Harry Dwight Chamberlin was born in Elgin Illinois in 1887. He was a gifted youth
possessing both intelligence and athletic ability in abundance. Both of these attributes
contributed to his appointment to West Point in 1906 as a member of the class of 1910.
It was a West Point that Harry
was first introduced to a horse. Although a novice in comparison to some of his
classmates, horsemanship came naturally to him. Equine activities, however, did note rate
in cadet life with football, and it was on the "fields of friendly strife" that
Harry made a name for himself as a cadet. By his junior year he was the starting halfback
for the Army football team and it was his exploits on the gridiron which made him a
standout in the Corps of Cadets. His achievements on the football field included a 92 yard
run for a touch down against Navy in his junior year, and participating in the Army game
against Carlisle College’s legendary Jim Thorpe. Football in those days was a much
tougher sport than the controlled and regulated modern game of today. In Harry’s
senior year a player was killed during the Army game against Harvard. As a result both
schools ended their season early that year, and Army cancelled its game against Navy.
Following graduation Chamberlin was commissioned a lieutenant of Cavalry and posted to
Custer’s famed 7th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Riley, Kansas. This was the
first of many years that Chamberlin would spend at the wind swept isolated home of
America’s cavalry. Harry first years in the Army were spent learning the troop duties
of a cavalry officer and culminated in command of a troop of cavalry in the Garry Owen
Regiment. This assignment was followed in 1916 with a promotion to Captain and an
assignment back to West Point as an instructor of Cavalry tactics. It was in this
assignment that Harry began a life-long association with one of the most distinguished and
influential cavalry officers and horsemen of the twentieth century, then Lieutenant
Colonel Guy V. Henry who, as Commandant of Cadets, was Chamberlin’s direct superior
at West Point.
In common with all of the faculty at West Point, the coming of World War I found
Chamberlin anxious for an assignment overseas. The growth of America’s Army, and the
nature of war in the trenches, caused Chamberlin, like many cavalry officers, to be
assigned as an infantry officer and gained him a temporary promotion to Lieutenant
Colonel. In 1918 he went overseas as the part of the staff of the 161st
Infantry Regiment. Harry served with the Regiment through the Armistice in November 1918,
and then entered into occupation duty with the unit in Germany. In 1919 he was offered the
opportunity to represent the US in the inter-allied games held in Paris which was his
first experience riding for and representing the US in international equestrian
competition.
Later in 1919 Chamberlin returned to the US, Fort Riley, and with the demobilization of
the Army, his former rank of Captain. At Fort Riley he was assigned to the department of
horsemanship. It was while in this position that he competed for and won a position on the
1920 US Equestrian Team preparing for the 1920 Olympics. Harry’s mount for the games,
held in London, was a horse called Nigra, with which he was to start a long relationship
which would survive numerous moves around the United States and around the world.
The 1920 Olympics Harry Chamberlin competed in both the "Military" as the
Three Day Event was then called, and in the Prix de Nations (Prize of Nations) show
jumping.
As an instructor of horsemanship at Fort Riley, Harry began an intense study of the
science and techniques of both riding and training. At the time the manual of horsemanship
at Fort Riley was a translation of the 1912 French Army manual published by the French
Cavalry School at Saumur. Chamberlin was not satisfied with the foundation of US
equestrian instruction, so in 1922 he asked and was selected to attend the French Cavalry
School. Harry spent a year in France studying the French methods at the conclusion of
which he believed that the French had a very complete and sound method of training the
horse, but he was not satisfied with the French military seat. He believed that the French
had not gone far enough toward adopting the forward seat that had been developed by the
Italian cavalry officer Cappretti. As a consequence, at the conclusion of his year in
France, Harry attended the Italian cavalry school at El Quinto. Upon his completion of
that course of instruction the Italian commandant announced "The student has
surpassed the master" in recognition of Chamberlin’s world class horsemanship.
To round out his survey of international equestrian instruction, Harry visited the German
cavalry school in Hanover, and the British cavalry school in Wheaton on his return trip to
the US.
Upon return to the U.S. Major Chamberlin was reassigned to cavalry troops in the field,
joining the 1st Cavalry Division’s 8th Cavalry regiment at Fort
Bliss, Texas as a squadron commander. At Fort Bliss Chamberlin began to put into practice
his emerging conclusions regarding training horse and rider. One of his first students was
one of the young polo players on Harry’s 8th Cavalry team, Lieutenant Earl
Thomson. "Tommy" Thomson, ultimately winner of two gold and three Olympic medals
as a member of the US Olympic Equestrian Team. Thomson undoubtedly one of the first, and
most distinguished of a growing cadre of Chamberlin trained riders. In later years Thomson
would recall that "he taught me how to ride," and gave major credit for his
successful competitive riding career to Harry.
