Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Chattanooga

#26
#26
OneManGang said:
Shameless self-promotion alert!!!

Two weeks ago I met with the new crop of History interns at UT's Center for the Study of Tennesseans at War. The director is Dr. Chris Magra who is in the picture with me!

Pat Gang, historian, meets with the Center’s Interns | Tennesseans and War

cstw.utk.edu cstw.utk.edu

And then ...



The video runs about 90 minutes so grab a suitable libation and sit back!

The host is Mike Cunha who runs Lost Battalion Tours.

www.instagram.com

Lost Battalion Tours (@lostbattaliontours) • Instagram profile

156 Followers, 31 Following, 97 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Lost Battalion Tours (@lostbattaliontours)
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com

I give shout outs to VolNation and to my faithful followers on these threads! You folks have no idea just how much I appreciate you!

Mike and I "taped" another podcast last weekend that will be posted next month.

Trigger Warning! My ugly mug is all over this so keep small children away. LoL!

Finally, the new book sked has slipped a bit but I am now pointing toward the end of this month.
Click to expand...


Thanks OMG. You honor the veterans, like my Pappaw, Dad, and deceased little brother with your excellent thoughts and words. We appreciate you, my VOL brother.

As always, best wishes to you and yours. Like many, I eagerly look forward to your posts after each game. You are officially a part of Football Time in Tennessee as far as I am concerned. Always post your new works, books, podcasts etc here so we know. As much as you are an integral part of VN, I am sure that Freak doesn't mind.
God bless and GO VOLS
 
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#27
#27
OneManGang said:
Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Chattanooga​

DATE: 1 September 2024
PLACE: Neyland Stadium
ATTENDANCE: 101,915
FINAL SCORE: Tennessee 69 Chattanooga 3

The Vol Faithful had been primed to party since that last out in Omaha. Despite furnace-like temps in the stands that had heat casualties resting in the tunnels and concourses, they came, and they saw. and they partied!

HeadVol Heupel's star pupil, Nico Iamaleava, put on a clinic. He only played the first half – but what a half it was!

The Vols scored at will and the outcome was never in doubt from the opening kick onward.

At the end of the first canto, the Vols had 12 first downs, UTC had one. Tennessee had 263 yards of offense, UTC had 37.

During WWII, an American admiral described the impact of battleship shells on his unarmored escort carriers, “It was like a puppy being smacked by a truck.”

Yeah, just like that.

End of 1st Quarter
Score: Tennessee 24 Chattanooga 0

The smacking of said small canine continued.

Iamaleava ended his day at half with 414 passing yards and three touchdowns.

Good Lord.

The Mocs managed to force Tennessee to punt in the second quarter. So much for the UTC highlights for the first half.

End of 2nd Quarter
Score: Tennessee 45 UTC 0

UTC took the opening kick of the second half and marched down the field against the Vols' second team and got a field goal. … And so much for the UTC game highlights.

The Vols answered with a Max Gilbert field goal and then DeSean Bishop shot into the checkerboards from 22 yards out.

End of 3rd Quarter
Score: Tennessee 55 Chattanooga 3

The Vols' first possession of the 4th quarter ended in an interception but then Khalifa Keith blasted in to cap the second possession.

The Mocs lined up to punt after their second possession but Jordan Ross of the Vols had other plans. He blocked the kick then scooped up the ball and raced to the end zone.

The smacking thus ended.

Final Score
Tennessee 69 UTC 3

*******​

For a brief time in the Autumn of 1863, Chattanooga was the cockpit of the Civil War.

The recent battle of Chickamauga (Sept 18-20, 1863) had been a “meeting engagement” in which the Union Army of the Cumberland under command of Major General William S. Rosecrans and the Confederate Army of Tennessee commanded by Major General (MG) Braxton Bragg, literally ran into each other. The two armies had been blundering around north Georgia, neither with a clue where the other was. The outcome was a disaster for the Yankees.

Rosecrans and his shattered command stumbled back to Chattanooga where they stopped and awaited Bragg's next move. As time went on the inaction began to annoy the General's boss, one Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln needled Rosecrans to start taking offensive action but nothing ensued. Lincoln fumed that Rosecrans was “stunned, like a duck hit on the head.”

