbelts. As early as 1872 the 3rd Cavalry was reported as all using looped waistbelts, without a single pouch in the regiment.
Captain C. E. Dutton, Chief Ordnance Officer in the Department of the Platte, reported on 14 January 1877, 'The officers & soldiers will not use the cartridge box & will use the belt & if they can¬not obtain canvas belts from the Ord. Dept. they will improvise them. I should add however that some Cavalry Captains prefer the fleece-lined (Dyer) pouch but certainly not a majority of them.'
Pistol ammunition for the Peacemaker was carried in old cap pouches. The pistol itself was carried in a holster similar to the older ones, butt forward, although the holster didn't slide easily onto looped cartridge belts without some work by the individual soldier. In 1877 the Ordnance Department began issuing web cartridge belts with a provision for the holster.
Initially troopers rode on plain rawhide-covered saddles, although they were supposed to be re¬placed with a black leather-covered, beechwood saddle, the McClellen, from the beginning. The 7th Cavalry didn't receive the new saddles until 1869 and the old ones weren't wholly replaced until the end of 1875. The new saddle had a blue webbing girth and hickory wood stirrups covered with black leather hoods marked 'US' on each one.
An extra strap was included on the saddle for a man to hold the horse while its owner was off fighting. Generally, one out of every four men held four horses while the other three were in action.
The saddle blanket was blue with yellow border and yellow 'US' badge. In September 1876 the 4th Cavalry received dark grey saddle blankets.
In the field the average cavalryman had a folded overcoat strapped to the saddle pommel, although many went without overcoats. A coiled lariat and picket pin hung from the near pommel ring and a nose bag from the opposite ring. A small canvas grain bag, filled with oats, hung from the cantle. A tin cup was strapped through its handle to the near saddlebag strap. A wool, later canvas, covered canteen hung by its sling, cotton at first and later leather, from the saddlebag stud on the cantle arc. Rations were carried in haver¬sacks, also hung from the saddle.
Saddlebags were the small, leather 1859 model Captain Dutton noted that, 'The old pattern (small size) are almost useless to them. The leather bags (Model 1874) would be preferred though the linen bags (Model 1872) would be highly satis¬factory. I think that if the Cavalry could be sup¬plied at once or before the spring campaign opens with large saddle-bags that branch of the service would be most highly delighted.'
Horses were often smaller and hardier than those found in European cavalry regiments, usually standing about 15 hands. At least once they were assigned to different troops according to color. Custer noted in the 7th Cavalry, 'For uniformity of appearance it was decided to devote one afternoon to a general exchange of horses. The troop commanders were assembled at head¬quarters and allowed, in order of their rank, to select the color they preferred.'
This was not a common thing and it was rather unpopular with the soldiers who had to give up well-known animals simply to appear uniform — especially strange since dress uniformity was in many ways unknown! |