At Fort Bliss from 1925 to 1927, Harry demonstrated superb abilities as a polo player.
As captain of the 8th Cavalry Team he led them to the 1st Cavalry
Division championship. As the captain of the Fort Bliss Army team they won the national 12
goal championship in 1925, and the 20 goal championship in 1926. Harry also reestablished
his military skills at Fort Bliss. He was responsible for the training, discipline and
well-being of over 300 troopers and nearly 500 horses assigned to his squadron. He led
them on exercises and supervised the conduct of long and grueling patrols through the
mountainous desert border region between the US and Mexico. It had only been ten years
since the famous Border Expedition against the bandit Pancho Villa, and both the Army and
the citizens of the American Southwest considered cavalry border duty serious business.
Polished in his soldier skills, Harry was recalled once again to Fort
Riley in 1927 to serve in the department of horsemanship. Here Harry formally instituted
the more forward riding position he learned in Italy, as well as the training techniques
he gleaned from the French. A balanced seat accompanied by a shorter stirrup became the
basis for all of the horsemanship instruction at Fort Riley. Many Riley graduates knew
this seat, well forward for cross-country riding and jumping, simply as the
"Chamberlin Seat."
One of Harry’s first requirements upon returning to Fort Riley was
participating as a member of the Army Equestrian Team in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.
The team consisted of a Brigadier General Walter C. Short, manager, Major Sloan Doak, Team
Captain, six riding officers, and nine enlisted men as grooms and support personnel. The
team, due to the dearth of experience with the type of riding required and lack of
suitable horses, did not make an entry into the dressage competition. Instead, two
three-rider teams were entered into the three-day event and the show jumping competitions.
Harry was the only rider to compete on both teams.
The three day event was the team’s best chance of achieving a medal.
In the opening day’s dressage competition the team’s combined score placed them
10th of eighteen teams. Not an impressive performance but also not unexpected
given the fact no dressage competitions existed in North America at that time. The cross
country endurance and jumping test was the American’s forte and they put on a good
showing resulting in a final team score which placed them number one in that portion of
the competition and second place overall. However, it was then revealed that Major C.P.
George, riding Ozella, had missed a jump on the course due to poor marking of the course.
His elimination caused the elimination of the team and destroyed the US team’s best
hope for winning a medal. Harry, riding Benny Grimes, finished 21st individually. In the
Prix de Nations show jumping competition Chamberlin road his 1920 Olympic mount, Nigra,
and finished as the top US rider and 18th overall. The team score in jumping placed it 8th
of sixteen teams competing.
Harry’s duties at Fort Riley were primarily focused on studying the science of
training horses and riders. His efforts during these years were largely documented in the
Cavalry School’s core instructional manuals Horsemastership, Volumes I to VI.
Volume I, Education of the Rider, and Volume II, Education of the Horse, clearly document
the scientific, and modern methods of riding and training which Chamberlin helped develop.
Not only was Harry instrumental in bringing these methods to the US, but through his
instruction at Fort Riley, he established them as the most effective and efficient means
for getting the most useful service from horse and rider. In this respect he was not only
providing a tremendous service to the military capability of the country at that time, but
also to the civilian equestrian community as well. Harry later refined and documented his
insights, training techniques and methods in two superb books: Riding and Training
Horses, and Training Hunters, Jumpers and Hacks. These two books, after
numerous reprinting in several countries, have spread Chamberlin’s methods throughout
the world, and preserved them for the benefit of future generations. Harry Chamberlin is
rightly associated with much of the Olympic success of the Army Equestrian Team, however,
as discussed above, his initial forays into Olympic competition in 1920 and 1928 were
beset by bad luck and missed opportunities. However, after the 1928 Olympics chance and
deliberate planning began to bring together the elements that in combination were destined
to make the US a recognized power in Equestrian competition. In 1928 Chamberlin’s
protégé, Lieutenant Thomson, arrived at Fort Riley from Fort Bliss to attend the Troop
Officers course and the Advanced Equitation Course. In 1930 Harry’s mentor from the
faculty at West Point and former Olympic rider, Guy V. Henry was promoted to Major General
and Chief of Cavalry. Additionally, General Henry would soon after become a member of the
1932 Olympic Committee, President of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), and
commander of US Army support to the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. This set the stage for a
superb performance by the US Army Equestrian Team at the 1932 Olympic Games.
