"Civil War Horses:" Photo by David Paul Ohmer
More than one million horses and mules were killed during the Civil War. Many thousands were killed in action, but more were lost to disease or exhaustion. In addition, hoof problems developed because of frequently muddy conditions, rendering many horses unserviceable. At the beginning of the war, the Union had 3.4 million horses and the Confederate States 1.7 million. The Confederate cavalry was mounted on swifter horses: the North had the larger, heavier draft horses.
In her excellent article “The Horse in the Civil War” Deborah Grace describes the type of horse preferred for military service and the training they went through. The artillery horse needed to be “between fifteen to sixteen hands high…(with) shoulders large enough to give support to the collar but not too heavy” and the saddle horse “should trot and gallop easily, have even gaits and not be skittish.”
Five to seven year olds were usually chosen, and part of their training was how to behave under battlefield conditions. One exercise was dealing with machine gun fire coming at body height. The horse was supposed to obey a verbal order to lie down and stay there, to avoid the bullets. The final test of an army horse was to lie down as ordered by his dismounted rider, while machine gunners at the other end of the field opened fire on both men and animals. According to the article, panicking horses that jumped up “were killed promptly and released from duty.” One can only hope that dummy bullets were used and these horses were released alive!
Mules were often used to pull guns until the time for action arrived. Mules were unreliable under fire, becoming frantic and in some cases lying down and trying to get rid of their loads.
The generals usually rode horses, partly because the extra height this gave them made it easier for their troops to see them. Of course, this also made them more visible to the enemy.
Deborah Grace’s article furnishes great information about the feeding and watering of artillery horses. She notes a brigadier general who needed 800,000 pounds of forage and grain daily to feed his horses and mules!
Al Manchester’s article “Grooming the Cavalry Way” gives additional insight into the care of the military horse. He describes a 20 – 25 minute grooming ritual and grooming utensils. It includes: "Brush out tail: 2 minutes: Clean out hooves: 2 minutes." The regimen holds as good today as it did then.
How terribly sad that so many horses were lost in the Civil War. They did as they were told, uncomplainingly, and were not easy to bring down, as a horse’s instinct is always to get up, if he can, regardless of his wounds. But luckily many caring individuals and groups are making sure that the sacrifices of these courageous equines do not go unforgotten.
On a personal note: A heartfelt "Thank you" to all of you who were kind enough to let me know how much you enjoyed this Horses of the Civil War series!
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