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Federal raids and expeditions in the East
Charles D. Rhodes, Captain, General Staff, United States Army
Cavalry operations known as raids, were a distinct product of the
Civil War, and although many other tactical and strategical lessons have since been deduced by
European experts from this great war, it was the raid which first excited comment abroad and created interest, as something new in the handling of mounted men.
As early as June, 1862, General “
Jeb”
Stuart had demonstrated to both armies the possibilities of independent operations by well-mounted cavalry boldly handled by a resourceful leader, when, with twelve hundred Confederate troopers, he rode entirely around the
Federal army on the
Peninsula of Virginia.
And again, in October of the same year, his raid into
Pennsylvania proved that good cavalry can move with impunity through a well-supplied hostile country.
This raid had the effect of causing consternation in the
National capital, and of drawing off many Federal troops for the protection of
Washington.
Stuart's successful raids caused some modification of the previous short-sighted policy of always attaching Union cavalry to infantry commands, and although until
Sheridan's time, the raids made by the
Federal cavalry in the
East were not remarkably successful and the time for their initiation not well chosen, the
Federal cavalry constantly increased in powers of mobility and independence of action.
Early in 1863,
General Hooker detached
Stoneman with the Cavalry Corps from the main operations of the Army of