Major Harry Chamberlin was the Team Captain and premier team rider in the
US 1932 Olympic games. He rode in both the Prix de Nations stadium jumping competition,
and the Three Day Event competition. His mount for the Three Day competition was an off
the track bay Thoroughbred named Pleasant Smiles. The two turned a very solid performance
marred only by a fall over a tricky jump on the cross country portion of the course. The
fall caused them to finish in 4th place individually, but the quality of their
performance combined with that of Lieutenant Tommy Thomson on Jenny Camp, the individual
Silver Medal winner, was good enough to earn the US its first Gold Medal in the Equestrian
Olympics. 
Major Chamberlin rode Show Girl, a white thoroughbred, in the show jumping competition.
His efforts, over what has gone down in history as one of the most difficult jump courses
ever, earned him a Silver individual medal. The Americans were assured a team Gold medal
except for the disqualification of one of the team riders which also effectively
eliminated the team. All in all, the US Team performance, led by Harry Chamberlin, was
among the best in US Olympic history. The ’32 team ultimately earned a Gold Medal,
two Silver Medals, and two Bronze Medals. A record that would not be equaled by US
Equestrian Teams until 1984.
In the 1930s Harry was the non-riding leader of the Army Equestrian Team that
represented the US in the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Harry’s military education
continued apace as he was selected for and attended both the two year Army Command and
Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, and one year Army War College. Promotion also followed
as he steadily moved up the Army ranks and in 1939 as a full colonel took 
command of the 2nd
Cavalry Regiment, then stationed at Fort Riley. Interesting, one of Harry’s cavalry
friends and peers Colonel George S. Patton Jr., also took command that year of the
Army’s 3rd Cavalry Regiment at Fort Meyer. Harry commanded the 2nd
Cavalry from 1939 to early 1941, then as war clouds gathered on the horizon Harry’s
achievements as a trainer were utilized in a more impressive way.
As the Army prepared for World War II it began to put in place organizations which
could train the millions of raw recruits which would soon fill the Army’s ranks. One
of these organizations was the replacement training center, designed to train individual
soldiers for posting to regiments and divisions which were being formed all over the US.
Colonel Harry Chamberlin was promoted to Brigadier General in 1941 and posted as the first
commander of the Cavalry Replacement Training Center (CRTC) at Fort Riley. Distinct from
the Cavalry School, which focused primarily on officer and specialist training, the CRTC
was designed to training individual cavalrymen for posting to their units with basic
military skills including horsemanship. Prior to the CRTC all individual soldier training
was conducted at the regimental level in units.
Chamberlin commanded the CRTC for less then a year, and then moved quickly to what was
hoped to be a combat command as a brigade commander within the 2nd Cavalry
Division. Harry commanded the division’s first brigade which included his old
regiment the 2nd, as well as the 14th Cavalry. This command lasted
until 1943 when the division was deactivated. Harry asked for and received a posting to a
combat theater, arriving in the Pacific in 1944 as commander of a joint services task
force. This was seen by Harry and many of his peers as the first step toward an Army
combat command in the Pacific Theater, perhaps even with his old outfit, the 1st
Cavalry Division. 
Unfortunately, while commanding in the Pacific General Chamberlin took ill and had to
be assigned back to the US for treatment. He was assigned as the commander of the Presidio
while doctors worked to treat what was feared to be a terminal condition. In the fall of
1944 Brigadier General Harry D. Chamberlin died at the Presidio in California. He was
buried with full military honors in the post cemetery.
Harry Chamberlin’s passing was part of the end of the age of the Army horse. The
like of his Army, the Army of the horse cavalry, will never be seen again. It was an Army
where a trooper had not only to be technical in all the military technical skills, but he
also had to be a superb athlete, able to routinely accomplish fetes that today are only
accomplished by professional Hollywood stunt men. Even more unique, it was an Army where
one’s profession required the ability to establish an emotional and even spiritual
relationship with an animal. Certainly these characteristics of the cavalryman have no
peer today, and certainly as a professional soldier, athlete, and horseman Brigadier
General Harry Chamberlin had few peers in the history of the US Cavalry.