To say Lincoln was frustrated would be severe understatement. Both his primary field armies were sitting still, neither making a move against the Confederates. MG George Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac had earned the President's ire by failing to press Lee as he retreated from Pennsylvania after the Battle of Gettysburg and had been content to interpose his army between Lee and Washington, D.C. He couldn't replace the man who had just won that critical battle and Washington was in no danger, so Meade would remain.

William Rosecrans, on the other hand, had just lost the largest battle in the Western Theater. His continued inaction sealed his fate in Lincoln's mind. Rosecrans needed to go.

On 17 October 1863 MG Ulysses Grant arrived in Chattanooga as the newly promoted commander of all Union forces west of the Appalachians. He relieved Rosecrans of command of the Army of the Cumberland and named MG George Thomas to the post. Following Grant were several divisions of the Army of the Tennessee under MG William T. Sherman. Grant and Sherman had won every battle they had fought.

For the Yankees, the First Team had arrived.

Grant immediately undertook offensive operations to open supply lines to Chattanooga and by mid-November things had improved greatly and Grant and his team began to plan to eject Bragg from the heights overlooking Chattanooga.

Lincoln was greatly pleased.

For his part Bragg was content to occupy the high ground of Lookout Mountain to the south of Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge to the east. Bragg's left extended along the south bank of the Tennessee to Brown's Ferry which enabled him to interdict the Union supply lines.

Refusing to open offensive operations against Rosecrans, Bragg indulged in his favorite pursuit: arguing with his fellow officers. He argued with his corps commanders, Polk, Hardee and Longstreet, and they argued back. Letters flew from each of them to Richmond arguing their respective cases. Jefferson Davis decided to go and settle the disputes.

Major General Braxton Bragg, CSA (NARA)

View attachment 672689

Think about that. The President of the Confederate States of America had to leave his wartime capital and travel hundreds of miles to settle a squabble between the commanding generals of his primary military force in the Western Theater of operations. No other incident in the entire Civil War throws a harsher light on just why the Confederates lost the war.

Davis decided to “separate the feuding generals.” Bragg would remain simply because he had no other choice. Hardee and Polk were both detached to other places and Longstreet was sent to eject the Yankees from Knoxville. Bragg's army was once again being reorganized in the face of the enemy. Only this time its wasn't the passive and indecisive Rosecrans in front of him but the ever-aggressive and determined Ulysses Grant who was busily amassing supplies and reinforcements for his attack.

Bragg then committed one of two fundamental errors that cost the Confederates Chattanooga and arguably eliminated any hope for the South to win the War. Anxious to be rid of Longstreet, Bragg sent him and his Corps to Knoxville beginning on 4 November. This had the immediate impact of reducing Bragg's force by over a third. Later in November, inexplicably, he ordered MORE troops to leave for Knoxville.

Sensing Bragg's weakened state, Grant ordered the Army of the Cumberland to attack on 23 November. Grant's scouts picked up on this second move by Bragg and he sent some 14,000 troops to stop this. The Blue host bumped into a rearguard of 600 on Orchard Knob and knocked them reeling. Grant moved his headquarters to the knob. Bragg belatedly realized he might just need those guys and canceled this second movement.

On the morning of the 24th, Hooker's Corps launched an attack on the lower slopes of Lookout Mountain quickly swept the weakened Rebels away. Confederate guns on top of the mountain couldn't depress enough to intervene and a Rebel counterattack failed. That night Bragg ordered Lookout abandoned and the troops to re-enforce Missionary Ridge.

Meanwhile Sherman has been ordered to take Tunnel Hill at the north end of Missionary Ridge. Somehow, he gets lost and winds up taking nearby Billy Goat Hill.

On the 25th, Grant orders Thomas to have Hooker take the south end of the ridge near Rossville, GA, while Sherman takes Tunnel Hill (the real one this time) and proceeds to take the north end of the ridge.The rest of Thomas's army will seize the rifle pits low on the center of the ridge but not take the summit in order to hold Bragg's attention.

It took Hooker most of the day to move from Lookout to the ridge but he took the south end and captured a number of prisoners. Later in the day Sherman began his assault on Tunnel Hill. Thomas joined Grant at Orchard Knob to watch the developing battle.

Sherman's men made their way up the hill but a Confederate counter-attack by Cleburn's Division sent them back down. It was late in the afternoon.

