They were like the Japanese naval aviators in World War II. Once the experienced ones got killed, there was no one to replace them.
It was more the horses, rebs had to supply their own. After a mount was killed, if your family couldn't send you a new one, you were transfered to the infantry.
“They were like the Japanese naval aviators in World War II. Once the experienced ones got killed, there was no one to replace them.”
People forget what a meat grinder the CW was. A historic turning point in warfare that pitched closely spaced, massed formation against modern weapons, cartridge repeaters, etc. European Generals studied our CW and came up with strategies that resulted in the trench warfare of WWI.
Evolving to modern times we have widely spaced, but highly mobile forces like the Conf. Cav of old that can converge and disperse rapidly, mitigating the effect of modern weapon systems and superior number opposition forces.