Customer Reviews

Horse Soldier, 1776-1850: The Revolution, the War of 1812, the Early Frontier 1776 - 1850 (Horse Soldier, 1776-1943)

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I was a friend of Randy from meeting him in 1991 til his death. He was one of the most persistent men I ever knew. Born in Oklahoma of mixed descent, Anglo and Native American, he attended the Naval Academy and served for many years. He became an accomplished artist and illustrator. He spent many years preparing his monumental work. Just when it was finished and ready to submit, he went to town on an errand, upon returning, he discovered his entire collection gone--the studio had burned to the ground. And he had to begin all over again. It is a testimony that he finished it and sent it in. Even though Volume Four was published post-humously. Not every man gets to fulfil his life's ambition as Randy did. Every illustration in this multi-volume work has been drawn by him from original materiel. Where relevent the complete text of regulations is quoted. For example, in the period which I research, that from the 1880s to today, the volume three, reprints the complete uniform regulations in the teens, not just the portion on mounted men. Thus, the work is useful also for those interested in the military up to 1943. One must elucidate on the title a bit. As stated, it is not just on the mounted horse cavalry so celebrated in John Wayne movies, but covers all the mounted troops, dragoons, mounted rifles, and cavalry in the period of the frontier expansion, before the Civil War, then both North and South, and the post war frontier patrolling days. Not only is the equipment, both individual and horse, of the cavalryman covered, so is that of the artillery man where it differed. The coverage is relevent to all mounted men--engineers, signalers, and hospital corpsmen, and their clothing and equipment.

This is an excellent multi-volume reference work with wonderful line drawings. If you want the best available books on the U.S. cavalry's material culture throughout its interesting history, you need these volumes.