OneManGang
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Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Virginia Tech
Groans moans and cussing accompanied the first quarter of Saturday night's much ballyhooed Battle at Bristol between Tennessee and Virginia Tech. About halfway through that first canto the Hokies had amassed 193 yards of total offense, the Vols had six. Knoxville Police began to take steps to secure the railings on the Gay Street Bridge.
At that point, when everything looked as grim as it possibly could for the Vol faithful, there came a series of events that turned crushing defeat into spectacular victory.
******
Roughly fifteen miles south of Bristol Motor Speedway lies a modest little fort on the outskirts of Elizabethton. For a brief period in 1780, Fort Watauga was as much the focus for East Tennesseans as the latter edifice would be 238 years later. To understand why this was so, we have to step into the Wayback Machine that is history and set the time to August of 1780.
Major Patrick Ferguson was an unhappy Redcoat officer. He had been chasing the remnants of Horatio Gates' Americans all over the Carolina back country ever since his boss, Lord Cornwallis, had won a decisive victory at Camden, South Carolina, on 16 August. One particularly frustrating quarry was a group of about 600 under Col. Isaac Shelby. Ferguson's contacts among the local Loyalists (colonists who wanted to remain British subjects) had sufficed to keep him apprised of Shelby's movements but he just couldn't seem to pin Shelby down.
23 August found Ferguson at Gilbert Town, North Carolina. He had surprised a small band of Patriots and either captured or dispersed the lot of them. Now he found that Shelby was intending to cross the mountains and link up with Patriot militiamen from what is now Northeast Tennessee, Southeastern Kentucky and Western Virginia. The exertion required compared with the paltry results so far combined with near constant pain from the after-effects of a Colonial bullet which shattered his right elbow at the Battle of Brandywine on 11 September 1777. Whatever the cause, Ferguson took it upon himself to point out to the militia leaders across the mountains the fate he had in store for them. He paroled one of his prisoners with a message to Shelby and his compatriots, "that if they did not desist from their opposition to the British arms, and take protection under his standard, he would march his army over the mountains, hang their leaders, and lay their country waste with fire and sword."
Now for the most part, the settlers west of the Appalachians just wanted to be left alone. Representatives from monied interests in England had been running up and down the colonies before 1775 buying up as much land as they could and other titled individuals simply drew lines on the primitive maps and convinced the Colonial Secretary to grant it to them. The Colonial Secretary, being one of them, was more than eager to comply. Men who wished to settle on the frontier to carve out a better life with their sweat and hard work found themselves forced increasingly pushed westward.
Settlements began to arise west of the mountains. There were conflicts with the local tribes from time to time, but bear in mind that there were only about 20,000 or so members of various tribes (mostly Cherokee and Chickamauga) in what would become Tennessee in 1780. That would be less than the population of Maryville scattered from Memphis to Mountain City, roughly one person for every two square miles.
Major Ferguson must have thought his missive would deter any further Rebel activity, but was sadly mistaken. The settlers took his warning as a personal threat, moilized the militia and then set off for Sycamor Shoals (now Fort Watauga) where they would gather and thence cross over the mountains to deal with the threat.
Their leaders were the aforementioned Col. Shelby, Col. William Campbell of Virginia, Col. John Sevier of Tennessee and Benjamin Cleveland of North Carolina. In all they numbered about 1400 men. A lottery was held among the Tennessee contingent and about 100 men were left behind to guard the homes and farms.
Among those gathered at the muster was a young minister, Rev. Samuel Doak, who held a prayer service on the day before the leaving. He closed with these stirring words: Brave men, you are not unacquainted with battle. Your hands have already been taught to war and your fingers to fight. Will you tarry now until the other enemy carries fire and sword to your very doors? No, it shall not be. Go forth then in the strength of your manhood to the aid of your brethren, the defense of your liberty and the protection of your homes. And may the God of Justice be with you and give you victory. - Rev. Samuel Doak, Sermon at Fort Watauga, 25 September 1780
The militia set out for the Carolinas. It took them two weeks of arduous travel but they finally got word of where Bloody Ferguson was. The main Patriot force of 900 prepared for battle. And sent word to the rest to come a'runnin'! the rest got there but not until after the battle.
