The most impressive units were the Guard Hussars, the Tulancingo
Cuirassiers, and the Seventh Regiment. [95]
Mexican Irregular Cavalry hovered like a cloud near American
camps, supply routes and outposts in anticipation of attacking stragglers
and couriers. Figures are Frontier and Mini-Figs painted by the theme
editor. Photo by Rick Acker.
The uniforms were especially colorful. Not only were there many-hued
facings, but the coats were also of various colors. The pants were very
practical, having antelope skin lining in the seat. Belts were white. Most
cavalrymen wore a cylindrical shako, slightly shorter than the infantry model,
with white metallic bands, chinscales and shako plate. The coat buttons also
were white metal.
The standard cavalry saddle had iron stirrups and a wood frame with iron
plates, covered with leather and stuffed with horsehair cushions. A cloth
shabraque in regimental colors covered the saddle. Leather pistol holsters and
carbine boot were attached to the saddle. Spare clothing and personal items
were rolled in a blanket strapped to the back of the saddle. [96]
Firearms carried by the cavalryman were two flintlock pistols and the should
arm was described as a carbine, musketoon, sawed-off musket, or escopeta.
All were flintlocks and very inaccurate. [97]
Melee weapons were a curved saber and the lance. Although theoretically
only one unit, and one troop in each regiment were lancers, most of the
cavalrymen were armed with Iances. [98]
The lance was 6 to 9 feet long -- a 1.5-inch inch thick shaft of beech or nut
wood. The point was 8.25 inches long with three or four cutting edges separated
by concave gutters. A metal crosspiece at the lower end, followed by a tube
and two long straps, served as protection against the saber cuts that could lop
off the point. A leather sling was nailed near the middle of the shaft. Beneath
the crosspiece hung a swallow-tailed, foot-long pennant, which was usually red.
This ornament was theoretically supposed to keep blood from running down the
shaft, and to scare enemy horses by fluttering in front of their eyes. [99]
The lancer was more effective against infantry than the saberarmed
trooper, because of the length of the lances. At the battle of San Pascual,
seventy-five Mexican lancers inflicted thirty-seven casualties on an ill-mounted
force of about one hundred American dragoons, while only losing thirteen men
themselves. [100]
The cavalry was organized in nine regular line regiments, a Yucatan
Squadron, a Tabasco Company, the Light Regiment of Mexico, two squadrons
of Jalisco Lancers, the Mounted Rifles, the Guard Hussar Regiment, and the
Tulancingo Cuirassier Regiment. There were six regiments of active militia
cavalry; the Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Morelia, Oaxaca, and San
Luis Regiments, plus a number of independent squadrons. There were also
thirty-five Presidials Companies scattered along the frontier. Auxiliary cavalry
companies were raised by the state governors with state funds. These were
mostly irregular rancheros. [101]
The cavalry regiments were composed of four squadrons of two
companies. Each company consisted of a captain, a lieutenant, two ensigns,
one first and three second sergeants, nine corporals, two trumpeters, fifty-two
mounted and eight dismounted troopers. The regimental headquarters had a
colonel, a lieutenant colonel, two squadron commandants, four adjutant
lieutenants, four guidon-bearerensigns, a chaplain, a surgeon, a first sergeant
marshal, three grooms, one cornet major and cornet corporal, two second
sergeants as saddlers and armorer, two corporals as tailor and carpenter, and
three troopers as shoemaker, mason and baker. All were mounted. [102]
The Mexican cavalrymen considered themselves to be a superior class to
the infantry. [103] Most were mestizos recruited from the ranchos. The Mexican
rancheros have been compared with the gauchos of the South American
pampas, the Arabs of the desert, and the Cossack s of Russia. [104]
Brantz Mayer described them as "gaunt, shrivelled and bronzed by
exposure, though hardy and muscular... Living half the time in their saddles...
they are matchless horsemen." [105]
They wore embroidered jackets of leather, velvet or cloth. Their trousers
were generally leather. Theywere wide with open sides, which were buttoned up
by long rows of silver buttons. A colored sash was worn about the waist. Often
they wore a serape and broad brimmed sombrero. A smaller brimmed hat was
also frequently worn instead of the straw sombrero. [106]
Their weapons were a sword or long machete, attached to the saddle under
the left leg. Most had a flintlock pistol or two, and some obtained an escopeta,
sort ofa blunderbuss. Lances seemed to be carried only during wartime. They
always carried a lasso, which they were very expert in using. [107]
Mexican cavalry boasted that if they could not break an enemy square with
their lances, they could throw their lassos and drag men from its ranks.
[108]
Their saddles, which were often silver-mounted, had a high pommel and
cantle, so that the rider could not be easily thrown from his saddle in riding or
combat. The bridles were very severe, giving the rider great control over his
horse. [109]
They were skilled horsemen. M.B. Edwards, an American soldier, wrote: "The
Mexicans are scarcely surpassed by the Tarters in feats of horsemanship I've
seen them charge at full speed as though they would dash directly against a
wall, and by a sudden check the animal would wheel directly about and pursue
the backward track before you would have time to think, although he had
charged with his breast within two feet of the wall without making the last halt
until he was checked by his rider." [110]
The Mexican horsemen were able to charge full speed through thickets,
which was particularly useful for irregular warfare and ambushes. [111]
Like their riders, the Mexican horses were capable of enduring thirst, hunger, and fatigue. They thrived on grass and fodder, instead of corn or oats. These horses were fiery, nimble, and full of action, but lacked great speed, power, and wind. [112]
Another disadvantage was that the Mexican horses were small, all under
eleven hands high. [113]
Only one regiment had "heavy" horses, the Tulancingo Cuirassiers. [114]
Although the Mexican cavalrymen were individually adept with their lances
and were skilled riders, they do not appear to have been well trained in
maneuvering together in mass formations. Sub-lieutenant Balbontin noted that
"the cavalry only maneuvered by regiments." [115]
The untrained rancheros were worthless on the battlefield, and the presidial
cavalry also performed badly. [116]
Due to the lack of training and leadership, the Mexican cavalry could not
make massed charges. [117]
At Molino Del Rey three to four thousand Mexican cavalry under General
Juan Alvarez contributed absolutely nothing. Jose Ramirez remarked, "The
cavalry continued its inactivity; and from this and a favorite saying of
Andrade's, in which he declares that in all the latest fighting he has been
placed on terrain in which he cannot maneuver, the public has coined a pungent
epigram that characterizes the cavalry. They say that our cavalry is suffering
from the cholic." [118]
The Mexican cavalry made a number of spirited charges against American
infantry at Palo Alto, Monterrey, Buena Vista and on the first day at Padierna,
but they never charged home. [119]
Raphael Semmes wrote "Our infantry, after a little came to hold them (the
Mexican Cavalry) in so much contempt, that it never thought of forming itself in
square, to resist a charge." [120]
The Mexican Army 1846
The most magnificent portion of the Mexican Army was the cavalry. Foreign
observers wrote high compliments of the skill and grace of the riders. [94]
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