"The Evolution of Cavalry Tactic: How Technology ..." Topic

…Drove Change

"Young Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson, a member of the West Point class of 1861 who was known as Harry to his family and friends, commanded the Cavalry Corps of the Military Division of the Mississippi, in 1865. Wilson's Corps consisted of roughly 13,500 troopers organized into three divisions, commanded by Brig. Gens. Edward M. McCook, Eli Long, and Emory Upton. Each trooper carried seven-shot Spencer carbines, meaning that this was the largest, best armed, best mounted force of cavalry ever seen on the North American continent to date. Capable of laying down a vast amount of rapid and effective firepower, Wilson's Corps proved to be a juggernaut. In short, Wilson commanded a mounted army that could move from place to place quickly and efficiently and was capable of laying down a previously inconceivable amount of concentrated firepower.

On March 22, 1865, Wilson's mounted army began a lengthy raid through Alabama intended to eviscerate what remained of the Confederate Deep South, all while operations around Petersburg, Virginia moved toward their climax, and on the day after Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's ultimate battlefield victory at Bentonville in North Carolina. Wilson's mounted army was to deliver the coup de grace to a dying Confederacy…"

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