October 29, 1863
Context and Precedence – The first half of 1863 was grim for the Union cause. In the East, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia experienced its greatest successes. Meanwhile, Union armies in the West were stifled, especially in their efforts to take Vicksburg.
Catastrophic Confederate losses in early July at Gettysburg left Lee unable to ever take the offensive again. The loss of Vicksburg gave the Union control of the Mississippi River from top to bottom and divided the Confederacy in half. Nevertheless, problems plagued both sides as the war’s toll weighed increasingly on the people at home.
Wary of troops marching to the aid of the Federal army besieged at Chattanooga, General Braxton Bragg ordered General James Longstreet to take action against the force massing in Lookout Valley. In a rare nighttime attack, a division of Longstreet’s corps attacked the Union rearguard near the crossroads of Wauhatchie. The brief fight was a bloody repulse for the Confederates, who were forced to withdraw. The Confederates had missed their last best chance to prevent supplies from reaching the Union Army of the Cumberland. A Federal resurgence in the west was only a matter of time.
A month later…
From the last days of September through October 1863, Gen. Braxton Bragg’s army laid siege to the Union army under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans at Chattanooga, cutting off its supplies. On October 17, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant received command of the Western armies; he moved to reinforce Chattanooga and replaced Rosecrans with Maj. Gen. George Thomas. A new supply line was soon established. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman arrived with his four divisions in mid-November, and the Federals began offensive operations. On November 23-24, Union forces struck out and captured Orchard Knob and Lookout Mountain. On November 25, Union soldiers assaulted and carried the seemingly impregnable Confederate position on Missionary Ridge. One of the Confederacy’s two major armies was routed. The Federals held Chattanooga, the “Gateway to the Lower South,” which became the supply and logistics base for Sherman’s 1864 Atlanta Campaign.
Identify the Aircraft
In Russia (now)
British intelligence estimated this morning that many Russian reservists called to fight in Ukraine are forced to buy their body armor – and therefore the prices have soared. The ministry also noted in its daily update that “endemic corruption and poor logistics” remain a factor in Russia’s “poor performance” in Ukraine.
It also noted that the average amount of personal equipment Russia provided to its conscripted reservists was “almost certainly lower than the already meager supplies of previously deployed troops.” According to the ministry, a 6B45 vest was sold on online shopping sites in Moscow for 40,000 rubles (about $640), compared to about 12,000 rubles in April.
As winter approaches, Moscow is unable to supply troops in the field with adequate clothing to cope with the weather. This problem will become acute.
Photo: Boneyard of Soviet Era tanks – in the Urals.
Dementia isn’t a joke and it’s sad when you end your life that way. I poke at our demented Pedo Joe and at Uncle Fester Fetterman because they want to rule us in their demented state. MRSLL’s aunt ended up like that and it was heartbreaking.
Former media star and TV news anchorwoman Barbara Walters is suffering from dementia and is “close to the end,” according to RadarOnline.com. I was never a fan of “BabaWawa” and it’s interesting that she’s going out with a fizzle. I’m not poking fun. I’m sorry that she has to end things up like that.
What does American Education (and public employment) Value?
If Halloween is about to end, can we go back to DRILL Baby, Drill? Not while Pedo Joe is the president. So maybe we impeach him and then the Camel?
Regarding current political issues, funny that Sarah Palin really performed as quite a seer as to what would happen if the Donks get total control.
The Confederates had the immediate battle power in elan and tactics, but could not win against superior logistics and a grinding, wearing type of war.
Been to the ‘Nooga. Terrain is very terrainy there. Lots of up and down, and blind corners and, well, not a good place for a ground war with cannon and cavalry. Would have been a great place to build forts and lines of fortifications. Lookout Mountain is/was a hell of a place to try to fight. Vertical forest, sink holes, lots of ankle-breaking things lying all over, with the added bonus of being a great place for rattlesnakes and venomous spiders. There are a lot of caves in that area that were used to make gunpowder for the Confederates, both due to secluded nature and easy access to bat guano.
I’ve been to the battlefield too, some years ago now. The Union suffered an estimated 5,800 casualties during the battle, while the Confederates’ casualties numbered around 6,600. When you look at the defensive advantages that Bragg had, it’s amazing that the ratios were what they were. By that time in the war, the Confederacy was supplying itself on captured supplies from the Union to a significant percentage. Winter had arrived, food was scarce, etc.
As I remember from my visit to some Chatt battlefield memorials, at one location the officers were holding a conference as to what to do now when some Union soldiers, getting tired of harassing fire from above, decided to go up there and do something about it. The movement got massive and turned into a series of routs, one fighting trench at a time.
I think it became the inspiration for the song “On Wisconsin”.
I might be getting a couple battles mixed together, due to oldtimers…
Airplane: I-J-4…US Navy. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
I thought that this one might be tough.
No takers? It’s a Leoning OL-8A Flying Boat. 165 were made. The company closed in 1932, and though I haven’t read why I can only guess that it had to do with the great depression.
Sorry, LL – I knew ir was some sort of Loening, but I’m a day too late. So much busy-ness locally, bleah.
The weird float-forward design was their hallmark.
-Kle.
Dementia is definitely not a joke. My father suffered from it the last decade of his life. “The Thirtysix Hour Day” is a good reference if you ever have to care for someone suffering from it.
Body armor, guns and other equipment. As Joshua Chamberlain allegedly said to the men of the Second Maine who had foolishly signed three year enlistment papers: “Wait right here, there’ll be guns available soon” (Gettysburg reference). Don’t the Russians have plenty available? I mean 60,000+ casualties ought to free up quite a bit of stuff.
Comments on the situation early in the Ukraine war by defectors indicated that is how many of the original troops in the Russian Army armed themselves. There are a number of accounts by defectors of infantry units deploying with half a magazine of ammunition per person, and maybe 2/3 of them had rifles.
I hope that if the senility comes for me, I will notice soon enough to eat my shotgun.
-Kle.
X2
I think that’s the problem. The aging process is such that as we age past, say 60 or 65, things begin to slow a little. For some people who were operating at 50% of normal their whole lives, it’s not always noticeable, cruel though that sounds. But we all begin to slide a little. Early onset senility looks like that in the beginning and then it rages like wildfire. Mike_C might no more about possible treatments, but a lot of people are past the tipping point by the time their family notices that it’s not the normal course of aging.
Given the Viagra treatment’s reputed effectiveness, there’s a part of me that wants to get a prescription for just that purpose.
There are side effects besides curing dementia and Alzheimers…