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SOLDIERS ON HORSEBACK by W.E. Butterworth

SOLDIERS ON HORSEBACK

By

Pub Date: Jan. 27th, 1966
Publisher: Norton

The author, himself an ex-Armored Cavalryman, here charges quickly through the history of the horse soldiers in the United States. The text reads like an expanded chronology, heavily larded with the names of cavalry leaders, their fighting units, and the places where they saw action, and with sundry dates and statistics. There is a good deal of eulogistic commentary on the men, which makes it difficult for the reader to distinguish between the times when cavalry fighting was useful tactically (as during the Indian Wars) and when it was unnecessary (as with the unmounted Rough Riders). Explanations of how dragoons could be used in battle as distinct from other types of units, and the evolution of their fighting methods, is extremely limited. The subject may appeal to boys, but they will probably find the approach too summary.