The Superiority of the Southern Horseman

Following up my previous post on the Southern Outdoorsman, it is worth noting that the culture of the South has always fostered a more militaristic populace, even today. Many observers from outside the region do not understand this fact. Yet this is evidenced, in part, by the fact that the majority (in contrast to other regions) of enlistees in the Armed Forces continues to come from Southern states and that the support for the United States military is most fervent in the South. A 2005 Dept. of Defense study confirms this fact. The kindred spirit Southerners have for the military was also obvious during the WBTS.

One anecdotal piece of evidence is the comparison of sacrifice between the University of Virginia and Harvard during the war. At the end of the war, UVA could claim that 503 of its alumni had died fighting for the Confederacy. By comparison, the much larger student body of Harvard would sacrifice one-hundred seventeen for the Union. Of course, no disrespect is intended toward the many patriotic men from all sections of the country who have served and do serve now. I have ancestors from the Northeast, as well as the South, who have fought bravely in all of America's wars. But there is no denying the different attitudes toward militaristic associations. There are a number of reasons for this; many of them explored in great detail in Virginia Senator Jim Webb's excellent book, Born Fighting.

There are also a number of manifestations of this fact. One which continues even to this day is the love of the outdoors and horsemanship. Though I've never been an avid horseman, I have been around horseflesh most of my life and have found myself "in the saddle" on a number of occasions. My daughter currently owns 2 horses and my son and his wife have 4. My son is also a farrier and rides rodeo. I know a little bit about these splendid creatures.

During the WBTS, it soon became obvious that Southerners were superior horsemen. Why? The following narrative was written by the eminent Virginian historian, Philip Alexander Bruce in 1916. It explains this superiority in horsemanship and affection toward military service.

Still more productive of a bold spirit and vigorous frame was the sport of fox hunting, which was popular in all parts of the South with every class in the community. The wild gallop with horns and hounds over the rough face of the country, with its hills and valleys, bare fields, and thick woods; the continuation of the pursuit from the gray of the morning until a late hour in the night, and its frequent resumption at dawn for a second day’s run; the indifference to the character of the weather in the enjoyment of the sport- all this was excellent practice for fitting the young men for the requirements of service in the cavalry.

The universal love of the horse in the South, and its constant use for recreation or display, was also promotive of the military spirit. As from childhood almost every boy knew how to shoot a gun, so from the time he had the length of leg to bestride a saddle, he was able to ride. While still a little fellow, he would perch up behind the negro stableman when the horses were taken to water in the morning or at night; and he soon acquired sufficient confidence to ride his own pony, the first step to mounting a larger animal.

Before the Civil War, most of the Southern boys obtained the rudiments of their education in what was known as the old field school because situated in some retired spot equally distant from the different homes in the neighborhood. Very often, the only way of reaching this school was by a narrow bridle path through the woods. Hither came the boys on horseback five mornings of the week in all sorts of weather, at every season of the year; nor were they always content to let their steeds walk or jog quietly along- many a race was run under the bower of forest leaves, in which skill was necessary to avoid the trunks of trees that sprang up along either side of the way.

There were numerous other opportunities of becoming proficient in the art of riding; every Saturday was a holiday, and from morning until darkness came on, the boys were using their horses either in hunting in the fields and forests or in travelling to some distant mill-pond famous far and wide for perch and mullet. Every one of them looked upon himself as fully able to break in a young colt however raw and fractious it may have come from the pasture; and many a young fellow was seriously injured by his reckless indifference to the dangers of mounting such a wild beast before its spirit had been even partially broken.

This knowledge of horseflesh, this love of equestrian exercise, was never lost by the Southerner, however old he might grow. Though he might be poor in a property sense, it was not often that he did not own at least one horse, which served both as his helper in working the tobacco lots and cotton fields, and as his carrier in visiting neighbors, attending church, or moving about the countryside on business. He rode to the distant county seat to be present at the sessions of court; and it was on horseback too that he travelled to political barbecues and religious camp meetings. There was no public occasion in his life, indeed, which did not permit of this means of locomotion; in fact, at certain seasons of the year, the roads were hardly passable with ease except by persons on horseback; and this custom led many women to acquire the like skill so that they might not be impeded in getting about their neighborhoods.

The planters took great pride in the pure blood of their horses; skilled attention was everywhere given to horse breeding; and universal interest was felt in racing. Many large estates possessed a private course laid off with more or less exactness; there was a public track in nearly every county, crowds of people in attendance; while one of the principal features of every agricultural fair was the succession of heats run by horses that enjoyed a reputation for fleetness throughout that part of the South.

With all this knowledge of horseflesh and skill in horsemanship, was it strange that the Southern States should have produced so many brilliant cavalry leaders during the Civil War? The fact had been noted from the first years of the West Point Military Academy that the cadets appointed from the districts between the Potomac and the Rio Grande were especially proficient in horsemanship as a part of their course of study; and they were thus accomplished because they had been brought up to love horses and had become expert long before they were leaping the hurdles in the riding school on the Hudson. The cavalry was the favorite arm of the Confederate service; the arm which all would have preferred to join; the one arm for which even the soldiers in the infantry had been trained in the first great essential by constant previous exercise at their own homes. Wheeler, Fitzhugh lee, Hampton, Forrest, and Stuart were the most famous officers of the cavalry corps, but behind those gallant cavaliers, there rode thousands of men, not only fully as gallant as they were, but also from their earliest boyhood just as deeply versed in horsemanship.

(Painting by Mort Kunstler)