men
instantly became actuated by a hundred different wills, and dispersed in
all directions--some of the riders hanging on to the pommels, with their
feet out of the stirrups, others tugging away at the bridles, and not a
few sprawling on the ground. After a few months' drills, however, a
different scene is presented, and an old troop horse becomes so
habituated to his exercises that not only will he perform all the
evolutions without guidance, but will even refuse to leave the ranks,
though under the most vigorous incitements of whip and spur. An officer
friend was once acting as cavalier to a party of ladies on horseback at
a review, when, unfortunately, the troop in which his horse belonged
happening to pass by, the animal bolted from the group of ladies, and
took his accustomed place in the ranks, nor could all the efforts of his
rider disengage him. Finally, our friend was obliged to dismount, and,
holding the horse by the bit, _back_ him out of the troop to his station
with the party of ladies--a feat performed amid much provoking laughter.

Cavalry can operate in masses only when circumstances are favorable--the
country open, and the ground free from obstructions. Yet it is in masses
alone that it can be effective, and it can triumph against infantry only
by a _shock_--from the precipitation of its weight upon the lines,
crushing them by the onset. Before the time of Frederic the Great, the
Prussian horsemen resembled those to be seen at a militia review--they
were a sort of picture soldiers, incapable of a vigorous charge. He
revolutionized the service by teaching that cavalry must achieve success
by a rapid onset, not stopping to fire themselves, and not regarding the
fire of their opponents. By practising these lessons, they were able to
overthrow the Austrian infantry. But if the force of a charge is
dissipated by obstructions on the ground, or is broken by the fire of
the assailed, the effectiveness of cavalry, as a participant in the
manoeuvres of a battle field, is entirely destroyed.

The question of the future of cavalry is at present one of great
interest among military investigators; for notwithstanding its
brilliant achievements during our civil war, the fact is apparent that
its sphere has been entirely changed, its old system has become
obsolete, and former possibilities no longer lie within its scope. Since
Waterloo there had not been, until our war commenced, any opportunity to
test the action o