OneManGang
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I beg my loyal readers for forgiveness regarding the tardiness of this report but, your scribe was on leave in Beaufort, SC. Sun, sea and excellent seafood got in the way of any writing.
Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Alabama
This writer got the impression sometime in the second quarter Saturday that Alabama had faced tougher competition in their last inter-squad scrimmage.
The Vols' offensive woes continued with an anemic output that in Tennessee's last inter-squad scrimmage would have had people running the steps.
On the defensive side of the ball, your scribe was reminded of Packer legend Jerry Kramer's description of the second half of Super Bowl I. He said he knew the game was over when, on the Packers' first series, the guy opposite him just kind of leaned on him and groaned. Would that Tennessee's defensive line had put forth that much effort.
The Tide's offensive line was determined that quarterback Mac Jones not get his jersey dirty and they damned near succeeded. Meanwhile, Vol quarterback Jarrett Guarantano was chased around Shields-Watkins Field like a rabbit running from a pack of hounds. This showed in the final passing stats as the Vols amassed an embarrassing 163 net passing yards. The Tide posted nearly three times that many.
Tennessee's open date could not have come at a better time. Along with evaluating new personnel and schemes, Our Beloved Vols need to do some soul-searching as well and find something, anything, to hang their collective hats on for the balance of the 2020 campaign. Until then ...
20 is the new 12.
In the summer of 1864, the Confederate Army faced a situation reflected by the Germans some eighty years later in the summer of 1944.
While both armies were still powerful forces they were pretty much completely on the defensive and assailed on all sides by enemy armies that both outnumbered and outgunned them. Worse, those enemy forces had shaken off their early inexperience and disorganization and were now veteran armies with mostly competent leaders.
Beginning in the Spring of 1864 and lasting a bit over forty days, what became known as The Overland Campaign was nothing less than a steel cage death match featuring the Union Army of the Potomac led by “That Damned Old Goggle-eyed Snapping Turtle” General George Meade with Ulysses Grant peering over his shoulder. Opposite Meade was “Marse Robert,” General Robert E. Lee, and the fearsome fighters of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
It began with the Battle of the Wilderness, a slaughter pen in woods so thick troops mere feet from each other could not see each other and where sparks started brush fires that immolated the wounded of both sides who lay thick on the ground. Then came Spotsylvania, an engagement so bloody that survivors on both sides later shuddered at the name. Next was North Anna where the two armies maneuvered and fought sharp actions but neither could gain a clear victory. Finally came Cold Harbor, a frontal assault by the flower of the Union host against Lee's veterans in strong field fortifications. As a sobering display of bloody futility, this Union attack stands alongside Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg.
The thing that worried Lee was that, unlike all the previous Union commanders, Grant refused to quit. After each stage of the campaign he would order his army into motion, moving south to find a way around Lee's right flank and sweep on to Richmond, forcing the Old Fox out of his earthworks and out into the open where the superior Union numbers would dispose of the graycoat army and end the rebellion before the presidential election.
He never found that flank.
Both armies, depleted by heavy casualties, (over 45% each) stumbled into positions around the town of Petersburg and dug in. They stayed there for the next ten months.
Unlike the Union troops who were supported by a gigantic supply depot at City Point, itself filled by the massive output of northern factories and farms, Lee's boys had to be fed from sources in Virginia and upper North Carolina. The “breadbasket” for them was the rich farmland of the Shenandoah Valley. Currently, there were two Union forces threatening that valley and only a division under General John C. Breckenridge opposite them.
Lee had to do something and fast, before the Yankees could burn and loot their way down the valley and his troops were starved into surrender. As the stalemate lengthened at Petersburg he decided to risk sending his II Corps, which had been Jackson's Corps before Old Blue Light was killed at Chancellorsville a year earlier. Their mission was to eject the Yankees from the valley, move into Maryland and threaten either Baltimore or Washington, D.C. Itself. Intelligence had determined that the formidable Washington defenses had been stripped of manpower and many forts had only a flag and a couple of guys to hold it up. If Early could advance quickly enough, his men could capture a couple of the forts and possibly even the city itself!
