COB9KY@aol.com
Mon, 6 Dec 1999 17:49:58 EST
In a message dated 06/12/99 21:09:06 GMT Standard Time, sj@c1944.demon.co.uk
writes:
<< For four long years. It was finished by cavalry and mounted infantrymen
fighting afoot with repeating weapons. It was the Union cavalry (moving
faster than Lee's infantry) that enabled Grant to cut off the ANV's
retreat at Appomattox and so bring about the capitulation in that
theatre. >>
Erm no, it was Lee's decimated Army (what was left of Gordon's and
Longstreet's Corps) turning round at Appomattox only to discover the massed
ranks of the XXIV, V, II and VI Corps (Infantry) that caused Lee to seek
terms. Cavalry could not successfully attack formed Infantry with rifled
longarms full stop. Cavalry or Dismounted Cavalry or Mounted Infantry did not
drive Lee out of the works at Petersburg either.
I repeat, the Infantry, Artillery and the Enfield and Springfield rifle,
fought, won and lost the war. All the 'butterfly' units and the super-duper
weapons had a negligible effect on its' outcome.
Chris O'Brien
The Scalawag Mess
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Tue 30 Jan 2001 - 02:31:01 GMT