Their history begins from infantrymen mounted on horses. However, as this force was developed, they started paying much more
attention to dragoon riding drills. This resulted in a force that could fight both in mounted and foot formation. They indeed have yielded to heavy
cavalry in hand-to-hand fighting, but in case of good training they could accomplish the same missions. Dragoons were armed with a musket (later a
musket with a bayonet), a saber or a broadsword, and a pair of pistols. Dragoons had no armor. Their equipment was very much like that of the musketeers
except dragoons wore jackboots. In a foot array, they fell in 3 ranks like a linear infantry. When mounted, they charged in a tight array like heavy
cavalry. As the cavalry was developed, dragoons were less and less used as infantry.
