I was happy to see Liberty get over twenty wins this season in basketball. They are still second in Conference USA, but if Jacksonville State loses two more games, that will put Liberty back in first for the regular season. As far as the Chiefs are concerned, I have little to say. Three-peats are complex, and the Chiefs offense was eerily similar to the 2009 team. The defense showed up to play in the Super Bowl. It simply was Mahomes and the offense that fell long short of a sub-par performance. Nevertheless, there is always next year.
This past week, I began rereading Cyrus Comstock's diary. He was a part of Ulysses Grant's staff in the Virginia Campaign. An entry on 25 November 1864 read, "Gen. G., Meade, Warren, and Crawford went up to Ft. Harrison. Dinner at Butler's H.Q. at 8 pm, saw some 'Greek Fire.' Shells seemed effective in combustion- the liquid thrown from a hose and burned in the air or on the ground would be difficult to manage. Hundred-pounder Parrott shells fired their wooden houses yesterday with ease." Union forces captured Fort Harrison in late September 1864, which was only a few miles from the outskirts of Richmond. Given the closeness of rebel forces in the vicinity, it would be easy to test new technology at this position.
The reference to 'Greek Fire' was incendiary explosive shells used against fortified positions. Comstock observed that it was difficult to put out these fires. Throwing water on these fires might make it worse. The Byzantine military developed 'Greek Fire' in the medieval period. It burned more when thrown into the water, and scholars today still do not know the contents of its ingredients. Both the Union and Confederates experimented with new technology throughout the war, which made it all the more deadly. 'Greek Fire' only made its destruction worse. The Union's strategic experimentation with 'Greek Fire' and other new approaches significantly impacted the outcome of the war.
Everything from repeating rifles to telegraphs shaped the outcome of many engagements. Phil Sheridan held the Old Cold Harbor Crossroads with their repeating rifles. There are too many instances in which the telegraph impacted the result of a Civil War engagement or campaign. Without the telegraph, Grant would never have been able to successfully coordinate all armies to suppress the rebellion. The telegraph was not invented during the Civil War or even used in a war, but it was the first time Americans used it successfully. The telegraph's role in communication and coordination between various units was a turning point in American Warfare.
Even entrenchments began to take a different shape in 1864-1865. They were no longer used for sieges, but they were used on an open plain. It is not the trenches we see in World War I, but it is a stepping stone to it. Americans began practicing mining in several engagements, hoping to break a defender's line by blowing a hole through it. It worked in a couple of cases, like in Vicksburg and Petersburg. Earl Hess is about to release a new book about mining in military history, where he cites over 400 examples of its use. For those of us interested in the Civil War could only hope he talks in depth about the examples used in that period.
Comments