Mounted Infantry - 19th Century

19th Century

With the invention of accurate and quick firing repeating rifles in the middle of the 19th century, cavalry started to become increasingly vulnerable. Many armies started to use troops which could either fight on horseback or on foot as circumstances dictated. Fighting on horseback with swords or lances would allow rapid movement without cover from enemy fire, whilst fighting on foot with rifles allowed them to make use of cover and to form defensive lines.

The distinction between cavalry and mounted infantry was in practice somewhat vague, but the mid-19th century onwards some cavalry units in the American Civil War, the Boers in the First and Second Boer Wars and others usually fought as mounted infantry. The first mounted infantry units to be named as such were raised during the Mexican–American War (as the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, but redesignated Third Cavalry Regiment in 1861) and others followed, for example in Australia in the 1880s. Terms such as "mounted rifles" were often used. The French Foreign Legion used mule-mounted companies from the 1880s. Each mule was shared by two legionnaires, who took turns riding it. This arrangement allowed for faster and more prolonged marches that could cover 60 miles in one day.

In the British Army, infantry units in some parts of the British Empire had a mounted platoon for scouting and skirmishing. In addition, many locally raised units such as the Ceylon Mounted Rifles, Cape Mounted Rifles and Natal Carbineers fought as mounted infantry. In the Second Boer War, the British copied the Boers and raised large forces of their own mounted infantry. Among various ad hoc formations, the Imperial Yeomanry was raised from volunteers in Britain in 1900 and 1901.

As part of the lessons learned from that war, British regular cavalry regiments were armed with the same rifle as the infantry and became well-trained in dismounted tactics (although they never lost their obsession with the charge).