Throw it away! What did Civil War Cavalry throw away on campaign?
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- Опубліковано 26 лип 2020
- While packing light is definitely a common mantra in the military community, it was amazing to find out how much of the standard issue equipment that federal troops left behind when on campaign. This video dives into the book "Lessons of a Decade" in which the author talks about what was left vs what was kept.
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The following videos were also mentioned in this edition:
Packing the saddle:
• How did cavalry carry ...
Episode 1 of the McClellan Saddle:
• McClellan Saddles: Par...
For more references and research please visit:
www.authentic-campaigner.com
First l like to say i like what you do ,
I run a cav unit in Africa for antipoaching and have myself , 4 us cav saddles i use, all original .
We do long range recon and pack the horses more or less the same , keeping the nose bags and use a grain bag as well , that has 2/3 feeds in it .
Our saddle blanket is our sleeping blanket and our brush and sersingle is ti hold the blanket on the horse when cooling down after riding , is kept in our chest rig or webbing.
Its a good show keep it up
James, that is great to hear and glad we can help in any way possible. I'd love to get in contact with you and see what you are doing out there that might correlate with us as well! Thanks for watching!
@@11thovc
G'day mate,
Thanks for the reply.
Would like to talked with you ,
I am for ever looking for blokes who can work with horses that are cav minded.
I have the 7th Australian light horse gunndi troop working with me and training for next deployment , tactics mounted and dismounted and our primary role as scouts and qrf.
The rangers are armed with rifles and me and my unit are armed with pistol , lance ,
Sabres for defence.
We do short range patrol , 24 hrs and long range,, 72 hrs from 20ks to 200 ks .
My email is recon-recovery@hotmail.com
And look forward talking with you .
I got that book , volunteer cav , lessons of the decade , a good read , not that far removed from our Australian light horse manual.
If you wish i can send some video and photo about Africa ,
Never know the 11th ovc may go on opps with the 7th Australian light horse and the New Zealand mounted rifles .
good comment
Like every military experience ends up, the guys who sit a desk come up with stuff that field personnel would never use. As day follows night, the concept seems eternal. Thanks, that was an excellent presentation.
568843daw, thanks for the comment! It definitely seems we relearn the same lessons! lol.
Still do it today
While evaluating the USMC SOF Horsemanship and Animal Packing Course in Oct 2015, I rode a 1928 Modified McClellan that I borrowed from a friend [I wanted to try it out to see if it was substantially different to ride]. I didn’t use a crupper. One evening as we rode down a steep mountain side in the High Sierras, I found myself sitting the saddle which had migrated onto my horse’s neck - yes half the saddle or a bit more was in front of the withers. It was one of the very, very few times I didn’t use a crupper. Fortuately Topper is a stable horse and after an awkward dismount, equipment was restored to its usualy position...
As both a long time endurance rider , horse packer in the mountains and cavalry re enacter, I have always used a crupper. In addition to its obvious use in mountains, it is useful for placing the saddle properly when saddling - especially in the dark.
For me the nose bag is a “ I never leave home without it" item. When packing in the mountains, I carry my lunch and binos in it. I can’t count the number of times I have used my nose bag and lariat to haul water up from a bridge or cliff when I couldn’t get my horse down to the water.
While I have found little use for a picket pin, I often use my lariat - in addition to the use I mentioned above - I frequently use it as a temporary picket line between a couple of trees for 2 or 3 horses. Lowe in his "Five Years a Dragoon”. noted that the Dragoons used their picket pins and lariats often on the Great Plains - sometimes with disastrous results. Picketing a horse with lariat and picket pin requires thorough training of the horse. Failure to do so can result in a fatal injury to your horse
wow - great comment there
That stripped down kit looks very much like how my friends that do campaigner cavalry have ended up doing through experience and looking at period photographs. One of the quickest no brainers is to use the sleeping blanket and shelter half as extra padding.
Ditching kit is a timeless and universal military tradition!
Great video
the road of retreat is littered with kit, I think I just wrote a poem :)
If the saddle bag was thrown away where would you put additional ammo at? After they ran out of what was in the cartridge box would you not put additional ammo in the bag
I enjoyed your description of the nosebag as the "junk drawer" of the saddle. LOL
yes, that's funny
So where is your personal stuff and the horse cleaning utensils now?
Basically there remains an infantry soldiers equipment, except the cavalry weaponry...
Again, absolute interesting video!
Thanks a lot.
One thing that was pretty common to “misplace” were shoulder scales. At least here in Oregon they were. I’ve seen several references where they would all be placed in a box and somehow lost along the trail.
The 2nd California Vol Inf and 2nd Oregon Vol Inf both have extremely high numbers of “broken” shoulder scales in their returns.
Hey been watching your videos for awhile now and just want to say how great this info is! Looking forward to more.
very supportive
Cool stuff! As someone who has no idea what a watering bit is, or how it's used. I'd love to see a video describing, or demonstrating each piece of equipment. While most Pickett pins were thrown away, how was one actually used? I feel many of your audience isn't into horsemanship/equestrians so seeing what a lariat, water bit is used would be interesting.
The 11th OVC has done two videos on picket pins and ropes:
ua-cam.com/video/_C6y_tpu6l4/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/J0Aq8k6lfac/v-deo.html
Nice info thanks
I believe you are right in lightening the load. I spoke with a 2nd WW veteran in the remount. He said their teaching mandated that the trooper keep the saddle as light as possible for campaign travel, and all straps tucked away. No loose ends.