The corps was commanded now by Lt. Gen. Jubal Early. Known to his men as “Old Jubilee” or simply “Old Jube,” Early was a product of West Point who had served in the Seminole Wars before resigning to attend law school and then open his own practice in western Virginia. Like Lee, he was no supporter of slavery but had been so outraged by the Union invasion of his home state that he joined the Confederate Army and served in every major battle since First Manassas (Bull Run) and was given increasing rank and commands since.
A crusty and cantankerous character, Lee's biographer described him as, “a profane, irascible and bitter man.” Lee himself referred to Early as, “That bad man.” But he was a fighter and could be relied upon to pitch into the enemy with everything he had.
By the time Early's men reached the valley, Breckinridge's division had decisively defeated one of the Union units. Breckinridge attached his division to Early's corps and off they went eventually chasing off the rest of the Yankees and moving on into Maryland where they threatened several towns with destruction unless a ransom was paid which would be passed on to Richmond to help pay for the war.
The most direct route to Washington led to a railroad junction on the banks of the Monacacy River with a covered bridge across the river. Unknown to Early, waiting on the near bank was a scratch force of militia troops and a smattering of regulars under General Lew Wallace. Wallace's force was heavily outnumbered but gave a good account of itself and was later strengthened by a brigade from Union VI Corps and held off Early until late afternoon when Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon's Division appeared on Wallace's right flank and unleashed a volley described by Union survivors as “a sheet of flame.”
Wallace's men now fell back across the river but not before burning the bridge. By the time Early got his corps across the river, it was nightfall and he stopped to encamp. Despite the tactical victory, Early had lost a precious day.
Late on 11 July, Earl's men reached the outskirts of Washington. The day lost at Monacacy now made it's presence felt. Alerted by telegrams from Washington, Grant had detached the balance of VI Corps and most of IX Corps to man the forts. Seeing the corps flags and glistening weapons of the new arrivals, Early decided to make a demonstration attack the next day and then withdraw back to the valley.
The focus of this exercise was Fort Stevens which is now preserved in Rock Creek Park.
Early's demonstration went in as planned and after exchanging fire for a few hours, he ordered his corps to withdraw having lost about 300 casualties.
Since the fighting was so close to town, President Lincoln himself traveled to Fort Stevens to observe the action. He arrived and immediately went to the parapet. Dissatisfied by the view from behind the wall and wearing his signature dark frock coat and stovepipe hat, Lincoln climbed up on the parapet itself to get a clearer view. Confederate sharpshooters and cannoneers couldn't fail to spot possibly the most recognizable figure on either side.
Bullets and the occasional cannon shell whistled around Lincoln, one man nearby was badly wounded. Lincoln stood unperturbed. It was, and remains to this day, the only time in American history that a sitting president was exposed to direct enemy fire.
The fort commander, his staff and a variety of staff officers from Lincoln's staff and the War Department, were in a quandary. It was clear Lincoln needed to take cover, but he seemed determined to stand there. They quickly huddled and tried to figure out how to order the commander-in-chief to take cover.
Their dilemma was solved by an anonymous soldier in the firing line who looked up at Lincoln and growled, “Get down, you damned fool!”*
Lincoln promptly complied.
So there now.
In the intervening days since the disaster on Saturday, there really isn't much your scribe can add to the discussion except to point out that we all know the way out of this mess. Sit back and let The Gen'rul's wisdom point out what needs to be done,
So how did the team do compared to the Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!
3. If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don’t let up … PUT ON MORE STEAM!
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
7. Carry the fight to Alabama and keep it there for sixty minutes.
MAXOMG
© 2020 Keeping Your Stories Alive
Suggested Reading:
Bruce Catton, A Stillness at Appomatox
Clifford Dowdey, Lee
Shelby Foote, The Civil War: A Narrative. Volume III, Red River to Appomatox
Lt. General Jubal A. Early, CSA. (Library of Congress)
Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Alabama
This writer got the impression sometime in the second quarter Saturday that Alabama had faced tougher competition in their last inter-squad scrimmage.
