Dragoons

We believe that we are the only ECW unit in the UK with the capability of demonstrating the mounted use and deployment of dragoons, and we are currently recruiting new members who would like to help potray this unique facet of re-enactment. Please contact us for further details.

Dragoons were highly mobile and versatile troops who rode between battles then dismounted to fight, generally with muskets but occasionally with carbines. Whilst dismounted the horses were left in the care of a horseholder, as a rule one man to ten horses. The dragoons were normally positioned on the flanks of the army, often behind cover, and sniped at the enemy cavalry as they rode past. As well as the musket, which would be carried slung across the back, dragoons were armed with swords in case they were ever called upon to fight mounted. Although unusual, this did occasionally occur, as in Okey’s dragoons charging with the horse at Naseby.

Unlike the horse, the dragoons were dressed as musketeers in soldier’s coats but no armour. The one exception was that they often wore boots or gaiters (known as cockers) to protect their legs during long hours in the saddle. As a general rule, dragoons did not get involved in heavy fighting during battles; they would instead fall back to their horses and withdraw. They were, however, often used for unusual duties such as crossing demolished bridges or stealing into enemy positions at night.

The dragoons work closely alongside the Ironsides both mounted and on the ground. They are competent riders (if not to the same degree as the cavalry) and are able to react quickly to a wide variety of commands, both on foot and mounted.  They take part in mounted and dismounted displays, ride onto and off the battlefield and fight on foot both alongside the cavalry and independently. They are taught to use muskets and swords safely, and all hold both a shotgun licence and an explosives certificate.  The dragoons provide a useful home for cavalry troopers at smaller musters where there are no horses available and give riders a chance to bring their skills up to the standard required by the cavalry, as well as being a challenging and fun role in their own right.

Contemporary Dragoon Usage

Roger Boyle, Earl of Orrery, Art of War (London, 1677; p. 33-34):

"I would have every Regiment of Horse consist of seven Troops, six whereof should be Armed with Back, Breast and Pott (helmet), and for offence, should have Swords or Tucks, with Pistols and Carbines; and the seventh Troop should be of Firelocks, or Dragoons, whose duty should be to guard the Quarter of the Regiment; to secure passes with Celerity; to force Passes possest by the Enemy; to assist the Horse when they fight in enclosed Countries; and in Battle, to alightt; and marching up in the outermost Flank of the Regiment, should be in two Ranks, the first kneeling, the second standing, a little before the Squadrons Charged, Fire upon the Enemy, their guns loaded with Pistol bullets, which I have sometimes practised, and found it attended with great success; and every tenth man while the rest were on such service, was to hold the Horses of those who were thus employed."

Sir James Turner's Pallas Armata (London, 1683). Turner served as a mercenary in Europe before and after the ECW:

"Dragoons are Musketeers mounted on Horses, appointed to march with the Cavalry, in regard there are not only many occasions, wherein Foot can assist the Horse, but that seldom there is any occasion of service against an Enemy, but wherein it is both fit and necessary to join some Foot with the Horse, Dragoons then go not only before to guard Passes (as some imagine) but to fight in open field; for if an Enemy recounter with a Cavalry in a champaign or on open Heath, the Dragoons are obliged to alight, and mix themselves with the squads of Horse, as they shall be commanded; and their continued Firing, before the Horse comes to the charge, will, no doubt, be very hurtful to the Enemy: if the encounter be in a close Country, they serve well to line Hedges, and posses Enclosures, they serve for defending Passes and Bridges, whether it be in the Advance, or Retreat of an Army, and for beating the Enemy from them:

Their service is on foot, and is no other than that of Musketeers; but because they are mounted on Horseback, and ride with the Horse, either in the Van, or behind in the Rear of an Army, they are reckon'd as a part of the Cavalry, and are subordinate to the General, Lt-General, or Maj-General of the Horse, and not to those of the foot. And being that sometimes they are forced to retire from a powerful and prevailing Enemy, they ought to be taught to give Fire on Horseback, that in an open field they may keep an Enemy at a distance till they get the advantage of a closer Country, a Straight, a Pass, a Bridge, a Hedge, or a Ditch, and then they are bound to alight, and defend that advantage, that thereby (though perhaps with the loss of the Dragoons themselves) the Cavalry may be saved.

When they alight, they cast their Bridle Reins over the necks of their side-mens Horses, and leave them in that same order as they marched. Of ten Dragoons, nine fight, and the tenth man keeps the ten Horses."

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