Davis
West Point Cadet Cavalry Drill - 1896 was released on: USA: November 1896
Union General David McMurtrie Gregg graduated from West Point in 1855. Among the 34 graduating cadets that year, he ranked 8th. He was to later serve in the Union cavalry. At the Battle of Gettysburg he was in charge of the 2nd Division under Cavalry Corps General Pleasonton. Gregg was assigned to take his division to Maryland and guard the rear of the Army of the Potomac.
Because he was a natural and enthusiastic horseman, who earned the rare distinction of 'honorary cavalry officer' while a cadet at West Point.
Gen. Custer with over 760 demerits
Ulysses Grant was 18 years of age when he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated at the age of 22 in the middle of his class. During his time at West Point he especially excelled in horsemanship. Indeed he was considered to be the finest horseman West Point ever produced and why he was not earmarked for the cavalry has confounded more then a few historians.
Ulysses S. Grant was born on April 27, 1822 in Pleasant Point, Ohio;however, he was raised on a farm in Georgetown, Ohio. He assisted on the farm but he hated tanning because he could not stand the sight of blood. At first he attended local schools, but later he went to Presbyterian Academy. Soon he was appointed to West Point Military Academy. The only things he was good at was Math and Horses. He wanted to be on the cavalry but because of his low grades he was assigned to the infantry.
Union General John Buford graduated from West Point in 1848. He was among the 38 cadets graduating that year and ranked 16th in his class. Buford was the commander of the 1st Division of the Cavalry Corps under General Alfred Pleasonton.
west
Grant was assigned to the Fourth Infantry at Jefferson Barracks. Missouri, near St. Louis, when he graduated from West Point.
At the outbreak of the war, most of the best cavalry officers joined the Confederates. Southern boys were more accustomed to the riding and shooting life, and not surprisingly, the Confederate cavalry ran rings round the Union in the first half of the war. There was a dramatic moment in May 1863 when the North suddenly pulled-off the most successful cavalry operation of all - a raid right down through the state of Mississippi that enabled Grant to cross the river unobserved by the garrison commander at Vicksburg. This not only helped to liberate the Mississippi and end the war in the West, but it was a triumph of good cavalry tactics in itself. The fact that it was led not by a West Point cavalryman but by a music teacher who was frightened of horses did not diminish the impact it made. After that, Union cavalry began to show equal calibre, though the legendary cavalry leaders of the war are still the Confederate ones.
William Tecumseh Sherman was a graduate of the West Point Military Academy in New York State. He later served as a general in the Cavalry in the Western United States.
General J.E.B. Stuart of the Confederate Army staged a successful cavalry raid north and west of Richmond during the American Civil War. Stuart's raid against Union supply lines and communication disrupted their operations and demonstrated the effectiveness of Confederate cavalry under his command.