"Officers & Horses" Topic

With the exception of cavalry, and perhaps artillery,what rank of officer was allowed to ride horses while on campaign or in combat?

For the infantry, the Major, Lt Colonel & Colonel of a regiment were mounted. In many cases the Adjutant, Surgeon & Assistant Surgeon were also mounted. Some other regimental staff may from time to time have had horses, depending upon the need.

The entire Brigade staff would have been mounted, except for company clerks and other enlisted, who would have been with the Brigade HQ baggage train. The only enlisted with the Brigade staff who would have been mounted would have been 1-2 musicians (buglers) and the Brigade color sgt, if a distinctive color was carried.

Division and corps HQ would have followed in pretty much the same manner.

Also at the division level, the Lt and Sgt in charge of the Division ambulance train were mounted, the 2 litter bearers and driver/ambulance riding in their vehicles. Some officers in the Division and Corps trains would also be mounted, as well as the officers and senior NCO's of the Division Hospital.

Keep in mind that officers had to purchase their own horses, saddles & tack, and paid for forage as well, so quality of both the animal and accoutrements could vary somewhat.

Officers who were authorized horses were given a certain number of rations and forage as part of their pay. These could be taken as actual food and forage, or a monetary equivalent if they chose.

You can sort of see who would rate a horse in the infantry by their places in the battle line. Captains and lieutenants actually stood in (or directly behind) the line of battle and could not have done so if on horseback. Majors and above had jobs that called for them to move around a great deal and they were better off mounted.

Thank you! This helps a lot. I was going to create a few command stands and wanted to do more than the usual grouping of regimental officers on foot.

As I recall, officers seldom rode their horses when in battle. It was a death sentence for any officer to lead his men from horseback, as he became a target for every enemy soldier.

Due to the high number of ranking Officers killed and wounded in ACW. I wonder how many were mounted vs dismounted.

Seems like a lot of officers had horses shot out under them

The advantage of being able to see farther on horseback is rather amazing (from personal experience), but you probably wouldn't want do so close to the enemy.