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If you walk to the battle and fight on foot, you're infantry.
Infantry that lobs grenades are grenadiers.
Infantry with smooth-bores are musketeers.
Infantry with rifles are fusiliers.
If you ride to the battle and fight on food, you're dragoons.
If you ride to the battle and fight from your mount, you're cavalry.
Cavalry that uses a long, pointy stick are lancers.
Cavalry that wears armor are cuirassiers.
This is all so very confused in US history.
During the Indian Wars, both the infantry and the cavalry rode to the battle and dismounted to fight. Making both dragoons.
Infantry rode donkeys or mules. Cavalry rode horses.
Both eagerly chowed down on their mounts when supply didn't keep up with the march.
A minor correction, fusiliers carried fusils or light muskets so are more properly light infantry. Rifle armed troops were Riflemen, Jaegers or similar localized terms until the rifle became universal.
ReplyDeleteI discovered it matters WHEN you're talking about a fusilier (and what army was borrowing King's English). When the army uses the heavy muskets with rests, the fusilier is just a light musketeer. When the rested muskets go away, the fusils are rifled and fusilier is a rifleman.
DeleteJaegers are more analogous to scouts or rangers at this point.
Also note that the bog standard infantryman at this point is issued a smoothbore...
DeleteNot sure, but did the US ever have Cavalry that would have fit "Lancer" or "Cuirassiers"? Was pretty sure Dragoons was about it... But then I was just an Engineer (12B), so what would I know?
ReplyDeleteNo matter how you get to the battle, if you build shit or blow it up with equal abandon; you're an engineer.
Delete:)
In the Civil War, there was at least one unit of Pennsylvania Lancers. They didn't get to use their lances much, and before long were indistinguishable from other cavalry.
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