The bulk of Thomas' army took the rifle pits as assigned but then found themselves under heavy fire from Bragg's troops at the top of the ridge. Eighty-one years in the future, American soldiers were pinned down at foot of the bluffs on OMAHA Beach. What happened next in both cases had nothing to do with plans, orders … or generals. The men knew that to stay where they were meant death and to retreat would just expose them to even more enemy fire. So, by squads, platoons and companies they began to advance UP the heights. Regimental and division commanders on the scene realized they couldn't stop it and so took the lead.

It was now that the second of Bragg's critical mistakes became evident.

Cadets at West Point are taught from day one that one never, ever, puts his main line of resistance on the geographic crest of high ground. Troops are placed on what is known as the “military crest” which is some distance down from the actual crest. From this spot they still force the enemy to attack up hill, but now can give ground and still be above the enemy and buy time for reinforcements to restore the situation.

Bragg (USMA 1837) did nothing of the kind and ordered his men to dig in square on top of the ridge. Once the enraged Yankees reached the summit, the Confederates were forced to flee down the reverse slope with the victorious Union troops in pursuit.

At that moment the Civil War in the West was decided. It would take another year and a lot of blood to drive that point home.

********​

So, how did the Vols do against The Maxims?

1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.

UTC's critical error was getting on the bus Friday.

2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!

See: Ross, Jordan

3. If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don't let up … PUT ON MORE STEAM!

Everything fell Tennessee's way Saturday. Everybody knows that won't last.

4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.

Nico only got sacked once. Everybody knows that won't last.

5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.

It was nice to see Vol defenders flying to the ball. However, UT's revamped defensive backfield remains suspect and wasn't really tested. That won't last.

6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.

Other than Turbyville burying every kickoff in the end zone, the kicking game was, by and large, a non-factor. Everybody knows that won't last.

7. Carry the fight to the opponent and keep it there for sixty minutes,

More like the first possession, but it was more than enough.

Next is the NC State Wolfpack. We'll know a lot more after that.

Suggested Reading

Peter Cozzens, The Shipwreck of Their Hopes: The Battles for Chattanooga

Shelby Foote, The Civil War: A Narrative, Vol. 2 - Fredricksburg to Meridian

Robert Underwood Johnson (ed), Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. 3 - The Tide Shifts

James Lee McDonough, Chattaooga: A Death Grip on the Confederacy

Missionary Ridge after the Battle (NARA)

View attachment 672691
Click to expand...

This post is a mini novel and very educational.
 
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#30
#30
You are always on point, OMG. My office is on the slope of Missionary Ridge below the Sherman Reservation and I never forget that I am standing above hallowed ground where good men and boys fought and died for what they believed in, rightly or wrongly. Thank you for honoring such men with your writing.
 
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#31
#31
You are always on point, OMG. My office is on the slope of Missionary Ridge below the Sherman Reservation and I never forget that I am standing above hallowed ground where good men and boys fought and died for what they believed in, rightly or wrongly. Thank you for honoring such men with your writing. As always, thanks for the write ups-they are one of the highlights of VN.
 
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#33
#33
OneManGang said:
Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Chattanooga​

DATE: 1 September 2024
PLACE: Neyland Stadium
ATTENDANCE: 101,915
FINAL SCORE: Tennessee 69 Chattanooga 3

The Vol Faithful had been primed to party since that last out in Omaha. Despite furnace-like temps in the stands that had heat casualties resting in the tunnels and concourses, they came, and they saw. and they partied!

HeadVol Heupel's star pupil, Nico Iamaleava, put on a clinic. He only played the first half – but what a half it was!

The Vols scored at will and the outcome was never in doubt from the opening kick onward.

At the end of the first canto, the Vols had 12 first downs, UTC had one. Tennessee had 263 yards of offense, UTC had 37.

During WWII, an American admiral described the impact of battleship shells on his unarmored escort carriers, “It was like a puppy being smacked by a truck.”

Yeah, just like that.

End of 1st Quarter
Score: Tennessee 24 Chattanooga 0

The smacking of said small canine continued.

Iamaleava ended his day at half with 414 passing yards and three touchdowns.

Good Lord.

The Mocs managed to force Tennessee to punt in the second quarter. So much for the UTC highlights for the first half.

