"The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry, also known as Rush's Lancers, was a completely volunteer unit and one of the finest regiments to serve in the Civil War. Tracing their history from George Washington's personal body guard during the Revolutionary War, many of the men of the Sixth Pennsylvania were the cream of Philadelphia society, including Richard H. Rush, grandson of Dr. Benjamin Rush, Maj. Robert Morris, Jr., great-grandson of the financier of the Revolutionary War, Capt. Charles Cadwalader, whose great-grandfather was a general under George Washington, Frank H. Furness, architect and Medal of Honor recipient, and George G. Meade, Jr. But it was their actions in battle, not their illustrious family histories, that distinguished Rush's Lancers. The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry earned a reputation for being a highly trained and reliable unit, despite being armed initially with antiquated weapons, leaving their mark on key battlefields, including Hanover Court House, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Brandy Station--where they conducted one of the most famous charges of the war--and Appomattox. Drawing upon letters, diaries, memoirs, service and pension files, contemporary newspaper coverage, official records, and other primary sources, Rush's Lancers: The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry in the Civil War by distinguished military historian Eric J. Wittenberg is an engrossing account of these young men from both Philadelphia's social elite and the city's working classes who, despite not being professional soldiers, answered the Nation's call to war."--Publishers' Website.

The Complete Story of a Legendary Civil War Unit The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry, also known as Rush's Lancers, was a completely volunteer unit and one of the finest regiments to serve in the Civil War. Tracing their history from George Washington's personal bodyguard during the Revolutionary War, many of the men of the Sixth Pennsylvania were the cream of Philadelphia society, including Richard H. Rush, grandson of Dr. Benjamin Rush, Maj. Robert Morris, Jr., great-grandson of the financier of the Revolutionary War, Capt. Charles Cadwalader, whose great-grandfather was a general under George Washington, Frank H. Furness, architect and Medal of Honor recipient, and George G. Meade, Jr. But it was their actions in battle, not their illustrious family histories, that distinguished Rush's Lancers. The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry earned a reputation for being a highly trained and reliable unit, despite being armed initially with antiquated weapons, leaving their mark on key battlefields, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Hanover Court House, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Brandy Station--where they conducted one of the most famous charges of the war--and Appomattox. Drawing upon letters, diaries, memoirs, service and pension files, contemporary newspaper coverage, official records, and other primary sources, Rush's Lancers: The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry in the Civil War by distinguished military historian Eric J. Wittenberg is an engrossing account of these young men from both Philadelphia's social elite and the city's working classes who, despite not being professional soldiers, answered the Nation's call to war.

The development of cavalry firearms and the widespread disappearance of armour from the European battlefield saw a decline in the use of the cavalry lance in early modern warfare. However, by 1800 the lance, much changed from its medieval predecessors in both form and function, was back. During the next century the use of the lance spread to the armed forces of almost every Western country, seeing action in every major conflict from the Napoleonic Wars to World War I including the Crimean and Franco-Prussian wars and across the Atlantic in the American Civil War. The lance even reached the colonial conflicts of the Anglo-Sikh and Boer wars. It was not until the disappearance of the mounted warrior from the battlefield that the lance was consigned to history. Featuring specially commissioned artwork and drawing upon a variety of sources, this is the engaging story of the cavalry lance at war during the 19th and 20th centuries, from Waterloo to the Somme.

The story of Sergeant W. Smith's service in the Civil War, and those of his regiment, the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry, told in his own words. The 67 letters provide insight into the daily life of a noncommissioned officer and are annotated with narrative explaining the events.

With color and verve, Gregory J. W. Urwin presents the history of the mounted forces of the United States. He combines combat reports, personality profiles, and political and social overviews to present a complete picture of a bygone era extending from the Revolutionary War well into the twentieth century. For more than a century, the U.S. Cavalry played a prominent role in American military conflicts, serving as both a frontier police force and as a major combat arm in the republic's conventional wars. Urwin begins his story in New York City in 1776 with the Continental Light Dragoons and continues it through the days of the "pony soldiers" of the western plains, including detailed coverage of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry Regiment. Urwin concludes with descriptions of General John J. Pershing's 1916 Punitive Expedition into Mexico and the exploits of the 26th U.S. Cavalry, the only United States mounted outfit to see combat in World War II, during the defense of the Philippines in 1941-42.

Many people are aware that Jeb Stuart was a famous cavalry general who rode for the Confederacy. Yet, how did this twenty-nine-year-old former US Army lieutenant become the 1860s version of a media sensation? At the beginning of June 1862, George McClellan s huge Union Army stood poised to decimate the Confederate capital of Richmond. The city faced chaos as thousands of civilians fled. Confederate Army commander Robert E. Lee wanted to launch his own attack, but he needed to know what stood on McClellan s right flank. John Fox s new book, Stuart s Finest Hour, uses numerous eyewitness accounts to place the reader in the dusty saddle of both the hunter and the hunted as Stuart s men sliced deep behind Union lines to gather information for Lee. This first-ever book written about the raid follows the Confederate horsemen on their 110-mile ride, all the while chased by Union troopers commanded by Stuart s father-in-law, Philip St. George Cooke.