Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 March 1893 — CYCLIST INFANTRY. [ARTICLE]

CYCLIST INFANTRY.

Its Advantages As a Branch of the Military Service. The speed and endurance of cyclists are powerful recommendations. Their capability of making wide turning movements, and suddenly and unexpectedly appearing as infantry in unknown strength on the enemy’s flank, and their power of seizing distant defensible positions with great rapidity, and with a force unknown to the enemy, must not be underestimated. Silence of movement is also a great advantage. At night, provided there is light enough to see the edges of the roads, cyclists can attack outposts without betraying their presence till they are up to the line of sentries; whereas cavalry, or infantry mounted on horses, would not only betray their presence, but give an indication of their numbers by the noise of the hoofs. The moral effect of this power of stealthy approach, noiselessly and in unknown force, from distances beyond the march of infantry, must produce a feeling of nervousness and dread, and necessitate strengthening the outposts. It would be trying work for an enemy to suddenly find’ Bodies of' infantry of unknown reservepporerw r er appear vaguely out of space and behaving with cruel concreteness jn the matter of bullets. It has been claimed that a cyclist cannot ride cross country; but it is being proved that a bicycle can be ridden, especially with pneumatic tires, where it was before considered impossible. As to the riding of a bicycle across country, the most bitter opponent of the wheel must admit that he could get it over a barbed-wire fence easier than he could a horse. The recent “relay race” from Chicago to New York, by which General Miles at Chicago sent a message tc General Howard at New York by relays of bicycle riders, demonstrates the fact that bicycles can be ridden in places once considered impossible. Much of the country was at that time submerged, and many miles were ridden throu*?!’ water and mud inches deep. Seveit hundred miles of the distance were rid* den on the Lake Shore Railroad track, the surrounding country being under water. One rider rode six miles in twenty-one minutes, and dismounted to cross seven culverts and a railroad bridge. Finally, a great advantage of cyclists is their superior ability as marksmen. In these days of long-range rifles it is allimportant that a soldier be able to shoot well at any time. A cycle cannot pull a man’s hands or bump him in such a manner as to disturb his internal arrangements; therefore a man throwing himself off a cycle must be in better condition for immediate shooting than a man throwing himself off a horse.—[Harper’s Weekly.