Hi Vikki and Rhonda, I'll address to both as either one may have the answer. I was recently reading on another forum about the issue of infantry being turned into cav units in 1863 and 64 and this is my question: With such a great need for cav in the west, (Tenn, Miss,
La) why did many of the companies in the 5th loose their mounts in 1864 and spend the rest of the war on foot? Was it that so many did not re-enlist as VV and their horses went to troops that did, or were they being punished by a commanding general, or just simply
not connected politically as well as other regiments and lost out because of this? It struck me as typical govt/military action to take away a trained force of cav, only to replace them with untrained soldiers. If I'm correct (I'll have to check in my book on the 12th), the 12th Ill cav had a similar attempt made on them, but they were connected politically and the plan got squashed.
bg