The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 96, July 1992 - April, 1993 Page: 19
681 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Fort Inge
that battle to care for wounded. In two examples (8 percent) the rocky
terrain of the battlefield forced the leaders to launch dismounted at-
tacks. The deliberate attack, rather than hasty attack, is characterized
by more detailed preparation and planning, complete information
about the enemy situation, and controlled organization. Fort Inge units
conducted only one recorded deliberate attack on an Indian camp. The
soldiers successfully executed a surprise at dawn after being ambushed
and forced into a hasty defense the previous day. Reaction to an Indian
ambush occurred in four cases (16 percent), three of which resulted in
a hasty defense and one in a fighting withdrawal. The meeting engage-
ment, an event in which each side is moving and unexpectedly collides
with the other, occurred in one recorded skirmish. In this case the unit,
an attached Texas Ranger Company, established a hasty defense and
the Indians, with superior numbers, abandoned the fight.3'
A common element in all of these engagements related to Fort Inge
was the failure of the soldiers to follow up a tactical victory with the
exploitation or pursuit of a defeated enemy. After losing an engage-
ment a fleeing enemy often becomes nearly incapable of effective or
organized resistance and is vulnerable to annihilation. Although the
data is incomplete, there are several common explanations. Leaders
killed or wounded, the need to care for wounded soldiers, the burden
of recovered property, worn-out horses, and the Indian tactic of scat-
tering in a multitude of directions when chased are all reasons noted in
Fort Inge reports for the failure of a patrol to continue to pursue a de-
feated enemy. Any one of these situations would place a manpower and
leadership strain on an already understaffed frontier patrol. An addi-
tional factor may be the fact that in small-unit skirmishes victory very
nearly disorganizes the victor as much as the defeated unit. Time con-
sumed in reconsolidation and reorganization drains an operation of
momentum, restoring the natural state of inertia.
Good intelligence could be considered an important factor in three
of the twenty-five engagements, but initiative and surprise were crucial
elements in nearly one-half of the total. Gaining the initiative allows
one side to set the terms of the battle by a particular maneuver or unex-
pected action, forcing the opposition to conform to actions and timing
not of his choice. Initiative is gained by surprise, speed or direction of
movement, audacity, or violence of execution. In the case of the Fort
Inge-related combats, the side gaining the initiative at the beginning of
s' The linear-to-linear formation charge occurred October 3, 1854, led by Capt. John Walker
with Companies D and K, Mounted Rifles. See King, War Eagle, 15-16. The deliberate attack
occurred April 19, 1857. See copy of Lt. Robert Wood's Journal, and San Antonio Herald, May
9, 1857. The meetmg engagement occurred in July 1850 during a large-scale campaign See
Hardee to AAAG, Sept. 14, 1850, RG 98 (NA).
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 96, July 1992 - April, 1993, periodical, 1993; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101215/m1/45/: accessed May 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.