The Vols' offensive woes continued with an anemic output that in Tennessee's last inter-squad scrimmage would have had people running the steps.
On the defensive side of the ball, your scribe was reminded of Packer legend Jerry Kramer's description of the second half of Super Bowl I. He said he knew the game was over when, on the Packers' first series, the guy opposite him just kind of leaned on him and groaned. Would that Tennessee's defensive line had put forth that much effort.
The Tide's offensive line was determined that quarterback Mac Jones not get his jersey dirty and they damned near succeeded. Meanwhile, Vol quarterback Jarrett Guarantano was chased around Shields-Watkins Field like a rabbit running from a pack of hounds. This showed in the final passing stats as the Vols amassed an embarrassing 163 net passing yards. The Tide posted nearly three times that many.
Tennessee's open date could not have come at a better time. Along with evaluating new personnel and schemes, Our Beloved Vols need to do some soul-searching as well and find something, anything, to hang their collective hats on for the balance of the 2020 campaign. Until then ...
20 is the new 12.
* * * * * * * * *
In the summer of 1864, the Confederate Army faced a situation reflected by the Germans some eighty years later in the summer of 1944.
While both armies were still powerful forces they were pretty much completely on the defensive and assailed on all sides by enemy armies that both outnumbered and outgunned them. Worse, those enemy forces had shaken off their early inexperience and disorganization and were now veteran armies with mostly competent leaders.
Beginning in the Spring of 1864 and lasting a bit over forty days, what became known as The Overland Campaign was nothing less than a steel cage death match featuring the Union Army of the Potomac led by “That Damned Old Goggle-eyed Snapping Turtle” General George Meade with Ulysses Grant peering over his shoulder. Opposite Meade was “Marse Robert,” General Robert E. Lee, and the fearsome fighters of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
It began with the Battle of the Wilderness, a slaughter pen in woods so thick troops mere feet from each other could not see each other and where sparks started brush fires that immolated the wounded of both sides who lay thick on the ground. Then came Spotsylvania, an engagement so bloody that survivors on both sides later shuddered at the name. Next was North Anna where the two armies maneuvered and fought sharp actions but neither could gain a clear victory. Finally came Cold Harbor, a frontal assault by the flower of the Union host against Lee's veterans in strong field fortifications. As a sobering display of bloody futility, this Union attack stands alongside Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg.
The thing that worried Lee was that, unlike all the previous Union commanders, Grant refused to quit. After each stage of the campaign he would order his army into motion, moving south to find a way around Lee's right flank and sweep on to Richmond, forcing the Old Fox out of his earthworks and out into the open where the superior Union numbers would dispose of the graycoat army and end the rebellion before the presidential election.
He never found that flank.
Both armies, depleted by heavy casualties, (over 45% each) stumbled into positions around the town of Petersburg and dug in. They stayed there for the next ten months.
Unlike the Union troops who were supported by a gigantic supply depot at City Point, itself filled by the massive output of northern factories and farms, Lee's boys had to be fed from sources in Virginia and upper North Carolina. The “breadbasket” for them was the rich farmland of the Shenandoah Valley. Currently, there were two Union forces threatening that valley and only a division under General John C. Breckenridge opposite them.
Lee had to do something and fast, before the Yankees could burn and loot their way down the valley and his troops were starved into surrender. As the stalemate lengthened at Petersburg he decided to risk sending his II Corps, which had been Jackson's Corps before Old Blue Light was killed at Chancellorsville a year earlier. Their mission was to eject the Yankees from the valley, move into Maryland and threaten either Baltimore or Washington, D.C. Itself. Intelligence had determined that the formidable Washington defenses had been stripped of manpower and many forts had only a flag and a couple of guys to hold it up. If Early could advance quickly enough, his men could capture a couple of the forts and possibly even the city itself!
