Tuesday, October 15, 2019

With their homemade swords and draught horses they were cavalry in name only.

From The Road to Guilford Courthouse by John Buchanan. Page 344.
“At the ford Davidson divided his force, for while there was one entrance into the water on the right bank, there were two exits on the left. From the entrance on the right bank the ford led straight ahead about halfway across the river. There it split. The wagon ford continued ahead into the deeper part of the stream. The shallower horse ford turned right at a forty-five degree angle, headed downriver over the end of a little island, and emerged on the left bank about one-quarter of a mile below the wagon ford exit. The bottom was rocky, the water two to four feet deep, the current powerful. Davidson posted a small picket guard where the wagon ford emerged from the river. At the exit point for the horse ford, where he obviously expected any force to attempt to cross, he placed his 250 infantrymen on a hill half a mile above and overlooking the exit. His horsemen were posted several hundred yards in the rear on a small rise; with their homemade swords and draught horses they were cavalry in name only.

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