REAL MAN TRUCKWORKS & SURVIVAL
VEHICLES, CAMPERS, and BOATS => Everything Trailer, Camper, or RV related => Topic started by: cudakidd53 on June 21, 2016, 04:37:33 PM
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After we explored Kentucky, we continued our Bourbon & Bullets Tour heading to Tennessee, with three stops while there:
- Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Great Tour and tasting with the great little town of Lynchburg to explore while you wait for your tour. This was one of the more restricted tours we experienced - bus took you around to many places as it's a spread-out place. Didn't get inside any of the Rickhouses and couldn't take photos there, at the Stillhouse or at the Mellowing Tanks. It did save on walking though! We pulled a travel trailer behind us to Lynchburg- word to the wise, DON'T pull into the first "apparent" entrance to the place that has a guard shack. The kid inside had to put on safety gear, stop traffic and watch us back out! Go into the second entrance which has LIMITED space for vehicles with trailers, but it's there if you know how to drive and it's not already filled-up. Town is a life support system/tourist bazaar around Jack Daniels- DO GET BBQ! Went to the Barrelhouse BBQ and bought a bottle of sauce on our way out- GET THE GALLON JUG! We ran out and longed for more!
- Shiloh National Battlefield in Shiloh, TN - we stayed at Green Acres RV Park in nearby Savannah, TN. Nice park with a salt water pool. All their spots are full hook-up spots and nicely maintained - they have multiple full-timers staying there, but they do take reservations and they provide a little booklet that describes local establishments etc. as a nice resource if you stay there. The National Park has a very nice visitors center with lectures and a well done Documentary that lasts 45mins. and is worth the time before you set out to see the Battlefield. There is a well laid-out driving tour that takes you through the entire battle with multitudes of interpretive signs and markers. There are many beautiful monuments and you can spend as much time as you like on foot, walking between markers across the battlefield. The driving tour took about 3 hours, you could easily spend the day if it's not too hot and you have a mind too delve deep into the movements of the battle.
- Bird Dog Foundation in Grand Junction, TN - The National Bird Dog Hall of Fame. If you dabble in Bird Dogs, especially Field Trials, this is a stop you'll want to make. Admission is by donation, and they're closed on Mondays and don't open until 9am. They are fully funded by donations, so bear that in mind and open your wallet as you pass the donation box. The ladies there couldn't make you feel more at home and welcome. We again, dragged the travel trailer behind us - tough parking lot, luckily there wasn't anyone else visiting that day, until after we pulled in! Dragged tail getting in and going out, so probably want to make certain you position yourself for an easy exit prior to going in; or find alternate parking somewhere nearby! This is very close to the famous Ames Plantation where THE National Championship has been held for a LONG time - Pointers and Setters running across pristine habitat in pursuit of WILD quail to determine who the best dog is - it's an endurance event that requires a dog with a keen nose and stamina! When Don described his Hide Site as being in "Hillbilly and Banjo Country", when we got off the beaten track heading South out of Grand Junction, trying to "get" towards Memphis, it made Don's place look like suburbia.......with that uneasy, "Deliverance" feel!
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Jack Daniels photos:
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Shiloh Battlefield photos:
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Shiloh is a great battlefield. I wish I would have known, I would have sent y'all the US Army Center for Military History Staff Ride book for Shiloh. It has a lot of info that isn't necessarily in the tour. It makes one hell of a supplement on the battle that could have (and almost did) end the war. There were so many losses, that the Union came close to capitulating. Also, this battle is a good example of tactics not evolving to match technology. More artillery was lost in this battle than any other of the war, because their tactics didn't take in to account the increased rage afforded to the infantryman by the Minie ball.
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Sean, if it's still possible, forward that on- would love to look it over. My buddy Ray is a big Civil War buff and we'd both enjoy looking it over. I couldn't fathom STANDING up firing in rank, while cannons firing canister and volleys of Minie balls tore up everything around you! With the terrain of Shiloh, I'd be on my belly or crouching behind a tree whenever I wasn't RUNNING to the next place to do the same. How you could hear a drum cadence to indicate ordered movement over the din of battle through woods is beyond me; explains the surrender of a large group from Illinois and Iowa surrounded and trapped when Grant pulled the lines back at the end of the first day.
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Well, the whole standing in firing ranks was a hold-over from Napoleonic tactics when soldiers only had smooth bore muskets with a range of 300 yards. Note, I did not say accurate range, LOL. The smooth bore muskets didn't even have sights, because it was known that they were inaccurate. The key was to volley fire in the hopes of enough rounds getting to your enemy. Another reason for standing in ranks was that the weapons of the day were too long to load in any other position. The advent on the Minie ball, made rifled arms practical for military application, and although the primary issued rifle on both sides was a muzzle loader (making loading from the standing position necessary for most) it had an accurate range of over 500 yards. This was a big problem for the artillery at the time. You see, they got the name King of Battle because they dominated the field as a direct fire arm. Their doctrine was to move forward to within 400 yards of the enemy lines, load shot, canister, and grape, and then decimate whole formations. This didn't work at Shiloh, because both side had rifled arms with the Minie ball. As the artillery of both sides moved to their firing positions (both side used US doctrine), the infantry engaged. For the first time in history, the infantry dominated the battlefield, which is evident in the number of guns captured, and the general ineffectiveness of artillery fire during this battle.
Later in the was, breech loaded (and repeating) rifles were introduced, but the infantry formations generally largely remained unchanged unless on the defense. The repeating rifle was used to great effect by many militia cavalry units on both sides, but this was because the "Regimental Colonel" who stood up the unit was generally affluent enough to outfit those units out of their own pockets. This did cause a bit of a logistics issue, though. Eventually the US Cavalry was issued the Sharps repeating carbine, but it didn't make that much of a difference as the CSA was already defeated, whether they knew it or not.
Even after the Civil War, a repeating rifle was not issued to infantry units, until the end of the 19th century. This was because the Quartermaster Corps felt it was not feasible for an infantryman to have more than 40 rounds as an individual basic load. They decided that issuing a repeating arm would cause them to go through ammunition too quickly, and the logistics trains would not be able to resupply. Due to this belief, they stuck with a breech loading, single shot rifle (the Springfield Model 1876 IIRC).
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I'll try to pull the file off my external HD (my home computer is a boat anchor, so it may take a minute). Shoot me a PM with a good e-mail address.