Upon the outbreak of the war it became necessary, therefore, to scour the country for suitable animals, which had, perforce, to be purchased in the open market, which had already been gone over with a fine-tooth comb by British, French, Italians, and Russians, all of whom had maintained remount commissions in this country from the very beginning of the conflict. Fortunately for us, under the circumstances, the requirements of the Expeditionary Forces were confined to officers’ mounts, artillery horses and mules, only one regiment of cavalry, in addition to the headquarters troops of the various divisions, being sent overseas. There were, however, demands for large numbers of horses for the use of the two cavalry divisions which were in process of organization in this country, and for the cavalry regiments which were kept on patrol duty along the Mexican border. As soon as it became apparent that it would be necessary for the government to make large purchases of horses and mules, hundreds of horse-breeders, racing and hunting men and polo-players offered their services as purchasing agents. Some fifty of these gentlemen, as shrewd judges of horse-flesh as the Blue Grass region of Kentucky, the hunting-fields of Long Island and Virginia, and the show-rings and race-courses of the great cities could produce, were given commissions as captains in the Quartermaster Corps, and were sent to the headquarters of the various purchasing zones for a short period of practical instruction in the type of horse required by the army, and in army methods generally, before being sent on the road to purchase animals. How efficiently and conscientiously these officers, unaccustomed to military methods, performed their duties is shown by the exceptionally high class of animals which they purchased and shipped to the various auxiliary remount depots, where they were trained and conditioned for army use. As the dearth of tonnage placed a limit on the number of animals which could be shipped overseas, a number of remount officers were sent to Europe, where large purchases of live stock were made, about 110,000 horses and 10,000 mules being bought from the French, some 12,000 horses and 6,000 mules from the British, and upward of 12,000 mules—the big, 16-hand Andalusians—in Spain.