Whose blood is not stirred with a throng of
memories connected with the noble achievements of the war horse and his
rider? Who does not imagine a panorama of all that is gay and glorious
in warfare--prancing coursers, gilded trappings, burnished sabres,
waving pennons, and glittering helmets--rank after rank of gallant
riders--anon the blast of bugles, the drawing of sabres, the mighty
rushing of a thousand steeds, the clash of steel, the shout, the
victory? The chief romance of war attaches itself to the deeds
accomplished by the assistance of the power and endurance of man's
noblest servant. Every one has read so much poetry about valiant youths,
mounted on fiery yet docile steeds, doing deeds of miraculous prowess in
the ranks of their enemies--our literature is so full of tapestried
representations of knightly retinues and charging squadrons--the
towering form of Murat is so conspicuous in the narratives of the
Napoleonic wars--and history has so often repeated the deeds of those
horsemen who performed such illustrious feats in the combats of half a
century ago, that we associate with the cavalry only ideas of splendor
and glory, of wild freedom and dashing gallantry. But the cavalry
service is far different from such vague and fanciful imaginations.
Instead of ease, there is constant labor; instead of freedom, there is a
difficult system of discipline and tactics; and instead of frequent
opportunities for glorious charges, there is a constant routine of
toilsome duty in scouting and picketing, with rarely an opportunity for
assisting prominently in the decision of a great battle, or of winning
renown in overthrowing the ranks of an enemy by the impetuous rush of a
mass of horses against serried bayonets.

In many respects cavalry is the most difficult branch of military
service to maintain and to operate. It is exceedingly costly, on account
of the great loss of horses by the carelessness of the men, by overwork,
by disease, and by the fatalities of battle. The report of General
Halleck, for the year 1863, stated that from May to October there were
from ten thousand to fourteen thousand cavalry in the Army of the
Potomac, while the number of horses furnished them for the same period
was thirty-five thousand; adding to these the horses taken by capture
and used for mounting men, the number would be sufficient to give each
man a horse every _two months_. There were two hundred and twenty-three
regiments of cavalry i