The general point of the jokes and gibes at the cavalry was their _supposed_ tendency to be "_scarce_" when _big fighting_ was going on. It wasn't that anybody doubted the _usefulness_ of cavalry, but their usefulness was imagined to lie in other respects than fighting back the masses of the enemy. And, it wasn't that anybody supposed that the cavalry did not have plenty of fight in them, _if they could get a chance_. We knew that when they were at home they were the same stock as we were, and we believed, that if they were along with us, they would do as well; but in the cavalry, well! we didn't know! The leaders of the cavalry, Stuart, Hampton, Ashby, Fitz Lee and others, were heroes and household names to the whole army. Their brilliant courage and dare-deviltry, their hairbreadth escapes, and thrilling adventures, their feats of skill, and grace were themes of pride and delight to us all. These cavaliers were the "darlings of the army." _Still_, the army would guy the cavalry every chance they got. It was said that Gen. D. H. Hill proposed to offer a "reward of Five Dollars, to anybody who could find a dead man with spurs on." And Gen. Jubal Early once, when impatient at the conduct of certain troops in his command threatened "if the cavalry did not do better, he would put them _in the army_." One day, an infantry brigade on the march to Chancellorsville had halted to rest on the pike, near where a narrow road turned off. A cavalryman was seen approaching, in a fast gallop, plainly, in a great hurry. The infantry viewed his approach with great interest, prepared to salute him with neat and appropriate remarks as he passed, by way of making him lively.