th all leaders to take to
dismounted action, and will have realized that one has far more
frequently to check rather than encourage this tendency; but he will
also come to the conclusion, perhaps, that this desire is well founded
on existing conditions, and that even a determined Cavalry will have
to make use of their firearms almost every day; indeed, without
adequate employment of their carbines they are no longer able to carry
out the most important of their incumbent duties.

Hence, if the use of the rifle is thus shown by instances taken from
the most divergent directions to be of absolute necessity, the
conclusion follows that even in the battle itself, that point on which
all military action is focussed, it can hardly fail to find both its
opportunities and its full justification.

In this direction the horsemen of Stuart and Sheridan have set us a
brilliant example, taking part on foot in regular pitched battles
(Stuart at Fredericksburg, and Sheridan at Five Forks), and deciding,
rifle in hand, the fate of numerous engagements, in order immediately
afterwards to mount and pursue the enemy by a succession of vehement
charges (Stuart at Brandy Station).

The South African War also has shown us what can be done by a mounted
force supplied with a reliable firearm. The Boers fought exclusively
as Cavalry (_sic_), supported by Artillery, and some of the most
celebrated British Infantry regiments suffered defeat at their hands
as long as the numerical proportion was not altogether too
unfavourable to the assailants.

Even in dismounted attack, particularly in the later period of the
war, they often attained very considerable successes, and thus proved
incontrovertibly that the double role of Cavalry on foot and on
horseback is thoroughly practical; for even the charge itself of these
same Boers often achieved brilliant results, although they were
lacking in any kind of tactical training for this particular
result.[4]

[Footnote 4: I venture to differ from the author. The Boers
did not fight as Cavalry. Their whole tactics were those of
Mounted Infantry. They did on one or two occasions bring
about a decision by rifle fire from their horses, but I can
recall no instance where they actually charged--_i.e._,
endeavoured to decide the action by shock.--C. S. G.]

Certainly weapons and numbers have altered materially since the days
of the American Civil War, and