Civil War Cavalry
Waging Mounted Warfare in Nineteenth-Century America
Will be published approx. on 31. August 2025
Book
Hardback
456 pages
978-0-8071-8444-8 (ISBN)
Description
The Civil War produced the largest cavalry force ever raised in American history. In Civil War Cavalry, Earl J. Hess examines that force comprehensively and from new perspectives, challenging standard views of the war's mounted arm. Hess surveys the organization, training, administration, arming, and mounting of cavalry units and examines mounted troops' tactical formations and maneuvers. He addresses the nature of cavalry operations, discussing the mounted charge, dismounted fighting, long-distance raids, the varied types of weapons used by troopers, and the difficulty of supplying horses. Hess also brings concepts from the burgeoning field of animal history to argue that cavalry mounts exercised a degree of agency in shaping their role in the large military machine. Civil War Cavalry is a sweeping and innovative history, establishing a new criterion for understanding how Americans waged mounted warfare in the mid-nineteenth century.
Reviews / Votes
"Boots and saddles, charges and countercharges, flashing sabers, bold young men commanding mighty and ever-faithful steeds, dashing romps through the countryside-this is usually what comes to mind when people think of mounted forces in the Civil War. There was, however, much, much more to the story. In Civil War Cavalry, Earl J. Hess once again offers a study that not only informs and entertains but offers fresh perspectives, insights, and analyses that are clearheaded, rooted in extensive research, and refreshingly free of the romanticism that often characterizes the treatment of cavalry. A splendid addition to Civil War scholarship." - Ethan S. Rafuse, author of From the Mountains to the Bay: The War in Virginia, January-May 1862"Civil War Cavalry is superbly holistic: both an institutional and operational history, combining a synopsis of the use of cavalry from the ancient world to the nineteenth century with the American experience, especially ideas about how cavalry should fight prior to the Civil War. Nuanced but comprehensive, with remarkable attention to how horse soldiers thought about cavalry's purpose and tactics, Civil War Cavalry is the best analysis of any nineteenth-century cavalry forces, perhaps the best on any post-medieval mounted forces." - Samuel J. Watson, author of Peacekeepers and Conquerors: The Army Officer Corps on the American Frontier, 1821-1846
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Baton Rouge
United States
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
36 halftones
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 158 mm
Thickness: 37 mm
Weight
762 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8071-8444-8 (9780807184448)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2025
Zando - Hillman Grad Books
€19.49
Available for download
Person
Earl J. Hess is professor emeritus of history at Lincoln Memorial University and the author or editor of twenty-nine books on the American Civil War, including Civil War Infantry Tactics: Training, Combat, and Small-Unit Effectiveness.