[Magdalen] Calvary is the New Cavalry.

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

I watched two AHC (HIstory Channel), programs, "Custer's Last Stand"
and "Billy the Kid" on television earlier this evening.
 
Over and beyond the historical information depicted in these 
documentaries, I came away with two additional observations.
 
(1)  Everyone engaged in producing the Custer program, including  the
      Native American interviewed, kept referring  to Custer's US Army
      soldiers as part of a "calvary" group   [??]
 
(2)  There were original letters written by the subjects of both  programs
       that showed they all, including Custer  and Billy the Kid, had 
       remarkably beautiful handwriting, in  these cases written with ink
       pens.
 
I guess it shows that when elementary schooling was probably limited
to reading, writing, and arithmetic, penmanship was the name of the
game.
 
By contrast, 20th and 21st century handwriting is awful, and since  the
advent of the computer age, mostly dreadful.  These 19th century
persons were literate in the basics.  I have to admire them, and I'll  bet,
also, that they knew the difference between calvary and cavalry..  
 
 
David Strang.