Preferred Name
Greg
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Date of Graduation
5-14-2026
Semester of Graduation
Spring
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Department of History
First Advisor
David Dillard
Abstract
Decades after the Napoleonic Wars ended, military theorists in western countries began to write books and other manuals on how to successfully use cavalry on the battlefield. One such writer; Barron Jomini, mentions in his book The Art of War that cavalry should be used for reconnaissance, guarding flanks and looting, but its most important use was “opening the door for victory” by exploitation and pursuing the enemy for total victory. Jomini’s book was influential for the generals fighting the Civil War. In the early days of the war the Confederates would greatly use cavalry to conduct reconnaissance, while the Union mismanaged their cavalry. However, both sides never used the mobility of cavalry to aggressively pursue the enemy, turning victory into a decisive victory. The Confederates had an opportunity to use an aggressive cavalry pursuit at the Battle of First Bull Run, but never took the advantage of it. This would change later in the war, when Phil Sheridan and James Wilson used cavalry pursuits to aid in the complete destruction of Confederate armies. Wilson would pursue John Bell Hood after the Battle of Nashville, while Sheridan would pursue Robert E. Lee from Petersburg to Appomattox. These cavalry pursuits contributed to the Union Army winning the Civil War.