The corps was commanded now by Lt. Gen. Jubal Early. Known to his men as “Old Jubilee” or simply “Old Jube,” Early was a product of West Point who had served in the Seminole Wars before resigning to attend law school and then open his own practice in western Virginia. Like Lee, he was no supporter of slavery but had been so outraged by the Union invasion of his home state that he joined the Confederate Army and served in every major battle since First Manassas (Bull Run) and was given increasing rank and commands since.
A crusty and cantankerous character, Lee's biographer described him as, “a profane, irascible and bitter man.” Lee himself referred to Early as, “That bad man.” But he was a fighter and could be relied upon to pitch into the enemy with everything he had.
By the time Early's men reached the valley, Breckinridge's division had decisively defeated one of the Union units. Breckinridge attached his division to Early's corps and off they went eventually chasing off the rest of the Yankees and moving on into Maryland where they threatened several towns with destruction unless a ransom was paid which would be passed on to Richmond to help pay for the war.
The most direct route to Washington led to a railroad junction on the banks of the Monacacy River with a covered bridge across the river. Unknown to Early, waiting on the near bank was a scratch force of militia troops and a smattering of regulars under General Lew Wallace. Wallace's force was heavily outnumbered but gave a good account of itself and was later strengthened by a brigade from Union VI Corps and held off Early until late afternoon when Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon's Division appeared on Wallace's right flank and unleashed a volley described by Union survivors as “a sheet of flame.”
Wallace's men now fell back across the river but not before burning the bridge. By the time Early got his corps across the river, it was nightfall and he stopped to encamp. Despite the tactical victory, Early had lost a precious day.
Late on 11 July, Earl's men reached the outskirts of Washington. The day lost at Monacacy now made it's presence felt. Alerted by telegrams from Washington, Grant had detached the balance of VI Corps and most of IX Corps to man the forts. Seeing the corps flags and glistening weapons of the new arrivals, Early decided to make a demonstration attack the next day and then withdraw back to the valley.
The focus of this exercise was Fort Stevens which is now preserved in Rock Creek Park.
Early's demonstration went in as planned and after exchanging fire for a few hours, he ordered his corps to withdraw having lost about 300 casualties.
Since the fighting was so close to town, President Lincoln himself traveled to Fort Stevens to observe the action. He arrived and immediately went to the parapet. Dissatisfied by the view from behind the wall and wearing his signature dark frock coat and stovepipe hat, Lincoln climbed up on the parapet itself to get a clearer view. Confederate sharpshooters and cannoneers couldn't fail to spot possibly the most recognizable figure on either side.
Bullets and the occasional cannon shell whistled around Lincoln, one man nearby was badly wounded. Lincoln stood unperturbed. It was, and remains to this day, the only time in American history that a sitting president was exposed to direct enemy fire.
The fort commander, his staff and a variety of staff officers from Lincoln's staff and the War Department, were in a quandary. It was clear Lincoln needed to take cover, but he seemed determined to stand there. They quickly huddled and tried to figure out how to order the commander-in-chief to take cover.
Their dilemma was solved by an anonymous soldier in the firing line who looked up at Lincoln and growled, “Get down, you damned fool!”*
Lincoln promptly complied.
*********
So there now.
In the intervening days since the disaster on Saturday, there really isn't much your scribe can add to the discussion except to point out that we all know the way out of this mess. Sit back and let The Gen'rul's wisdom point out what needs to be done,
So how did the team do compared to the Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!
3. If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don’t let up … PUT ON MORE STEAM!
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
7. Carry the fight to Alabama and keep it there for sixty minutes.
MAXOMG
© 2020 Keeping Your Stories Alive
Suggested Reading:
Bruce Catton, A Stillness at Appomatox
Clifford Dowdey, Lee
Shelby Foote, The Civil War: A Narrative. Volume III, Red River to Appomatox
Lt. General Jubal A. Early, CSA. (Library of Congress)
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