The Horse Soldier, 1917-1943

This is the fourth and final volume of Randy Steffen's monumental work, The Horse Soldier. With this volume the work brings together-in nearly a thousand pages of text and nearly 500 illustrations-a comprehensive history of the cavalryman's dress, horse equipment, weaponry - every item the horse soldier wore, carried, or used-from Revolutionary times to World War II. Volume IV covers the final twenty-five years-the World War I years, when the United States Cavalry fought for the first time as part of an allied force; the peacetime years, when the cavalry was largely a "show" force; and World War II, when mechanization finally outmoded the horse soldier, and the horse was traded for the tank. The cavalry became history. "The late Randy Steffen has produced what is probably the most well-researched, accurate book in The Horse Soldier series. The detailed pen and ink drawings, as always, are first rate. The volume stands as a fine memorial to Steffen and a fitting salute to the old Army."-Journal of Arizona History "This volume is filled with thorough research and exact documentation.... This entire series will stand as the authoritative work on the American horse soldier's equipment and uniforms."-South Dakota History "Randy Steffen's The Horse Soldier is indeed a definitive reference. Artists, museum curators, collectors, writers, historians, and exhibit preparers concerned about the historical accuracy relative to the uniforms, arms, and equipment of the United States Cavalry will find these volumes indispensable."-Colorado Magazine Randy Steffen, who died early in 1977, while these volumes were in production, was born in Maverick County, Texas, of part Sioux-Cheyenne Indian descent. He was the author of more than a thousand articles on military and western history. His paintings, drawings, and sculpture have appeared in exhibits and publications in the United States, Europe, South Africa, and Australia. In 1976 he was presented the George Washington Award by the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge for his contributions to American history. At the time of his death he was a governor of the Company of Military Historians. He was the author of United States Military Saddles, also published by the University of Oklahoma Press.