1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 678 Giving up and gaining

After eleven or twelve Yankee cavalrymen were knocked down by the Solon camp cavalry and more than twenty of them fled, the Yankee cavalry not only did not collapse, but were able to fight back under the command of the sergeants. This greatly surprised Kekudi, Wang Mancang, and a group of Solon camp cavalrymen.

Although the cavalry of the Solon Camp continued to attack the Northern Cavalry by relying on the firing rate advantage of the volcanic stone repeating rifles, the Northern Cavalry dispersed their formation after completing the second round of shooting, causing the hit rate of the Solon Camp Cavalry to be greatly reduced.

"What a crap shooting skill!"

Wang Mancang had served in both the First Cavalry Regiment and the Solon Battalion. Compared with the veteran cavalrymen of the First Cavalry Regiment, the marksmanship of the Solon Battalion cavalry was really terrible.

Captain Jonathan was a veteran soldier who had been on many battlefields. After withstanding the attack of the Soran Camp Cavalry, Jonathan quickly realized that the enemy's number was not large, no more than thirty people. Although his side suffered heavy casualties, it still maintained a huge advantage in numbers.

Jonathan snatched the red and white flag embroidered with the American emblem and regiment number from the dead rider, and shouted at the top of his voice: "Sergeant James, take your men to blow up the culvert for me! The rest of you follow me to charge! I'm going to scalp these Indians!"

This was Jonathan's third encounter with the Western Cavalry. He knew that the Sharps M1859 Cavalry Carbines they were equipped with were nothing more than firewood sticks in front of the Western Cavalry's rapid-fire rifles. To engage in a shootout with the Western Cavalry was to seek death!

"For General McClellan! For the United States! Draw your swords!"

"charge!"

Following Jonathan's order, more than sixty shining cavalry sabers and knives were raised in the green smoke. The Northern cavalrymen pressed their legs on the horses' bellies and rushed towards the Solon camp cavalry with shouts.

"Keep your distance! They are charging! Keep your distance and shoot!"

When Wang Mancang saw the Northern cavalry launching a charge, he quickly gave orders, but only seven or eight cavalrymen from the Sauron camp obeyed his orders, keeping a distance and shooting the Northern cavalry to avoid hand-to-hand combat.

The remaining eighteen or nineteen cavalrymen from the Solon camp followed the maddened and irrational Kekudi, who dropped his gun and drew his sword, and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Northern Army that was charging up.

Kekudi was an excellent rider and expert in horseback fighting. He took the lead, growled, and slashed at a Union cavalryman who rushed towards him with his sword.

The sword was so powerful that it directly split the enemy cavalry's shoulder. The Northern cavalry who were hit immediately bleed and lost their combat capability.

Seeing his companion being cut off his horse, a Union Army sergeant who was following closely behind him stabbed Kekudi in the heart. Kekudi was quick-witted and quickly drew his sword to block the stab of the Union Army sergeant, and then took advantage of the situation to cut the Union Army sergeant's neck with his sword.

Kekudi killed two Northern Army cavalrymen in a row, and the morale of the Solon Camp cavalry was greatly boosted. They were not affected at all by the huge gap in numbers between the two sides, but became more courageous as the battle went on.

Captain Jonathan soon noticed this brave Western cavalry officer. After using the Prussian stabbing technique to chop a Sauron warrior off his horse with great difficulty, Jonathan went straight to Poker Kudi and joined hands with another Northern rider to entangle Poker Kudi.

Seeing that Kekudi was in danger, Wang Mancang didn't care about the Northern Army who were pushing the covered wagon loaded with explosives towards the culvert, and led seven or eight cavalrymen around him to break up the Northern Army's formation.

Wang Mancang did not draw his sword. Instead, he rushed forward while using the volcanic rifle in his hand to shoot at the Northern cavalry who were only a dozen meters or even several meters away. He had no intention of engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the Northern cavalry.

Soon, the Northern Army cavalry was disrupted by the seven or eight cavalrymen commanded by Wang Mancang. Despite having an absolute numerical advantage, they were unable to gain an advantage in close combat.

The metal vibrations of more than eighty sabers slashing at the same time, the wailing of injured horses, the sound of automatic rifles, and the friction sounds of blades stuck in the bones being pulled out by brute force, the entire battlefield was filled with a strange buzzing sound.

As the two sides were fighting, a loud bang erupted from the culvert not far away, and a mushroom cloud wrapped in datura petals rose into the sky, with a column of black smoke rising. The culvert, which was only half destroyed by the explosion, collapsed completely.

"withdraw!"

Seeing that the mission had been accomplished, Jonathan did not linger in the battle. He covered his left arm that was cut by Kekudi, gathered the remaining soldiers and quickly withdrew from the battlefield.

Just as Kekudi was about to continue chasing the Northern cavalry, he was pushed off his horse by Wang Mancang.

Kekudi, who was pushed off his horse, was furious: "Wang Mancang! Why the hell did you push me?"

"What are you doing?" Wang Mancang looked at the destroyed railway culvert with a dead look on his face. "Kekudi! You can wait for the military court!"

After he finished speaking, Wang Mancang no longer paid any attention to Kekudi, but took the seven or eight cavalrymen around him to the culvert and captured five Northern Army soldiers who were knocked unconscious by the waves caused by the explosion.

Since this was only a small battle, the results were quickly counted. In this battle, 36 Union cavalrymen were killed and 7 were captured.

Six people from the Solon camp were killed and 6 were injured, including Kekudi.

