A Cossack rides in the Oriental manner, i.e. with a loose rein, high saddle, short stirrup, and toes down; he is very fond of his horse and treats him kindly.
Their extraordinary mobility, endurance, and cleverness in getting over all obstacles of ground, particularly fit the Cossack troops for outpost and reconnaissance duty, for rapid raids and bold surprises, as well as for the pursuit of the enemy. What is also by no means their least advantage is that this mode of employing them in war would leave the regular Russian Cavalry free for actual combat in the field.
Field Gendarme (service kit).
The Cossack Army which best shows the Cossack peculiarities of character and organisation is that of the Don Cossacks, which numbers in peace-time, besides the Bodyguard Regiment of Cossacks, 15 regiments of Cavalry, 1 battery of Guard-Cossacks, and 7 batteries of the Line. In war-time these numbers can be considerably increased, and the whole Cossack Army would amount to 14 battalions Infantry, 136 regiments Cavalry, and 40 Horse Batteries (236 guns).
This gipsy-like nation of horsemen, who eat, drink, sleep, live and die in their saddles, and, eager for plunder, either precede the Regular Army or attach themselves to it, is well known in Germany, where it appeared during the Wars of the Liberation (1806–1815). One might say with Schiller: “The rider and his swift horse are fearsome guests.” On the whole, it seems to be the fate of the Cossacks to be regarded with feelings of greater respect as enemies than as friends.
Still less amenable to discipline than the Cossacks are some of the other foreign tribes found amongst the Russian Irregulars, such as the Tatars of the Crimea, the inhabitants of the Caucasus, the Tcherkesses, the Bashkirs and the Tunguses. Although these people render Russia most valuable service in her Asiatic possessions, still she can hardly count on their services in an European war, so that an invasion by these Asiatic races, like what happened in the times of Tamerlane or Jengiz-Khan, need not be taken into account by the Europe of to-day.
Cossack of the Amour.
Conclusions.