THE YELLOWLEGS: The Story of the United States Cavalry

by Richard Wormser ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 4, 1966

While this is not yet the definitive work on its subject, it outstrips Merrill's Spurs to Glory (p.809), a more confined work if perhaps a more readable one. Wormser takes in more territory and gives short shrift to that paranoid disaster on horseback, George Armstrong Custer. He also discounts the famous episode of Teddy Roosevelt's capture of San Juan Hill with the Rough Riders (no troop horses were taken to Cuba). In between he covers the origins of the cavalry and its activities during the Revolutionary War, on to the time when cavalry outfits were mechanized and the last horse was cashiered in the '40's, not ignominiously. The Yellowlegs is well worth its price, reviewing, as it does, the Revolution, the War of 1812, the movement West, the settlement of New Mexico and California, the Civil War, the Indian Wars, Little Bighorn, and Pershing's invasion of Mexico--all with an eye on the action.

Pub Date: Nov. 4, 1966

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1966

Categories: NONFICTION