Tango01  | 28 Apr 2015 11:49 a.m. PST |
As this pic show there were Lanciers in the ACW (?).
If the answer is yes, do you used in your wargames and which miniatures are there in 25mm of them?
From here
link Thanks in advance for your guidance. Amicalement
Armand |
| wminsing | 28 Apr 2015 11:52 a.m. PST |
My understanding is that while the unit was issued lances, it only used them in one engagement (and never actually got to use them) and then they were discarded. -Will |
 ColCampbell | 28 Apr 2015 1:48 p.m. PST |
IIRC Rush's Lancers (6th Penn cavalry) were first deployed in the Peninsula during little Mac's campaign against Richmond. They had such trouble with the lances in the woods and thickets of Virginia that they were discarded in favor of more standard sabers, carbines, and pistols. Jim |
| Bill N | 28 Apr 2015 2:54 p.m. PST |
I believe Rush's was one of the units engaged in chasing Stuart in his ride around the Army of the Potomac. |
| William Warner | 28 Apr 2015 3:05 p.m. PST |
Some of the 5th Texas Cavalry were armed with lances and charged with them at the battle of Valverde, New Mexico. It did not end well. link |
| HistoryPhD | 28 Apr 2015 4:58 p.m. PST |
Don't forget Debray's Texas Lancers (26th Texas Cavalry). Luckily, they discarded the lances very early on, but the name stuck. |
| zippyfusenet | 28 Apr 2015 5:16 p.m. PST |
What you need are standard-bearer figures. Lots and lots of standard-bearers. |
| Tango01 | 28 Apr 2015 11:31 p.m. PST |
If lancers were used at the Crimean War, why not in the ACW? A matter of skills? Amicalement
Armand |
| wminsing | 29 Apr 2015 6:32 a.m. PST |
Combination of training (or lack of it), worse terrain, more prolific rifled weapons, better cavalry small arms, etc. -Will |
| John the Greater | 29 Apr 2015 6:35 a.m. PST |
Rush's Lancers were used for headquarters escort many times. Their monument at Gettysburg features lances prominently. Tango – I am guessing that lancers were not used because it was a pain to drag all that wood over the large distances that American armies traversed (breathtaking compared to European armies' travels) and charging cavalry against infantry was usually suicide during the War, so charging with lances was simply better looking suicide. As for the question about painting lancers for my armies. Of course I do, for the same reason that I have Louisiana Tigers, 14th Brooklyn Chasseurs and the Iron Brigade. Everyone has to have cool looking units! |
| donlowry | 29 Apr 2015 9:26 a.m. PST |
As I understand it, the main reason the lances were discarded was the highly wooded nature of much of the Virginia countryside -- lots of overhanging branches for the lances to snag on. Ironically, they discarded them just before moving to the more open countryside of southern Pennsylvania. |
| Tango01 | 29 Apr 2015 10:55 a.m. PST |
Thanks for the explanations my friends!. Amicalement
Armand |
| GoodOldRebel | 29 Apr 2015 2:32 p.m. PST |
1st Corps produce some nice models of the 6th Pennsylvania in 28mm |
| John Miller | 29 Apr 2015 3:25 p.m. PST |
Tango01: Lances or no lances, IMHO, one of the better Union Cavalry Regiments. John Miller |
| EJNashIII | 29 Apr 2015 7:55 p.m. PST |
I have the lancers in 10mm for a game I did. I converted some Perrin cav flag bearers. They were heavily engaged in the lead up to South Mountain. Skirmishing with Texas cav West of Frederick and in the Middletown valley. The high point of the running battles was in the yard of a small school house east of Burkittsville. The Lancers formed on one side and the Texas men on the other. Lances and sabers were drawn and the fight was on. The children watched the spectacle from the windows of the school house. Imagine the scene! I assume firearms were not used to protect the children from stray fire. After a short, but sharp engagement, the Rebels retreated to the town. |
| EJNashIII | 29 Apr 2015 8:12 p.m. PST |
Rush's Lancers were considered the best horsemen in the AOP in the early war period. However, their real claim to historical fame is Captain Frank Furness of Company F. He received the medal of honor at Trevilian Station. After the war he became an architect, likely the very best American one of the post war period. Interestingly, PTSD from the war quickly affected his design work. This led to a radical departure in design ideas that would thru his students lead directly to the American modernist movement in the 20th century and the idea of the steel sky scraper. Frank LLoyd Wright was a student of a student (Louis Sullivan) of Furness. |
| donlowry | 01 May 2015 9:15 a.m. PST |
Yes, the Lancers were good horsemen; that's why they were in the Reserve Brigade with the Regulars. |
| EJNashIII | 22 Jun 2015 9:36 p.m. PST |
They have an original Lance from the unit on display at the NPS Tredegar visitor center in Richmond. |
prepares to do some regimental-level ACW gaming.
