BFI

This footage of an unidentified US Army artillery unit in what looks like an elaborate field training exercise provides a fascinating glimpse into the past. The horses in particular seem to belong more to the era of the US Civil War (which had taken place only half a century earlier) than the decade that would see the first genuinely mechanised war breaking out in Europe.

In fact, American cavalry had already seen military action that decade. In 1910-11 revolutionary insurgence in Mexico led to a strengthening of US cavalry patrols along the southern border, and this was repeated in 1913 (the year this footage was shot) when counter-revolutionary Mexican forces prevailed.

Three years later, fighting would break out when Mexican bandits under the command of Francisco 'Pancho' Villa crossed the border to attack Columbus in New Mexico on March 9, 1916. This led to the Punitive Expedition into Mexico to capture Villa - the last US military conflict that would primarily involving cavalry. Topical Budget would document this event in the newsreel U.S.Troops for Mexico (242-1).

Michael Brooke

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