Suggested Reading

[volcav]

Here are some more that I've found to be interesting and or helpful;

Cavalry Tactics: or Regulations for the Instruction, Formations, and Movements of the Cavalry by Phillip St. George Cooke, I got my copy from Dixie Gunworks.

Glory Gone Forgotten, the Untold Story of the 12th Kentucky Cavalry by Barry d. Goodall Jr. Barry's GGGrandad rode with my GGGrandad in the 12th Ky Volunteer Cav U.S.

Union Cavalryman 1861-1865 by Philip Katcher and Richard Hook this one has lots of drawings, paintings, and photos.

Civil War Era Etiquette a combination of Arthur Martine's Handbook etiquette first published in 1866 and some other period references.

The Union Cavalry in the Civil War Volumes 1, 2, and 3 by Stephen Starr.

You may notice a Yankee slant to my choice of reading material.

The Civil War Reenactor's Blackpowder Guide by David T. Smith

[Ken Knopp]

This is an excellent thread!!!

For a list of my favorites I would be typing quite a long time. However, they would include several infantry reads though cavalry would naturally dominate.
For a good listing I might echo with some detail what Chris Utley posted regarding the list on my web site. Go to.... http://confederatesaddles.com/cswp/?page_id=752
It is a pretty comprehensive list of cavalry diaries and reminiscences (D & R's). Over the years I have read, I believe, every one of them and for most, I have included a short review. For those interested in regimental specific D & R's I tried to note the regiment or command in the review as well as the theater of war, etc. so as to provide some good reference options. Most of these are excellent, some are hard to find being out of print but many are readily available online somewhere (try GOOGLE) or via AMAZON and quite inexpensive (i.e. "cheap").
A number of them are obscure and only found in university archives, private collections, etc. The only way to access the university ones is to go online to view a specific university collection lisitng- then contact the university library to see if you can get a photo copy. I have been quite successful in this. Interestingly, while many of the best D & R's have been published at some time the more obscure, unplublished D & R's are quite good. I just finished reading the diary of J.A. Bigger, 2nd Miss. Cav, Armstrong Brigade. and the diary of Jesse R Sparkman from the Jeff Davis Legion ANV cavalry- both from the University of Mississippi and both pretty good.
The list crashed on me once and I lost alot of data but I think I have recouped most of it although I need to add a few. In any event, take a look at the list I think most will find it a good place to start for your winter reading.


Ken R Knopp
www.confederatesaddles.com

[Choatecav]

Well, I went trail riding yesterday morning in Buck Snort, TN., and when I got home, I got hit with stomach/intestinal flu............so, I am just coming back into the world of the living and was elated to see this thread. Some great listings and books. I see that Tommy mentioned one of my favorites in "Sherman's Horsemen". A few others that I would recommend would be:

a) "A History of Morgan's Cavalry" by Basil Duke

b) "The Campaigns of Gen'l. N. B. Forrest and Forrest's Cavalry" by Jordan and Pryor

c) "They Died by Two's and Ten's" by Kenneth Hafendorfer (This is a wonderful read about many of the small engagements in KY and TN by the cavalry that in many cases are lost to history. It is out of print and very hard to find. Grab one if you find it.)

[Forrestcavalryman]

Oh fun! Some of my favorites include:
1) "The Campaigns of Gen'l. N. B. Forrest and Forrest's Cavalry" by Jordan and Pryor

2)History of the Seventh Tennessee Cavalry-J.P. Young

3) Confederate Saddles and Horse Equipment- can't remember the author's name......HA!

4) Company Aytch-Sam Watkins (not cavalry but still a good'n)

[SUVSCV]

I'd have to go with Si Klegg and His Pard, a classic Union infantry tome!

Stan Buckles

[Philip cav]

Yeah and one nice thing about Si Klegg and His Pard is that it is on Google Books for free. So if you can't find it in paper form, that's an option. Oh and Happy New Year.

[The Egyptian Homeguard]

Opps, got excited about talking books , missed that the Camp Instruction was Cavalry , well at least one of my suggestions fits.

My apologies

Kyle, A good 1st hand account is a source of information no matter which branch! I liked HT&C and Co. Aytch both. The story about the officers horse that sat like a dog was great! No ones excluded from joining or learning here! No apologies needed here... Z

[Ken Knopp]

I had forgotten about this until just now but if you want a thoroughly entertaining, enlightening and educational but short, easy winter time read I strongly recommend the following.....

Fort, Clinton Dewitt, The Wartime ordeal of Captain Dewitt Clinton Fort of Fort’s Scouts company CSA, 1861-1865. A 195 page manuscript written by Fort will imprisoned during 1866 awaiting his trial for conspiracy to assassinate Tennessee Gov. Brownlow and for the murder of Thomas Koen of Mississippi. Fort was once a member of Co. G, 2nd Missouri Cavalry but most of his service was in scouting operations. Early in the war he was recognized for his daring and asked to form his own company of scouts. Fort received his A.B. degree from Centre College, Danville, Kentucky in 1850 and practiced law in Mississippi and in Texas. He was elected to serve in the Eighth Texas Legislature (1859-1861) and the special "Adjourned Session" of March and April 1861. Fort closed his Austin County, Texas law office for the duration of the war in June 1861 and paid his own travel expenses to join J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry in Virginia for the First Battle of Manassas. He was captured in Tennessee following the Battle of Farmington in May 1862, but escaped by leaping from a Union prison steamboat into the Mississippi River. Later, he created "Fort's Scouts," a small unit of Confederate Cavalry, acting in concert with General Nathan Bedford Forrest. By the end of the war he had served with the Confederate units in Texas, Virginia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Missouri. He was wounded during the closing weeks of the war and surrendered about one month after General Lee's surrender. Fort was "clubfooted" and badly crippled from birth and unsuitable for military service. However, by the time he surrendered, his small band had closed down the Memphis & Charleston Railroad to Union military travel and only large Union cavalry patrols would venture outside the Union military headquarters at Memphis, TN. Operating largely in north Mississippi and west Tennessee he became invaluable to Confederate operations there including routinely providing considerable military information to N.B Forrest. Fort was a man of legendary proportions but sadly now largely forgotten. His apparently true exploits, raids, skirmishes and escapes written immediately following the war while in prison where he expected to be hanged are the stuff of dime novels. Fort was widely respected and admired where he operated and was known to carry a huge double barrel shotgun that he often used with effect in his close encounters with Federal troops who at times had a price on his head. A wonderful and entertaining read it also provides a glimpse of the guerilla warfare, deprevations upon civilians and scouting operations that made up life in the no-mans land between Federal occupation headquarters in Memphis and Forrest’s cavalry operations of north Mississippi. One of the best “reads” I can recommend, his autobiography, courtesy of Laurier B McDonald is available online at http://books.google.com/books?id=ReJ...page&q&f=false

If you will read this I assure that you will like it. Like a good movie I don't want to spoil the ending but Fort's life is utterly fascinating.

Ken R Knopp
www.confederatesaddles.com

[Mike Ventura]

Mark C --

I have a FIRST EDITION of Jordan & Pryor's "The Campaigns of Gen'l N.B. Forrest..." that belonged to one of Forrest's men with his (the trooper, not Forrest) signature and the date on the fly leaf.

Must reads:

1) Sherman's Horsemen - David Evans

2) Yankee Blitzkrieg - Wilson's Raid Through Alabama and Georgia - James Pickett

[Choatecav]

Mike,

Now, THAT is a cool thing to own! My curiosity meter is pegged on where you got that, but I won't ask you to divulge. However, I would like to ask you the name of the trooper who signed it and the date? Could you share that with us??

thanks,
Mark