I would call the bulk of Forrest's men, by the end of the war, mounted infantry. A great many of them carried long arms and used them to great effect (Fort Pillow). Forrest is reported as saying that the most effective trooper was one that carried two Navy Colts and a Sharps carbine and had eliminated the sword as a standard weapon for his troopers. But, it was the long arm rifled musket that his men carried in great numbers, like at Chickamauga, that made his men look and act like infantry when dismounted, which earned him high phrase by General Longstreet.

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David Upton