enemy infantry with lances and sabers to break up their formations - had been appropriate in previous generations when the infantry's primary weapon was the smoothbore musket, which only had an effective range of 100 yards. However, during the Civil War the rifle was the primary infantry weapon, and against a weapon with an effective range of 500 yards such shock tactics became ineffective and bloody. Instead, cavalry had to learn to fight dismounted, in effect becoming mounted infantry who used their horses only for mobility and fought on foot like normal infantry. Furthermore, the terrain was also blamed for being less conducive to large cavalry maneuvers, particularly in the Eastern Theater which was broken up with an abundance of woodlands and farmlands. Historian Earl J. Hess disputes the impact the rifle had on cavalry tactics in the Civil War, noting that even in the era of smoothbore muskets infantry had always been able to defend itself against cavalry attacks; a cavalry charge against infantry in formation and ready to meet it almost always ended in failure. Paddy Griffith observed that the United States never had a strong tradition of heavy cavalry which normally conducted such attacks; a cost-conscious Congress preferred to fund the formation of dragoons and mounted infantry which had more supposed versatility. Lacking a doctrinal basis for their use, Union cavalry only conducted a handful of cavalry charges against Confederate infantry in the first three years of the war and all were doomed to fail for reasons other than the rifle. Contemporary accounts also prove that the saber continued to play an important role in cavalry combat: in an October 1864 report General Jubal Early complains that Confederate cavalry armed only with rifles were at a severe disadvantage in open country against Union cavalry who could fight on horseback with sabers. By the latter part of the war, offensive tactics had settled around a hybrid that mixed the qualities of both a traditional cavalry force and mounted infantry. A cavalry unit would use their superior mobility to approach the enemy but then dismount a majority of their force to attack on foot. The dismounted troopers would use weight of fire to assault the enemy's position, particularly if armed with new repeating rifles. Finally at the right moment, the mounted portion stationed on one or both flanks would conduct a saber charge (or, if lacking in sabers, use