End of 2nd Quarter
Score: Tennessee 45 UTC 0

UTC took the opening kick of the second half and marched down the field against the Vols' second team and got a field goal. … And so much for the UTC game highlights.

The Vols answered with a Max Gilbert field goal and then DeSean Bishop shot into the checkerboards from 22 yards out.

End of 3rd Quarter
Score: Tennessee 55 Chattanooga 3

The Vols' first possession of the 4th quarter ended in an interception but then Khalifa Keith blasted in to cap the second possession.

The Mocs lined up to punt after their second possession but Jordan Ross of the Vols had other plans. He blocked the kick then scooped up the ball and raced to the end zone.

The smacking thus ended.

Final Score
Tennessee 69 UTC 3

*******​

For a brief time in the Autumn of 1863, Chattanooga was the cockpit of the Civil War.

The recent battle of Chickamauga (Sept 18-20, 1863) had been a “meeting engagement” in which the Union Army of the Cumberland under command of Major General William S. Rosecrans and the Confederate Army of Tennessee commanded by Major General (MG) Braxton Bragg, literally ran into each other. The two armies had been blundering around north Georgia, neither with a clue where the other was. The outcome was a disaster for the Yankees.

Rosecrans and his shattered command stumbled back to Chattanooga where they stopped and awaited Bragg's next move. As time went on the inaction began to annoy the General's boss, one Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln needled Rosecrans to start taking offensive action but nothing ensued. Lincoln fumed that Rosecrans was “stunned, like a duck hit on the head.”

To say Lincoln was frustrated would be severe understatement. Both his primary field armies were sitting still, neither making a move against the Confederates. MG George Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac had earned the President's ire by failing to press Lee as he retreated from Pennsylvania after the Battle of Gettysburg and had been content to interpose his army between Lee and Washington, D.C. He couldn't replace the man who had just won that critical battle and Washington was in no danger, so Meade would remain.

William Rosecrans, on the other hand, had just lost the largest battle in the Western Theater. His continued inaction sealed his fate in Lincoln's mind. Rosecrans needed to go.

On 17 October 1863 MG Ulysses Grant arrived in Chattanooga as the newly promoted commander of all Union forces west of the Appalachians. He relieved Rosecrans of command of the Army of the Cumberland and named MG George Thomas to the post. Following Grant were several divisions of the Army of the Tennessee under MG William T. Sherman. Grant and Sherman had won every battle they had fought.

For the Yankees, the First Team had arrived.

Grant immediately undertook offensive operations to open supply lines to Chattanooga and by mid-November things had improved greatly and Grant and his team began to plan to eject Bragg from the heights overlooking Chattanooga.

Lincoln was greatly pleased.

For his part Bragg was content to occupy the high ground of Lookout Mountain to the south of Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge to the east. Bragg's left extended along the south bank of the Tennessee to Brown's Ferry which enabled him to interdict the Union supply lines.

Refusing to open offensive operations against Rosecrans, Bragg indulged in his favorite pursuit: arguing with his fellow officers. He argued with his corps commanders, Polk, Hardee and Longstreet, and they argued back. Letters flew from each of them to Richmond arguing their respective cases. Jefferson Davis decided to go and settle the disputes.

Major General Braxton Bragg, CSA (NARA)

View attachment 672689

Think about that. The President of the Confederate States of America had to leave his wartime capital and travel hundreds of miles to settle a squabble between the commanding generals of his primary military force in the Western Theater of operations. No other incident in the entire Civil War throws a harsher light on just why the Confederates lost the war.

Davis decided to “separate the feuding generals.” Bragg would remain simply because he had no other choice. Hardee and Polk were both detached to other places and Longstreet was sent to eject the Yankees from Knoxville. Bragg's army was once again being reorganized in the face of the enemy. Only this time its wasn't the passive and indecisive Rosecrans in front of him but the ever-aggressive and determined Ulysses Grant who was busily amassing supplies and reinforcements for his attack.

Bragg then committed one of two fundamental errors that cost the Confederates Chattanooga and arguably eliminated any hope for the South to win the War. Anxious to be rid of Longstreet, Bragg sent him and his Corps to Knoxville beginning on 4 November. This had the immediate impact of reducing Bragg's force by over a third. Later in November, inexplicably, he ordered MORE troops to leave for Knoxville.

