- [113] -- Little Blue, Mo. -- Independence, Mo. -- Big Blue, Mo. -- Osage River, Mo. -- Franklin, Tenn. -- Nashville, Tenn. -- Rutherford's Creek, Tenn. -- Pulaski, Tenn. -- Egypt Station, Miss. -- Mount Sterling, Ky. -- Saltville, Va. -- Sherman's March to the Sea. -- Griswoldville, Ga. -- Waynesboro, Ga. -- Ogeechee River, Ga. -- the Carolinas -- Salkahatchie River, S. C. -- Rockingham, N. C. -- Solemn Grove, N. C. -- Averasboro, N. C. -- Bentonville, N. C. -- Stoneman's Raid; Plantersville, Ala. -- Selma, Ala. -- Tuscaloosa, Ala. -- Montgomery, Ala. -- Columbus, Ga. -- Macon, Ga. -- Talladega, Ala. -- Irwinsville, Ga. (capture of Jefferson Davis).
In the Western Armies there was no corps organization composed of cavalry until December, 1864, although there were divisions of mounted troops in each military department. Hence the list of cavalry battles given here embraces those which occurred in all the operations west of the Alleghanies. It includes only the more important engagements of the cavalry; it would be impossible to give all of them. The constant activity of scouting parties; the aggressive vigilance of the mounted troops at the outposts; the daring raids through hostile territory; and the continuous forays incidental to border warfare, resulted in countless fights which cannot be enumerated here. These minor affairs were characterized by courageous, desperate fighting. and though the casualty lists were small, the loss of life in the aggregate was a serious feature of the war. Many fell in contests which are unmentioned in history, fighting in nameless battles, and filling unmarked graves. In December, 1864, while on Thomas's campaign in Tennessee against Hood, the mounted troops were formed into an Army Corps of seven divisions, and Major-General J. H. Wilson was assigned to its command. At the battle of Nashville, four of these divisions — McCook's, Hatch's, Johnson's and Knipe's — were present. After the defeat and dismemberment of Hood's Army, Wilson entered Alabama with his corps of troopers in March, 1865, and there fought the closing battles of the war. His four divisions were there commanded by Generals McCook, Hatch, Long and Upton. Although the last infantry engagement of the war occurred April 9, 1865, Wilson's Corps fought at Columbus, Ga., on the 16th of April, 1865, in a spirited engagement with Forrest's command. The most of Wilson's men fought dismounted, and the affair — during which a daring and successful assault was made on the enemy's works — was one of the brilliant achievements of the war. About this time, also, General Stoneman, with a body of cavalry under Generals Gillem and Burbridge, made a raid through East Tennessee into Virginia. During Sherman's Atlanta campaign, the cavalry attached to his army was divided into four columns, commanded by Generals Stoneman, Kilpatrick, Garrard and McCook (E. M.). Kilpatrick's Division afterwards accompanied that part of Sherman's Army which marched through Georgia to the Sea, and thence through the Carolinas. In 1863, the cavalry attached to the Army of the Cumberland operated as a separate command, instead of being parceled out to brigades as previously. At Stone's River it was massed under the command of General David S. Stanley, its casualties in that battle amounting to 38 killed, 103 wounded, and 215 missing or captured; total, 356. It also lost 37 horses killed and 40 wounded. At Chickamauga, the cavalry forces were commanded by General Robert B. Mitchell, and comprised two divisions under Generals E. M. McCook and George Crook. The casualties in the Cavalry Corps at that battle aggregated 32 killed, 136 wounded, and 300 captured or missing; total, 468. In the Department of the Gulf, the cavalry attached to Banks's Red River Expedition, April, 1864, was commanded by General Albert L. Lee, and comprised five brigades. General Lee was succeeded by Geneiral Richard Arnold. During Grant's Mississippi campaigns, Generals W. S. Smith and Cyrus Bussey were entrusted with important cavalry commands.
