It is for this reason I will ask your permission to bring before you this subject, believing that the opinions of all branches of the service being brought to bear upon it, considerable advantage maybe obtained. It will be my endeavor to show, not by my own arguments, but by quotations from others, that cavalry still has an important part to take on the battle field, and far from its duties ending when armies come in contact, that it is still reserved to them, as has been the case before, to decide, perhaps by only one charge, the issue of a whole campaign. Prince Kraft in his letters on cavalry says: "The battle of Mars-la-Tour, won by the bold employment of cavalry, made possible the blockade of Metz, and afterward the surrender of the whole of Bazaine's army. So it may be said, without exaggeration, that the charge of Bredow's six squadrons on that day was the turning point of the Franco-German campaign." Colonel Home, in his "Précis of Modern Tactics," says: "The action of cavalry on the actual battle field is by no means a thing of the past. The use of cavalry with skill at the right moment and in the right numbers has always been considered one of the most difficult problems in war. Modern arms have increased this difficulty manifold, but to say the day of cavalry on the field of battle is past is merely another way of saying that the knowledge of how it should be used is wanting." Cavalry is apportioned to an army in two capacities: (1) Divisional cavalry, that is (if possible) a regiment, or as many squadrons as can be spared, attached to each infantry division, acting under the orders of the general of the division. (2) The cavalry division, that is, a large body of cavalry composed of several brigades, an independent body having its own commander. On the march the divisional cavalry covers the head and flanks of its own division: on the field of battle it will be as near as possible to its division, in the most sheltered spot that can be found; in the early part of the battle it would be kept as much in reserve as possible, écheloned in rear of one flank of its own infantry. It would remain there until the artillery and musketry had effected their work, and the enemy's flanks had become thinned and shaken. Then, when his infantry become tired and exhausted, under cover of the smoke, the cavalry may be further advanced.