Civil War Oddities #102

A dead horse often formed an impromptu barricade for one or more fighting men under enemy fire. Especially when pickets were snipping at one another at short range, protection of this sort was highly prized even if the animal was “giving off odors of putrefaction.”

Civil War Oddities #101

When a private in an infantry unit was wounded, it was customary for an officer to dismount and provide him with a horse if he was strong enough to “retire from the field.” Fighting on his own two feet instead of in the saddle proved awkward and uncomfortable, or worse, for many a colonel who accepted the unwritten code according to which “wounded men capable of survival come first.”

Civil War Oddities #100

Most Federal and some Confederate cavalry units rode to battle but dismounted as soon as action was expected. Because the typical horseman fought on foot, one-fourth of the manpower of most cavalry regiments was needed for the essential job of horse holding.

Civil War Oddities #99

During the trial of Mary Surratt, accused of aiding John Wilkes Booth, many believed she was innocent even after a military tribunal convicted her. On the day set for her execution, Brig. General Winfield S. Hancock had reason to believe that President Andrew Johnson might issue a reprieve. Hancock therefore established relays of horses, whose riders were to race to the grounds of the Washington Arsenal if the hanging was deferred.

Civil War Oddities #98

Union cavalrymen were usually provided with a government-owned horse, but an exception was found in the case of the Third Pennsylvania Cavalry, whose men rode their own steeds.

Any enlisted man who brought his own mount was entitled to fifty cents a day in extra pay. Bu October 1861, virtually all units were offered animals owned by the government.

One year later, the federal government owned approximately 150,000 horse and 100,000 mules. During the first two years of fighting, Union cavalry units, which never had more than 62,000 men in the field, were supplied with about 240,000 horses. Before Lee surrendered, Federal funds had paid for an estimated 840,000 horses and at least 430,000 mules.

Confederate officers and mounted troopers were required to provide their own animals, for which they were reimbursed at the rate of forty cents per day. Its owner had to find a new one when a horse was killed, worn out, or lost; if that proved impossible, he was transferred to infantry service.

Civil War Oddities #97

Considered unfit for service, because she was female, as a nurse when she offered to go with the First Michigan Cavalry, Bridget Divers refused to take “no” for an answer. Purchasing a small supply of staple goods, she accompanied the unit as a vivandiere, somewhat like “a female sutler.” While with the regiment she served in the roles as nurse, hospital steward, ward master and even surgeon. She had three horses killed under her in actual battle, and lost ten in various ways throughout the course of the war.

Near Dinwiddie Court House, the First Michigan was involved in a hot skirmish with Confederate cavalry and one of the captains of the regiment was killed. Bridget knew that the captain had fallen, and when the regiment was driven from the field, she determined to retrieve his body. Riding alone into the midst of the gray troopers, she quickly placed the body on her horse and rode off to the amazement of the Confederates. After a twelve-mile ride, Bridget caught up with the rest of the regiment and delivered the corpse for proper burial.

Little or nothing is known about the man she followed to war, but Bridget liked military life so well that she remained with the U.S. Army as a laundress after the end of hostilities. Hundreds of soldiers knew Divers’ wife simply as “Irish Biddy,” and a smaller number persisted in calling her “Michigan Bridget.”