"Little Phil" and his troopersThe life of GenPhilip HSheridanIts romance and reality: how an humble lad reached the head of an army .. . ribleweapon in the hands of its lead-ers for more than the first halfof the war period. The con-tempt of our organizers for thisarm of the service brought to thepeople who deserved it not, agood deal of severe is recalled as an illustrationof how little men, set-in theirways, can unlearn, even by expe-rience, that as late as the fall of1864, and during the rapid retreat from Missouri of General SterlingPrice aiKl his army, mostly mounted, that R
"Little Phil" and his troopersThe life of GenPhilip HSheridanIts romance and reality: how an humble lad reached the head of an army .. . ribleweapon in the hands of its lead-ers for more than the first halfof the war period. The con-tempt of our organizers for thisarm of the service brought to thepeople who deserved it not, agood deal of severe is recalled as an illustrationof how little men, set-in theirways, can unlearn, even by expe-rience, that as late as the fall of1864, and during the rapid retreat from Missouri of General SterlingPrice aiKl his army, mostly mounted, that Rosecrans, commanding theDepartment of Missouri, coming up on the tail of the pursuit, sneeredaudibly at General Curtis, commanding the Department of Kansas,for pressing the enemy with the mounted forces under his control,which comprised only about half his command, and was much less innumbers than Prices beaten army. General Rosecrans remarked tothe officer in command of an engineer party, that Curtis could notkeep it up. Our marches were then some thirty miles a day whennot fighting. Youll see; Ill have to come up at last with my. GEN. PHIL H. SHERIDAN. 30^ infantry. As a matter of fact, in that pursuit Rosys infantry nevergot within fifty miles of a battle-field, and Price was three times routed,and driven finally across the Arkansas River, 200 miles below wherethe infantry was to come up, if at all. The Southern leaders, certainly at first, understood the logistics ofthe situation better than our own authorities. One reason of that is per-haps to be found in the fact that so many of the Confederate command-ers— those from the regular service especially — had been in thecavalry service. Jefferson Davis himself evidently appreciated thisarm, as he took especial pains while Secretary of War, under Pierce,in organizing four additional regiments to the regular army, to procurethe legislation necessary to equip thein as cavalry, and then to officerthem with those who, it seeme
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectsherida, bookyear1888
