US Dragoons 1833-55 (Men-At-Arms Series, 281) (Men-at-Arms, 281)

I've been looking for this copy for sometime. Found in seconds on Amazon.

product as advertised and delivered as promised.

Useful summary

A small but good book with a general history of the Dragoons and a good description of their uniforms and weapons, which I found difficult to find from other sources. Very well illustrated well worth the price.

A typically handy "cliff notes" coverage of the topic.There's a typo on p. 33: The list of 5 companies from the 1st Dragoons in Kearney's expedition should have included "K" instead of "H". "H" isn't mentioned in the later narrative, but "K" is. It might occur to a reader since the "H" is out of order in the company listing ("...consisted of companies B, C, G, I, and H.").Plates A3 and C2, both corporals, are mis-labled as privates. Anyone familiar with Anglo-American NCO rank conventions would realize this immediately, but this is a work for those who might not be, so...Anyway, it makes me wonder what I missed. It' would still be worth $17.95 (I payed $12.77).

Dragoons were introduced into the US Army for the purpose of patrolling the overland routes to Oregon and later to California. They were the first mounted troops to be raised in many years.Their lineage can be traced to today's cavalry units.All of the work done by this author has proven to be well worth having, provided you have an interest. He has spent many years gathering and interpreting his information. One of his specialties is combing various works for narrative commentary. He is especially known for ferreting out contemporaneous images of the clothing and equipment in use.

I would recommend this little jewel to anyone, but especially to someone who has no previous knowledge on the subject. The Smithsonian photo of the folding forage cap is worth the price by itself. A great little concise overview. I only wish they had included a photo of Hall's Breechloading Carbine.

Avery good book thank you.