David Powell's presentation at the McHenry County Civil War Round Table in Woodstock on October 14, 2014.
At the Battle of Stones River, Union General Rosecrans realized that he had a serious lack of cavalry when compared with that of the Confederates he faced. The Union cavalry was outnumbered two to one. Before that, there had been much emphasis among the Southerners on their cavalry in the West. But, by the Battle of Chickamauga, that Confederate advantage had shrunk to 9-10,000 Union troopers to 14,00 Confederate.
Regardless of the side, the role of cavalry before a battle was to screen and locate the enemy.
But, the Confederate cavalry had their own problems. Its two cavalry corps were commanded by two generals who couldn't have been more different and even worse, they didn't like each other.
One corps was commanded by Nathan Bedford Forrest. Though he was excellent at independent raid command, regular cavalry operations were not to his liking or strong suit. He was quarrelsome and violent and about as bad of a subordinate as you could get. He also wasn't much of and effective disciplinarian. His troops pretty much did as they wanted.
--Old Secesh
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