Dragoons (ETW Unit)
Dragoons
Unit Description
Despite appearances, dragoons are not really cavalry but mounted line infantry, riding into a battle then fighting on foot.
Horses give mobility, not shock value in combat. Dragoons do not charge home, but ride to critical spots on a battlefield where infantry firepower is needed. They carry smoothbore, muzzle-loading muskets with shortened barrels (to make reloading easier) originally called "dragons" or dragoons; over time, this name transferred over to the men.
Dragoons are also useful riot control and civil suppression ("dragooning" is to bully people into a course of action). Their usefulness ans infantry and "cheap" cavalry means that they can put down all kinds of trouble, as cutting down civilians is beneath the dignity of proper cavalry regiments.
Historically, dragoons slowly became cavalry soldiers like any other, and stopped fighting as mounted infantry, although many regiments did retain the name. The cavalry had always regarded them as (lower paid) social inferiors, and the infantry had resented them as not being proper footsloggers, so the dragoons accepted their new acceptability.
Statistics
Factional Differences
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Tactics
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