The Regulars, minus their horses, 120 years on
Via the Third Cavalry Museum:
Dismounted 3d Cavalry troopers train for operations at Tampa, Florida, prior to embarking for Cuba. 8 June 1898, during the Spanish American War.
Look at all those saddle ring Krag rifles. Coupled with the bedrolls and broad campaign hats, you would think these men closer to Civil War troopers under Gen. Sheridan than ready to fight a colonial war against the rinds of the Spanish Empire.
As a twist of fate, the 3rd, along with four other Regular Army cavalry regiments (including the segregated black 10th Cav) and the Rough Riders of the 1st Volunteer Cavalry, was under the command of Maj. Gen (of Volunteers) Joesph Wheeler (USMA 1859). Prior to that command, Wheeler had been a Lt. Gen. in the Confederate Army of all things, so the sight of so many blue-coated cavalrymen, who shipped to Cuba without their horses due to a lack of transport, had to be familiar in a way.