"Stand to Horse! The Dragoon at War," Dennis Farmer
Who were the American Revolution dragoons? How
were they equipped, how did they fight and who were some of the more famous
British and American dragoon commanders?
These and other questions about dragoons were
answered by American Revolution dragoon re-enactor Dennis Farmer at the January
14, 2015 meeting of the American Revolution Roundtable of Richmond. Farmer is a
longtime member of Richmond’s roundtable and spent 20 years working at various
history museums in Michigan, New York and Virginia.
“A dragoon was a soldier who carried a firearm
on his horse and could fight mounted or dismounted,” said Farmer. “There were
many variations of dragoons but the light dragoons were popular in North
America. One of the primary functions of dragoons was gathering intelligence
and screening work.”
Who made an ideal dragoon? According to Farmer,
both the American and British armies wanted a man weighing 120-140 pounds who
was “young and adventurous”. Dragoons needed to know basic horsemanship but
they didn’t need to be expert horsemen.
“It’s surprising how many infantry would get a
horse, and now you are in the dragoons,” laughed Farmer.
American dragoons generally came from middle and
upper-class society while most British dragoons were career soldiers with
horses who did not come from the upper class. Dragoons were generally more
literate than the average infantry soldier and wrote many of the war’s best
journals. In terms of service the dragoons generally served longer during the
war than their infantry counterparts.
Dragoons on both sides used a variety of
weapons. They used a sword in a similar manner to their regular cavalry
colleagues, however they also used a short carbine, pistols and during the
early stages of the war, an ax.
Swords had both curved and straight blades. The
curved blades were more likely to knock an enemy cavalryman off his horse but
usually didn’t deliver fatal blows. The straight sword was more effective at
delivering a fatal thrust against the enemy. In order to protect themselves
from sword attacks to the head, dragoons wore helmets made out of boiled
leather---similar to what had been worn by soldiers since the days of the Roman
Empire.
Short carbines had very limited use, a range of
75-80 yards. This compares with infantry muskets which had a range of 100-125
yards. The carbine was kept on the side of a horse in a sling, a common
practice that continued in warfare through World War II.
According to Farmer, pistols were “noisy but
highly inaccurate”. Their effective range was limited to approximately 10 feet.
Dragoon horses during this time period could
generally go 25-27 MPH and weighed 800-1,100 pounds. Their typical lifespan was
15-20 years but some of them lived to age 40. However, the typical combat horse
during the American Revolution had a lifespan of only six months. Starvation
was the primary cause of death.
“The American Revolution horse was basically a
small-armored vehicle by today’s standards,” said Farmer.
Since surveillance and screening were the
primary duties of dragoons, they rarely fought in major battles. Typically the
dragoons would fight only in skirmishes and in perhaps one or two major battles
throughout the war.
Cavalry doctrine differed between the British
and Americans, and this had an impact on the use of dragoons.
Typically the British favored medium cavalry
attacks where they created a shock action, particularly against American
militia. They also used regular dragoons as police forces and light dragoons as
scouts, raiders and screeners.
The Americans favored cavalry actions with small
units that were used in skirmishes, patrols and as scouts. They rarely engaged
in shock actions and generally favored speed and mobility over battlefield use.
Several of the American Revolution’s most famous
dragoon regiments and legions were led by some of the war’s most famous
commanders.
The 16th Light Dragoons, also known as the
Queen’s Own of Light Dragoons, were led by the legendary Banastre Tarleton.
According to Farmer, Tarleton “was like a meteor” in the way he rose through
the ranks of the British officer corps. He became a lieutenant colonel by the
youthful age of 25.
Another famous dragoon regiment was the Queen’s
Rangers and Yagers, commanded by John Simcoe. Farmer called Simcoe “one of the
finest light infantry officers during the war”.
On the American side there were the 3rd
Continental Light Dragoons, under the command of William Washington. They were
among the victors at The Cowpens and Farmer called them “the finest single
battlefield regiment during the war”.
Although best known as the father of Robert E.
Lee, Light Horse Harry Lee commanded Lee’s Legion which according to Farmer,
“was virtually undefeated during the war”. The North Carolina Dragoons, under
the command of William Davie, were another American outfit that “fought very
well”, said Farmer.
Dennis Farmer graduated from Eastern Michigan
University with a major in history from the Colonial Period. He worked as a curator
at Michigan’s Monroe County Museum, and at Stony Point and Old Fort Niagara in
New York. Later he worked in Virginia at Pamplin Historical Park near
Petersburg and as the executive director of the Chesterfield County Historical
Society. He and his wife Carol serve as re-enactors who portray characters from
the American Revolution and the Civil War.
For those who wish to read more about the
American Revolution dragoons, the following books are available online and in
bookstores:
1. Washington’s
Eyes: The Continental Light Dragoons, by Burt Garfield Loescher,
1977.
2. Cavalry
of the American Revolution, edited by Jim Piecuch, 2012
3. William
Washington, American Light Dragoon, by Daniel Murphy, 2014
4. Dragoon
Diary: The History of the Third Continental Light Dragoons, by C.F.
William Maurer, 2005
--Bill
Seward
