Cavalry vs. Artillery Across Appalachia

The map series showing the overland route of the Third Artillery Battery is viewable below, courtesy of the National Archives. The maps were annotated by Lt. E. P. Laurson, 11th Cavalry Topographic Officer. Lt. Laurson was documenting two separate overland marches on this map series, both the Third Artillery Battery's march to Fort Myer, VA, and the 11th Cavalry Regiment's march from Fort Oglethorpe to Winchester, VA, The Third Artillery's march was in Sep-Oct 1903, while the 11th Cavalry's march was in July 1913. The Third Artillery Battery's march was for the purpose of training for long distance maneuvers and to relocate the battery to a new duty station. The purpose of the 11th Cavalry's march was to participate in the national maneuvers in the Shenandoah Valley that year.

Lt. Laurson has marked the 11th Cavalry's route in blue and the Third Artillery's route in red. He recorded where the units stopped to bivouac each night. This allows us to compare and contrast faster moving cavalry and slower moving artillery. The 11th Cavalry may have made some use of vehicles, given that the Army had begun the process of mechanization by 1913. In contracts, Summerall's march would have been limited to horse and wagons.

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This is a unique glimpse into moving military units across southern Appalachia terrain without the use of railroads and long before freeways were ever built. Below is a picture of the Second Section of the Third Artillery Battery in Chickamauga Park.