Scourge of War Boards

Since there is an Artillery Men thread, thought I would start a Cavalry Men thread after seeing a gross error on the TC2M forum. Namely, a writer stated that when cavalry was dismounted, the "fifth" man held the horses of the dismounted four. Incorrect! Unlike the infantry which count by two's, the cavalry counts by four's. In the Cooke manual describing how to dismount and fight on foot, "Prepare to fight - ON FOOT", all prepare to dismount except number 4. Following "motions" direct 1, 2, & 3 to dismount, pass their reins over the horse's head, and secure the reins with number 3 passing his reins to number 4. Numbers 1 and 2 tie their reins to the cheek strap/nose band of the horses of number 2 and 3. (This was later changed to the Link Strap.)

As that writer said, however, it would be nice to see the number fours moved the horses to the rear. While working on Son of Morning Star, we executed the charge by Reno on the southern end of the village. At that time, I rode a 16 hand gelding and acted as a number 4 (I was tired of getting up and down on that tall horse) and volunteered. With all the gunfire and "whooping Indians", the horses were understandably nervous. We found that if we simply kept circling in place, they seemed to be preoccupied and weren't spooked so easily. (Served the same position in North & South when the cavalry came over the ridge to stop Lee's infantry from pushing to the west.)

Jack Hanger
Fremont, NE

Kerflumoxed wrote:

Since there is an Artillery Men thread, thought I would start a Cavalry Men thread after seeing a gross error on the TC2M forum. Namely, a writer stated that when cavalry was dismounted, the "fifth" man held the horses of the dismounted four. Incorrect! Unlike the infantry which count by two's, the cavalry counts by four's. In the Cooke manual describing how to dismount and fight on foot, "Prepare to fight - ON FOOT", all prepare to dismount except number 4. Following "motions" direct 1, 2, & 3 to dismount, pass their reins over the horse's head, and secure the reins with number 3 passing his reins to number 4. Numbers 1 and 2 tie their reins to the cheek strap/nose band of the horses of number 2 and 3. (This was later changed to the Link Strap.)

As that writer said, however, it would be nice to see the number fours moved the horses to the rear. While working on Son of Morning Star, we executed the charge by Reno on the southern end of the village. At that time, I rode a 16 hand gelding and acted as a number 4 (I was tired of getting up and down on that tall horse) and volunteered. With all the gunfire and "whooping Indians", the horses were understandably nervous. We found that if we simply kept circling in place, they seemed to be preoccupied and weren't spooked so easily. (Served the same position in North & South when the cavalry came over the ridge to stop Lee's infantry from pushing to the west.)

Jack Hanger
Fremont, NE

How many movies have you worked on exactly?

My apologies.

Greg B)

Gfran64 wrote:

My apologies.

Greg B)

O'K...I'll bite. Apologies for what?

Jack Hanger
Fremont, NE

Armchair General wrote:

Kerflumoxed wrote:

Since there is an Artillery Men thread, thought I would start a Cavalry Men thread after seeing a gross error on the TC2M forum. Namely, a writer stated that when cavalry was dismounted, the "fifth" man held the horses of the dismounted four. Incorrect! Unlike the infantry which count by two's, the cavalry counts by four's. In the Cooke manual describing how to dismount and fight on foot, "Prepare to fight - ON FOOT", all prepare to dismount except number 4. Following "motions" direct 1, 2, & 3 to dismount, pass their reins over the horse's head, and secure the reins with number 3 passing his reins to number 4. Numbers 1 and 2 tie their reins to the cheek strap/nose band of the horses of number 2 and 3. (This was later changed to the Link Strap.)

As that writer said, however, it would be nice to see the number fours moved the horses to the rear. While working on Son of Morning Star, we executed the charge by Reno on the southern end of the village. At that time, I rode a 16 hand gelding and acted as a number 4 (I was tired of getting up and down on that tall horse) and volunteered. With all the gunfire and "whooping Indians", the horses were understandably nervous. We found that if we simply kept circling in place, they seemed to be preoccupied and weren't spooked so easily. (Served the same position in North & South when the cavalry came over the ridge to stop Lee's infantry from pushing to the west.)

Jack Hanger
Fremont, NE

How many movies have you worked on exactly?

Nine.....I think, not counting the historical bits. They all run together after a while...and it has been a while since I was involved. Actually, it was in the last century! (Now where is the Emoticon that says, "I am older than dirt!" :unsure:

Jack Hanger
Fremont, NE

I'm pretty sure I was one of the authors of the of a cavalry post on horse holders being every 5th instead of every 4th man.

Greg B)

Gfran64 wrote:

I'm pretty sure I was one of the authors of the of a cavalry post on horse holders being every 5th instead of every 4th man.

Greg B)

Ah, I see. Not a major problem. Unless one has studied the "tactics" of the day and read the manuals, wouldn't expect a person to know. It is just one of the very, minor points for gaming.

Hope I wasn't offensive in my post.

Jack Hanger
Fremont, NE

Not in the least offended. I tried to read the manual. Boy is that hard to get through.

Greg

Gfran64 wrote:

Not in the least offended. I tried to read the manual. Boy is that hard to get through.

Greg

No question about it! Even the Boys of 61 had a hard time. That helps to explain why there so many "volunteer" manuals...to help explain the "official" manual. Baxter's for the infantry, Patton's for the cavalry, et.al. There was a myriad of them.

The best, IMHO, is the one written by then Major William Gilham (soon to be a Confederate general) who was directed by the state of Virginia to prepare a "Manual of Instruction for the Volunteers and Militia of the United States during the years immediately preceding the war. The purpose was simply to provide a manual of "subjects that few men who have not been regularly trained in the military service have much familiarity with."

It is a great manual, written fairly simple language and covers all three branches of I, C, and A. Altogether, over 700 pages of tactics, army organization, target practice, duties in camp, etc. I picked up an original copy at the Gettysburg book show back in the 70's when I lived in the northern Shenandoah Valley and recently picked up a reprint. Watch Ebay, if you are interested, and you will occasionally see one for sale.

The original I have is red-covered and I have seen them in green and blue. Apparently the original wartime owner of this was an artilleryman (although each has the same info) as in the back pages he drew a pencil sketch showing a piece of artillery with all the places of the gun crew in position. Unfortunately, there is no name or unit listed.

Jack Hanger
Fremont, NE

FWIW! The Encore Western channel has been running "They Died With Their Boots On" the past few days. Of course we all know that the historical events portrayed in this early epic are extraordinarily accurate! :ohmy: (If you agree with this, I have some prime waterfront property for sale in Florida!)

Anyway, there is at least one interesting scene that correlates with an earlier discussion, namely, horse holders. It occurs when Custer (Errol Flynn) dismounts his men at the bridge crossing a creek (I suppose this is Bull Run) to prevent the Federal infantry from being cut off during the retreat. If you watch closely, you will see in the background the number four's leading the mounts away.

Yes, I know, I have too much time on my hands while waiting for the pubication of the game...163 and counting!

Jack Hanger
Fremont, NE