team of mules up a mountain-side or down a vertical precipice in
perfect safety. They could do the impossible with a team of mules, and
they had to do it before the detachment reached the firing-line. The
success of the battery was to depend to a very large degree upon the
coolness, good judgment, and perfect bravery of these four teamsters.

[Illustration: Calvary Picket Line.]

It should be noted that the use of mules was an experiment. The
"scientific" branch of service has always held that the proper animal
to draw a field-piece is the horse. They expatiate with great delight
upon the almost human intelligence and sagacity of that noble animal;
upon his courage "when he snuffeth the battle afar," and upon the
undaunted spirit with which he rushes upon the enemy, and assists his
master to work the destruction of his foes. The Artillery claims that
mules are entirely too stubborn, too cowardly, and too hard to manage
for the purpose of their arm of the service. It was also an experiment
to use two mules per gun. The Engineer Department had reported that
the road to the front was impassable for wheeled vehicles, and even
the general had apparently thought that four mules per gun would be
necessary. The necessity of economizing mules, and the opinion of the
detachment commander that two mules per gun would be sufficient, had
led to the issue of that number. Those who despise the army mule for
the purposes of field artillery know very little of the capacity of
this equine product of Missouri when properly handled. It was
demonstrated that two mules can pull a Gatling gun with 10,000 rounds
of ammunition, loaded down with rations and forage, where eight horses
are required to draw a field-piece; and that mules are equally as easy
to manage under fire as horses.