Sabres, saddles, and spurs

the long version

Sabres, Saddles, and Spurs is the diary of the war experiences of Lieutenant Colonel William R. Carter, a member, and often commander, of the 3rd Virginia Cavalry, Brigadier General William C. Wickham's Brigade, Cavalry Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. Carter was mortally wounded at the Battle of Trevilian Station, the largest and bloodiest all cavalry battle of the Civil War. As modern students of the Civil War turn their attention more and more to the cavalry, the mobile arm of the commanders, accounts such as Carter's supply the details of battle and life with the horses essential to that research. Carter's writings are a chronicle of warfare from a cavalry commander's point of view. Here is Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia as its horsemen fought mounted and on foot.