Civil War Cavalry: Which types of horses were used?

With millions of horses used on both sides of the Civil War, there is a prevailing school of thought that mentions that both armies could not be picky and used whatever horses they could get. Was this true? What was the ideal horse type? How often did the army stray from what they really wanted? Join us in this video as we dive into the specifications of the "perfect" cavalry horse and compare that to photographic evidence of the period!

Additionally please visit us on facebook at:

Also, please check out our friends over at the 6th Ohio Mounted Buglers and 2nd Cavalry Brigade Band at:

[Justinhendrix]

My 3rd great grandfather was a saddler sargent/master saddler for the 14th Kentucky cavalry. He took instructions from the commanding officer of the regiment, and he repaired the horse equipment for the field, staff, and band. He was paid 17 dollars a month.

[relivinghistory]

Another excellent presentation.
I am a cavalry reenactor from the UK

[johnmcclure]

My GG GRANDFATHER was in the 3rd Indiana cavalry and an old ten type photo showed him on a white or gray color horse (lighter color anyway) that according to his military record was his own horse. When captured and sent to Andersonville records list " horse and horse equipments captured same day". Service records indicate the government owed him when he was released at war's end. Horse actually looked more like a draft/work horse.

[maryalicesawesomevids]

Thanks my library teacher recommended this I am doing research on horses in the civil war

[jillatherton]

I was looking for horses used in the English civil war, with no success. However this video has been very helpful, TY. 👍

[qassandraable]

I won a horsemastership competition which included a test on the cavalry's manual. It started right out with the essential: "There are four bones in the horse's foot, the long pastern bone, the short pastern bone, the coffin bone, and the navicular bone."

Interestingly, there were detailed instructions about spotting anthrax in bison and the drastic measures that must be taken in that case. Are there contemporary records of the bison herds being infected?

[davidellis]

Enjoying your videos today as your newest subscriber on this blizzard day when I'm hugging the stove and watching the Daytona 500.
I did "stable call" and fed our 3 Amigos this morning walking thru the horizontal snow. I'll do evening chores and feeding in blizzard conditions. (The rider at the 3:02 mark could probably "soften his seat" some more by relaxing his hips. Easy to say, but hard to do on a swift moving mount. My wife, the trainer, is calling out "eyes up, heels down!")

[travisdozier]

My 4th great grandfather was in the 4th Texas Calvary.

[markwarnberg]

There is an old saying when judging a horse. "The horse should be Four Square and a Hand Wide. Sound in Wind and Limb". Very simple: The legs are squarely under the horse, the Hand is the Width between the eyes, (room for a brain) fist between the jaw and width between the breast (room for heart and lungs).

[twostep]

"Bottom" is such a great word. A man with bottom was a rider who could stay in the saddle; a man you could count on. I can see why they wanted a horse which wouldn't throw its rider and dash off. You didn't mention geldings; it was the practice in European armies to geld all male horses. A stud who smelled a mare in heat could destroy the cohesion of a unit. A European officer who came to observe our war was astounded that we just mixed things up. In Europe, horses & men were divided by size into Light (the Light Brigade of Crimean War infamy, often lancers), Medium (dragoons, mounted infantry), and Heavy ("big men, on big horses, with big swords").

[daveb.]

Thanks for the insight as I'm painting up 28mm 7th Cavalry minitures. I thought Cisco from Dances with Wolves would be a good standard, but, realize they probably need to be darker.

[kidhammer]

Steve, this is another truly fine example, via presentation, of the knowledge, as per experiential living history and from the period regulations of the day to cause your viewers to learn the truth of the matter, if not to purchase wisely our next equine cavalry partner. Thanks for the concise and fact-loaded video, sir.

[themischeifguide]

Funny, I was wondering what the standard for horses was yesterday.

[wordcarr]

Of course it's a special case, but there's one famous Civil War military horse that wasn't dark. It was Gen Lee's horse: Traveller. Also, I don't think the Confederates were too picky about the horses they used. For instance, I know the farmers around Gettysburg took their horses to the surrounding mountains in order to hide them from the invading army in June/July of 1863. *_Any_* local horses found would have been appropriated into Lee's army.

[danielmeans]

This guy is good in front of the camera. Good teacher.

[Beaguins]

In Leander Stillwell's memoir he mentions seeing a column of Confederate cavalry with a rider on a white horse. When the federals opened fire, they all fired at that rider and "that luckless steed soon went down in a cloud of dust, and that was the end of old Whitey." This is probably why the regs call for dark horses; the light ones attract attention.
Nevertheless, in Henry Calvert's memoir he talks about each troop of his regiment having a certain horse color, and Troop C was mounted on grey (white) horses.

[joehayward]

Great videos, I've read several books ( history ‽?) During civil war many officers rode there own and in the south a huge calvary and home guards had to have there own horses.

[tracyjohnson]

General Lee's horse Traveler was a gray, not white.

For those days 15.2 hands was a fairly tall horse, especially given that many men were around 5'8" tall or even less.

[emilevictorfrench]

Thank you again for excellent information. When you have a chance, I would like to see information on how well the service kept to the standards on cavalry soldiers. One source I read states that one should be 165 lbs or lighter, 35 yrs or less and not married. My great grandfather was 35, weighed in the neighborhood of 160 lbs and was married on enlistment in the 3rd Wisconsin. I am sure many things were ignored to get bodies in the saddles, but I think the weight aspect was most important.
On the nature of horses, he was thrown from his horse when it responded to a bugle call when his company was pursuing "Bushwakers". The horse stopped immediately, and he didn't.

[abeldasilva]

11OVC love your videos watching from Canada.