Wang Mancang was obviously unacceptable to such a result, because these casualties were almost all caused in close combat with the Northern cavalry, and their casualties could have been smaller.

Of course, what’s even more fatal is that despite suffering such heavy casualties, their mission was not accomplished, and the Union Army still successfully destroyed the culvert and the railway.

Their main mission was to protect the railroad, not to annihilate the Yankee cavalry. "Martial court? I killed four or five Yankee cavalrymen, which was a great achievement! Why should I go to military court?!" Kekudi was very dissatisfied.

"Achieve merit? You still have the nerve to talk about merit?! Have we completed the tasks assigned to us by our superiors? Why use a knife when a gun can solve the problem?" Wang Mancang angrily scolded Kekudi, "Kekudi, what I taught you in Camp Pratt, are you going back to feed the dogs? If you want to die, don't drag your brothers to be buried with you!"

On the other hand, Jonathan and his more than 40 remaining soldiers fled back to Omaha Camp without looking back, and reported this impressive battle to Philip St. George Cook, commander of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.

Before the war, the commander of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment was Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, and the 2nd Cavalry Regiment was formed by Johnston.

After the North-South split, Johnston left the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and chose to pledge allegiance to the South and join the Confederate Army.

In fact, many outstanding officers of the US military before the war, especially senior cavalry officers, were mostly Southerners. The current commander of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Cook, was also a Southerner, but he chose to be loyal to the North.

"Are you saying that besides those Indian cavalry, the Westerners have other cavalry? Jonathan, can you guarantee it to God?" After listening to Jonathan's report, Cook was very surprised. This was very important information.

The intelligence work in the North has always been poor. Until now, they still don’t know that in addition to the 1st Cavalry Regiment, the Western Army also has the Mongolian Cavalry Regiment and the Solon Cavalry Battalion.

"It's absolutely true, sir! I fought hand-to-hand with them, and I will never forget their faces. They were definitely not Indians. They looked more like Mongols or Tatars," Jonathan said with lingering fear.

"Their officers are extremely brave. My left arm was cut by them. The archery skills of these cavalrymen are far inferior to those of the Indian cavalrymen in the West, but their horsemanship and swordsmanship are both first-class!"

"Mongols and Tatars?" Jonathan was incredulous. He was skeptical about what Jonathan said. "How can you be sure that they are Mongols or Tatars, not Han immigrants?"

Cook had come into contact with Native Americans and Chinese on the West Coast. Although both Indians and Chinese on the West Coast have yellow skin, Indians have square facial contours, wide and flat faces, and their temperament, manners, and living habits are quite different from those of Chinese people, so they can still be easily distinguished.

But Cook did not quite understand the difference between the Mongols, Tatars and the Chinese on the west coast. After all, he had never even seen a Mongols or Tatars.

"Their riding skills are better than mine, and such riding skills require training from childhood." Jonathan said, "I heard that Liang Yao once bought some Mongolians and Tatars as slaves from the British and French, so I guess they are most likely Mongolians and Tatars."

"I understand." Cook nodded. "Jonathan, you completed your mission very well this time. Go and rest and recover first."

"Colonel, our company suffered heavy casualties in completing this mission. If this continues, it won't be long before there are not many old guys left in the Second Cavalry Regiment." Jonathan said to Cook.

Since the 2nd Cavalry Regiment began its mission of destroying the railway, nearly half of its troops have been killed or wounded. Although McClellan replenished the 2nd Cavalry Regiment with fresh blood in a timely manner, the strength of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment is now much weaker than before.

If Jonathan had brought out veteran cavalrymen to carry out the mission this time, perhaps they would not only be able to successfully complete the task of destroying the railroad tracks, but also defeat the Westerner cavalrymen they encountered.

"I understand. You should go back and rest first." Cook sighed helplessly.

After Jonathan left, Cook found McClellan and reported to him what had happened today.

McClellan was delighted when he heard that six more sections of railway had been destroyed today, including a railway culvert. He rubbed his hands happily and said, "Great! This way we can delay the war for another two or three days."

"Sir, although the mission was accomplished, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment suffered heavy casualties," Cook said to McClellan boldly. "If you continue to use cavalry at such a high intensity and regardless of losses, I'm afraid that we will soon have no cavalry left to use."

"I know your cavalry suffered heavy casualties, so whenever there are high-quality soldiers, they are first replenished to your cavalry, especially your Second Cavalry Regiment." McClellan said with a gloomy face.

The cavalry had suffered heavy casualties, and McClellan was not only well aware of this, but he also felt the pain.

But he was the commander-in-chief on the Western Front, and he had to coordinate the entire army from the perspective of the overall strategic situation, rather than worrying about the casualties of some elite troops.

The Western rebels now probably have more than two regiments of elite cavalry, and it would be difficult for the Western Front troops to defeat the Western rebels in a battle without sufficient elite cavalry.

But if there are not enough infantry, I'm afraid even Omaha cannot be defended. McClellan still knows what is more important.

McClellan knew that what he most urgently needed now was sufficient reinforcements to fill the line.

But it takes time for a small citizen in New York, a farmer in Illinois, or a worker in Pittsburgh to have basic tactical skills.

"But sir," Cook still wanted to fight for his troops, at least to reduce the intensity of the mission.

"No buts, just follow your orders." McClellan didn't give Cook any chance to fight for it. He now had a more troublesome thing, which was to serve those congressmen who came to Omaha.

(End of this chapter)