Any advance on the Charge of thre Heavy Brigade at Balaclava in 1854. The power of artillery & the rifle, as opposed to the musket made the horseman an increasingly ineffective means of waging war. Actually Balaclava is nonsense, I think we'd better scuttle off to Omdurman (1898) before anyone notices....... No disrespect to the Heavy Brigade, Jeff, but the charge of the Australian Light Horse at Beersheba in 1916 can also be regarded as the last successful cavalry charge, almost twenty years after Omdurman, and against a Turkish-German army with modern firepower. The Light Horse, a division under the British General Allenby, was technically a mounted infantry unit. They had no sabers, so they drew their Lee-Enfield bayonets and charged with them, and won the battle. There may be other examples since. In the Gulf War, a US cavalry unit with a few Abrams tanks and Bradleys charged through a much larger Iraqi armored unit, but only as a means of survival. They stumbled upon the Iraqi armor, and to run would have meant certain destruction.
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The US 26th Cavalry (Horse) fought the LAST "Horse Cavalry Action" (against Japanese tanks) in the Philippines in 1942. Congress no longer authorized the US Cavalry (Horse) at the end of '42.
In the US, prior to 1942, the US Cavalry was a mounted arm (horse units). It's missions were to exploit gaps made in enemy lines, conduct screening/security, and reconnaissance missions. The last US Horse Cavalry unit to fight from horse back was the US 26th Cavalry, which attacked Japanese light tanks in the Philippines during WWII in 1942. Congress officially de-activated (retired) the US Cavalry (Horse) in 1926. Post 1942, armor (tanks) have replaced the horse cavalry.
He was a member of a cavalry battalion.
At the outbreak of the war, most of the best cavalry officers joined the Confederates. Southern boys were more accustomed to the riding and shooting life, and not surprisingly, the Confederate cavalry ran rings round the Union in the first half of the war. There was a dramatic moment in May 1863 when the North suddenly pulled-off the most successful cavalry operation of all - a raid right down through the state of Mississippi that enabled Grant to cross the river unobserved by the garrison commander at Vicksburg. This not only helped to liberate the Mississippi and end the war in the West, but it was a triumph of good cavalry tactics in itself. The fact that it was led not by a West Point cavalryman but by a music teacher who was frightened of horses did not diminish the impact it made. After that, Union cavalry began to show equal calibre, though the legendary cavalry leaders of the war are still the Confederate ones.
A cavalry leader is the Troop Commander; a captain's position (slot).