Mary Lee Stubbs and Stanley Russell Connor

“ Fortunately the Volunteers, after training with the Springfields, were almost convinced that its single-shot action, except in rapid-fire target practice, was as effective as the newer magazine-type carbine, and that the Springfield's larger bullet was more deadly. Two large forces, one in the east and one in the west, assembled simultaneously. ”

“ When the immediate danger subsided about five months later, the division and brigade organizations were broken up and the units comprising them returned to their former stations. One important result of the experiment was the decision to move cavalry to permanent stations in the southwest, and some outfits that had been employed there in mounted patrol duty remained in the area. When counterrevolutions occurred in Mexico in 1913, back to the border area went a large part of the Regular Army. ”

“ The new plan called for 2 cavalry and 7 infantry divisions. A cavalry division consisted of a headquarters, 3 brigades (each with 3 cavalry regiments) , a horse field artillery regiment, a mounted engineer battalion, a mounted signal battalion, an aero squadron, and the necessary trains: ammunition, supply, engineer, and sanitary. The remaining 7 authorized cavalry regiments were assigned to the 7 infantry divisions, a regiment to each division, to provide a mobile force capable of performing reconnaissance, counterreconnaissance, and security missions for the division. ”

“ Yet there were a farsighted few who believed in the gasoline engine and would not let their experiences discourage them in their plans for future developments. During these years some changes were made in the composition of the cavalry regiments. In 1906 a machine gun platoon, commanded by a commissioned officer, was added to each regiment, and in 1912 a headquarters detachment and a supply detachment were added. By 1915 the machine gun platoon and the headquarters and supply detachments had become experimental troops, and the next year they became permanent. ”

“ Adna R. Chaffee, Sr., an experienced Indian fighter; the cavalry regiment was the 6th, the same organization in which General Chaffee had enlisted as a private in 1861. While the regimental headquarters and 1st Squadron, 6th Cavalry, guarded American interests in Tientsin, the 3d Squadron formed a part of the force that stormed the walls of "The Forbidden City" at Peking and became the first white troops to enter the city. In China, the American cavalrymen met and fought beside cavalrymen of other nations. ”

“ In preparation for service in two widely separated parts of the world, thousands of men and horses moved by way of Chickamauga, Georgia, to Tampa, Florida, for shipment to the West Indies and some 10,000 men in San Francisco awaited transportation to the Philippine Islands. ”

“ The act also provided that volunteers having special qualifications in horsemanship and marksmanship were to be assigned to cavalry for service either mounted or dismounted. Both Volunteer cavalry organizations were disbanded on 2 July 1901. The service of the cavalry in the Philippine Islands after the capture of Aguinaldo, the leader of the Filipino independence movement, in March 1901 might well be described as daily and nightly patrols by small detachments commanded by junior officers. These little groups often encountered large bands of insurgents armed with bolos and U.S. rifles. ”