A VERY patient horse........
Excellent! Troopers in the field know what’s tactical or junk.
That was absolutely awesome! How about a show on bits?
The Rhodesian Grey Scouts is a great read "The Equus men " written by Alexandre Binda.
So could a trooper get a reissue of a greatcoat of a sleeping blanket when needed?
It depended how quickly he needed it. Greatcoats frequently were ordered to be turned back in to the QM for putting into storage in government warehouses until the colder months returned. If they were retained and then an individual decided to “lose” it, it is likely that individual would find a way to “acquire” another one if he needed one again in a hurry.
can't help but mention re your question ... not easily in the Australian military, you lost it, you bought it , cheers
Most was dumped
Outstanding
Great video! Do you know how pommel holsters would have been attached? Butt forward? Was this just an officer thing or not common at all in the civil war?
I would have kept the greatcoat anyway incase they would ever need it that would not have been too heavy to keep on the saddle
I wouldn't throw away the little saddlebags without replacing them with larger saddlebags. Also, I would keep the saddle blanket; if I use my sleeping blanket as a saddle blanket it will smell like horse sweat.
A little horse sweat ain’t bad...the troopers didn’t bath all that often themselves...their horses probably were more offended
At least it would be nice and warm when you went to go to sleep on a cold night. :)
There must have been a motivation to unload the horse. Maybe if he collapses, you have to carry the saddle and the saddlebags
It looks like what you would be left with after a very long campaign especially if it were in the west or south west. It definitely doesn't leave much.
I'm sure maybe a lot of soldiers might have dumped most everything.. but some might not have
I'd like to know what the horse thinks.
Now that you no longer have a blanket roll to stash your personal items, and ammo, where do they go? Ones pockets would probably be pretty stuffed.
How much of this stuff would be put on the supply train vs being discarded?
Where did the discarded items end up? For instance, if the greatcoat was discarded in spring, how did they obtain it again when it was needed?
Tossed into a tree
Requested reissue
I have some civil war horse tack that is US cavalry, it has the eye sheilds and brass US badges. Any idea on what type horse that was used on and could it be donated to a museum?
wow
I’m sure they liked to strip down their gear and minimize what they carried. It makes sense. I suppose the season, the length of the campaign and mission all came into play regarding what they would carry with them on their horse. Who wants to gallop in a charge or in a pursuit or retreat with a bunch of unnecessary junk bouncing around? I wouldn’t and neither would the mount. Also the location, terrain and flora would determine what they needed to carry. If their is abundant grass and water and time to let the animal graze, you might dispense with some of the equipment for feeding and tethering, though I would have to think they would still feed some grain to the animal every day to give it enough protein to keep its strength up.
As far as the saddle goes, that might be up to the rider and even what his others in his unit thought was necessary.
The theater the trooper operated in might also determine what they kept as equipment too. I’m studying the 3rd MO State Militia CAV and contrasting it with the 3rd MO State Guard CAV right now, because I had relatives who served in both. One served more as a traditional military unit and the other more as a policing unit to maintain security in a specific region they were responsible for l. They were both operating in the Missouri-Arkansas theaters, but their military roles were different. At any rate, enjoying your shows!
above 50% for saddle blankets makes then usual
Also do you have a link to where we can pick up a copy of "Lessons of a Decade"?
I picked up a copy from Amazon. The title is 'Volunteer Cavalry: The Lessons of the Decade'. Hope this helps
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Cute!!! German Shepherd. Puppy!! Awww.
Was common cavalryman to have dog on campaign? Was NUG??
Makes perfect sense, it's like the infantry dumping their stoves, haversacks and gas masks in WWII, if it ain't necessary, ditch it, carry it extra ammo instead!!!.
Didn’t do that
Here's a question can one get ranked in reenactment
Willy Billy, that is dependent on each unit and varies from event to event.
@@11thovc thank for the info can you recommend a channel like this but for artillery I can't fined one thanks.
@@willybilly6747, As far as I know, there is not a channel dedicated to the Artillery side of things, but we are actually working on that with an organization called "1st Section". They should be coming out with Artillery videos sometime this year!
@@11thovc Thanks , again al be on the look out
I agree with all but the saddle blanket, Id sooner sleep on the ground without blankets then deal with the nast sweaty stinky blanket under that saddle after a days travel hahaha!
Never slept outside have you
@@tomhenry897 If only you knew who you were talking too and what I do for a living.. I can sure as heck make my own sleeping arrangements according to my own likes and dislikes now cant I?
Pretty sure soldiers didn’t bring giant 6x6 or 6x9 A frame tents that you see in most reenactments today. Ridiculous and inaccurate but everyone do it, idk why
Some western regiments weren't issued tent halves until 1864, so it's not too inaccurate to have frame tents. Overall (east and west together) infantry used frame tents longer than tent halves and didn't get rid of them until their generals got tired of the wagon space they took. I don't know about the cavalry, though.
I can't speak for the Civil War, but I read a diary of an officer in Custer's regiment after the war. He talks about how he and his fellow officers have A tents and wall tents for their summer campaigns.
Pack train carried them
Threw everything away
Including their coats
If you ditch anymore kit, you might as well join the Confederates.😄