Ferguson had also learned of the approaching force and resolved to end the War in the southern colonies and bring the obstreperous Overmountain Men to heel in one blow. On 7 October, he deployed his 1100 man force on top of an isolated ridge called King's Mountain. He arranged his Loyalist troops in a circle around the crest of the ridge. His plan was brutally simple. He would let the Patriot militia beat themselves to death conducting an uphill charge against massed muskets, then charge with the bayonet and capture or kill every last one of them.
Two things mitigated his plan. The mountain itself was heavily wooded which made command and control difficult and then the Patriots refused to conduct a proper charge. What they did was adopt what would later be called fire and maneuver as the Patriots, armed with accurate but slow-loading rifles, moived from tree to tree on the way up snapping off shots and generally hitting whatever target presented itself. The Loyalists used volley fire which was effective against massed infantry but near useless against fleeting targets. Casualties among the Loyalists were heavy and here and there small white flags began to flutter. Ferguson rode up and down the line wearing his distinctive checked shirt rallying his men. Legend has it that a young man named Gilliam drew a bead on Old Ferguson with his rifle nicknamed Sweet Lips and shot him dead. Now, in the event, Ferguson was found with no less than eight bullets in him.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Whatever the actual truth, the Loyalists, upon seeing Ferguson fall dead, quickly gave up and, combined with a similar crushing victory at Cowpens the following January, reversed the tide of war in the Southern Colonies. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]******[/FONT]
How the Hokies went from confident swagger to dumpster fire in less than fifteen minutes of game time is a subject best left to seers and sages.
Or maybe The Gen'rul.
So how did the team do compared to the Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
Great Day, was there a mistake the Hokies DIDN'T make after their first two drives? They fumbled, they stumbled, the fiddled, they f*rted, and they fell.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way SCORE!
Saturday's Vols accepted the Hokies' largess and blew them out of the arena. Your humble scribe must admit though, that he snarked after Tennessee's first touchdown that all it proved was that the Vols could score if they were spotted ninety-five yards.
3. If at first the game or the breaks go against you, dont let up PUT ON MORE STEAM!
If any one player epitomized this Maxim Saturday it was freshman quaterback Sheriron Jones. After Tech's second touchdown the youngster took it on himself to march up and down the bench exhorting his team mates to live up to their promises and get their collective carapaces out of their collective keesters and go win this thing. SOMETHING got their attention and like Sweet Lips its a h*ll of a story!
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
Dobbs still got rushed and hit way too often on pass plays. He also made quite a few questionable decisions as the evening progressed. It seems Dobbs doesn't do anything particularly well except win.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
Whether it was young Mr. Jones or not, there was a definite uptick in the intensity and aggressiveness of the Vol defense after that second Hokie score.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
Aaron Medley had another fine outing. Vol kick coverage kept the Hokies backed up, Cam Sutton did manage one nifty return right when it was needed.
7. Carry the fight to Virginia Tech and keep it there for sixty minutes.
More like 50 minutes, but what a 50 minutes of football it was!
Last week, But is he lucky?
Sure seems so!
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Next up are the Ohio Wildcats. I caution Vol fans to remember that the last time the 'Cats hove onto the shores of Lake Loudon, they tied Tennessee in knots for most of the game and the Vols were lucky to escape with the W.[/FONT]
Brick by Brick, Baby!
MAXOMG
Suggested Reading:
Henry B. Carrington, Battles of the American Revolution
Burke Davis, The Campaign that Won America
Wilma Dykeman, The Battle of King's Mountain
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Keeping Your Stories Alive
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