Sensing Bragg's weakened state, Grant ordered the Army of the Cumberland to attack on 23 November. Grant's scouts picked up on this second move by Bragg and he sent some 14,000 troops to stop this. The Blue host bumped into a rearguard of 600 on Orchard Knob and knocked them reeling. Grant moved his headquarters to the knob. Bragg belatedly realized he might just need those guys and canceled this second movement.

On the morning of the 24th, Hooker's Corps launched an attack on the lower slopes of Lookout Mountain quickly swept the weakened Rebels away. Confederate guns on top of the mountain couldn't depress enough to intervene and a Rebel counterattack failed. That night Bragg ordered Lookout abandoned and the troops to re-enforce Missionary Ridge.

Meanwhile Sherman has been ordered to take Tunnel Hill at the north end of Missionary Ridge. Somehow, he gets lost and winds up taking nearby Billy Goat Hill.

On the 25th, Grant orders Thomas to have Hooker take the south end of the ridge near Rossville, GA, while Sherman takes Tunnel Hill (the real one this time) and proceeds to take the north end of the ridge.The rest of Thomas's army will seize the rifle pits low on the center of the ridge but not take the summit in order to hold Bragg's attention.

It took Hooker most of the day to move from Lookout to the ridge but he took the south end and captured a number of prisoners. Later in the day Sherman began his assault on Tunnel Hill. Thomas joined Grant at Orchard Knob to watch the developing battle.

Sherman's men made their way up the hill but a Confederate counter-attack by Cleburn's Division sent them back down. It was late in the afternoon.

The bulk of Thomas' army took the rifle pits as assigned but then found themselves under heavy fire from Bragg's troops at the top of the ridge. Eighty-one years in the future, American soldiers were pinned down at foot of the bluffs on OMAHA Beach. What happened next in both cases had nothing to do with plans, orders … or generals. The men knew that to stay where they were meant death and to retreat would just expose them to even more enemy fire. So, by squads, platoons and companies they began to advance UP the heights. Regimental and division commanders on the scene realized they couldn't stop it and so took the lead.

It was now that the second of Bragg's critical mistakes became evident.

Cadets at West Point are taught from day one that one never, ever, puts his main line of resistance on the geographic crest of high ground. Troops are placed on what is known as the “military crest” which is some distance down from the actual crest. From this spot they still force the enemy to attack up hill, but now can give ground and still be above the enemy and buy time for reinforcements to restore the situation.

Bragg (USMA 1837) did nothing of the kind and ordered his men to dig in square on top of the ridge. Once the enraged Yankees reached the summit, the Confederates were forced to flee down the reverse slope with the victorious Union troops in pursuit.

At that moment the Civil War in the West was decided. It would take another year and a lot of blood to drive that point home.

********​

So, how did the Vols do against The Maxims?

1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.

UTC's critical error was getting on the bus Friday.

2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!

See: Ross, Jordan

3. If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don't let up … PUT ON MORE STEAM!

Everything fell Tennessee's way Saturday. Everybody knows that won't last.

4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.

Nico only got sacked once. Everybody knows that won't last.

5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.

It was nice to see Vol defenders flying to the ball. However, UT's revamped defensive backfield remains suspect and wasn't really tested. That won't last.

6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.

Other than Turbyville burying every kickoff in the end zone, the kicking game was, by and large, a non-factor. Everybody knows that won't last.

7. Carry the fight to the opponent and keep it there for sixty minutes,

More like the first possession, but it was more than enough.

Next is the NC State Wolfpack. We'll know a lot more after that.

Suggested Reading

Peter Cozzens, The Shipwreck of Their Hopes: The Battles for Chattanooga

Shelby Foote, The Civil War: A Narrative, Vol. 2 - Fredricksburg to Meridian

Robert Underwood Johnson (ed), Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. 3 - The Tide Shifts

James Lee McDonough, Chattaooga: A Death Grip on the Confederacy

Missionary Ridge after the Battle (NARA)

View attachment 672691
Click to expand...

Thanks OMG - Always enjoy your narratives and the history lessons!
 
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#37
#37
And thus endeth the lesson; those that sit back and let the opponent dictate action will forever be remembered as losers. Bragg could have moved offensively before Grant and Sherman's arrival. But no,he sat on that darned hill and the rest is history. Thanks for sharing. Always the best part of the post game weekend. I look forward to reading the new book.
 
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