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November 07, 2008
“We are going to lick them out of their boots!” ~ Sheridan
A FLAG, ON A HILL
by Bill Whittle
As Civil War battles went, it was a small and insignificant affair. But in terms of story – and especially, in terms of lessons – it’s one of my favorites.
The war had not yet fully turned in October of 1864. And even though Stonewall Jackson had been dead for well over a year – killed by mistake by his own men at the Battle of Chancellorsville -- the Shenandoah Valley still belonged if not to Jackson then to Jackson’s ghost, for it was there that he and his “foot cavalry” had won their eternal place in Valhalla. Jackson’s tactical brilliance and the endless series of Union routs still hung like clouds of gunpowder in the valleys and hollows of the Shenandoah.
And so it came a no surprise to either the Union or the Confederate soldiers on the banks of Cedar Creek to see, once again, a blue rout – men throwing down rifles and knapsacks and running for their lives, dodging perhaps the few hissing musket balls fired at their backs but completely unable to escape the jeering and the insults and that high, horrible Rebel yell, as that pack of feral wolves descended on their camps, drank their coffee, ate their rations and sat going through their personal effects, admiring photos and reading letters from their sweethearts. Not a loss, but a rout. Another rout. The latest in an ongoing series of routs without end, or so it must have seemed.
The Union general was a young man, new to his command, and who in point of fact had been back in Washington during the defeat. But as he rode toward the sound of the guns that morning, curiosity turned to apprehension, and apprehension to something worse, as he crossed Mill Creek and came upon a low hill, to see before him “the appalling spectacle of a panic-stricken Army.”
Phillip Sheridan was his name, described by Shelby Foote as a man with the face of a Mongol Warlord and a hair so short and dense it made his head look like a bullet with a coat of black paint.
Sheridan’s first instinct was to form a straggler line and prepare for the final Rebel assault. But the Rebels were too busy celebrating. And after he caught his breath, Little Phil noticed something surprising: not a broken and routed army, fleeing for their lives, but small groups of men boiling fresh coffee, speaking to one another calmly and cheering him as he rode by.
One of his aides described him at that moment: “As he galloped on, his features grew gradually set, as those carved in stone, and the same dull red glint I had seen in his piercing eyes when, on other occasions, the battle was going against us, was there now.”
You bet it was.
The closer Sheridan came to the battle, the more cheerful and animated his defeated men became. Encountering a small group of them, Little Phil would stand in the saddle, and give a jaunty salute – as if to congratulate them on a great victory, rather than another humiliating defeat.
The result was electric, if not universal. Amid the cheering, one infantry colonel – whose descendents perhaps would go on to become campaign advisors – stood in Sheridan’s path and begged him not to go on.
“The army’s whipped!” he cried.
“You are, but the army isn’t,” growled Sheridan, who then put the spurs to a horse who’s back was taller than he was and rode to the scene of the disaster, shouting, “About face, boys! We are going back to our camps! We are going to lick them out of their boots!”
His men were not beaten. They just needed leadership.
“We are going to get a twist on those fellows, men!” he shouted, pounding down the pike. “We are going to lick them out of their boots!”
And that’s what he did, too. He and his routed army went back to that field and licked those Rebels right out of their boots.
“Run!” he shouted, standing in the stirrups. “Go after them! We’ve got the God-damnedest twist on them you ever saw!”
Battles don’t always go that way. But sometimes they do. It depends on whether the individual soldier still has any fight in him.
It has been a source of delight for me these past few days to see nothing but evidence of this, all across our defeated lines. Nowhere have I heard a shred of defeatism or despair. On the contrary. In point of fact, the magnanimity and graciousness I have seen in defeat in so many places on the right tells me that this is a eager and seasoned army, one able to look defeat in the face and own up to the errors in tactics and strategy that got us there. And nowhere do I see a call to abandon our core principles and sue for terms, but rather that our loss was caused precisely by our abandonment of the issues we which hold dear and which have served us so well on battlefields past.
So consider this, my fellows in arms:
On Tuesday, the Left – armed with the most attractive, eloquent, young, hip and charismatic candidate I have seen with my adult eyes, a candidate shielded by a media so overtly that it can never be such a shield again, who appeared after eight years of a historically unpopular President, in the midst of two undefended wars and at the time of the worst financial crisis since the Depression and whose praises were sung by every movie, television and musical icon without pause or challenge for 20 months… who ran against the oldest nominee in the country’s history, against a campaign rent with internal disarray and determined not to attack in the one area where attack could have succeeded and who was out-spent no less than seven-to-one in a cycle where not a single debate question was unfavorable to his opponent – that historic victory, that perfect storm of opportunity…
Yielded a result of 53%
Folks, we are going to lick these people out of their boots.
There is much to do. That a man with such overt Marxist ideas and such a history of association with virulent anti-Americans can be elected President should make it crystal clear to each of us just how far we have let fall the moral tone of this Republic. The great lesson from Ronald Reagan was simply that we can and must gently educate as well as campaign, and explain our ideas with smiles on our faces and real joy in our hearts, for unlike the far-left radical who gained the Presidency on Tuesday, we start with 150 million of the most free and intelligent and hard-working people in the history of the Earth at our backs, with a philosophy that -- unlike theirs, which has resulted in 100 million dead in unmarked graves -- has liberated and enriched more people and created more joy than any nation or combination of nations in our history.
How can we lose this greater fight, my friends? How can we lose, unless we give up?
Wild Thing's comment........
A Cedar Creek Conservative? You bet I am. This is excellent, I hope you have time to read it. It will make you feel better and see how different we are too compared to the left when they do not win. We don't give up, we get mad, shocked too, but there is still that what can we do now to win again, to protect our country, to fight back for the Red, White and Blue.
And you know what my wonderful friends? We have the heroes on our side, all those who know the taste of Freedom like none other, our Veterans and troops today.
Posted by Wild Thing at November 7, 2008 04:45 AM
Comments
I have but one life to give my country,
it is gettin short,draw cutlass'es,
lets go get'em!!
Posted by: Chief at November 7, 2008 09:30 AM
Thank you, Chrissie. I would have gotten around to Whittle's page but I sure needed this today. We should be forming ranks to run Palin and Jindal now and to run the rest of the RINO's out of the Republican Party. Kiss McCain goodbye and send him into wealthy retirement and tell Schwartzenegger to retire to his Democrat wife and get back to pumping iron. Ahnold has sagged badly and contributed much to the sag of the Republican Party. Oh, hell, I hope he's not an old Hollywood friend of you and Nick but he's certainly not in your league as an action hero with me.
And yes, Newt should be put back in harness. He's had time to focus on the things that are essential since he lost power by spreading himself too thin. Many great world leaders had to go to exile or prison or to the woodshed to focus their minds on reality and to see their real purpose. I'm reminded of Anwar Sadat and Cell 24. I think Newt has aged well and may have become poor in spirit enough to save the nation.
Posted by: horace at November 7, 2008 09:36 AM
This story of Phil Sheridan at Cedar Creek is a beautiful example of our failures recently. We have piss poor leadership. The conservative spirit is there, but we have no Sheridans, Pattons or Petraeous's. Bush, McCain, McConnell and the RNC do not provide inspiring or guiding leadership. They just occupy positions of supposed leadership.
Sarah Palin came on the scene and actually inspired the masses. She has spirit, drive and personality as well as a background of actual accomplishment. The "leaders" of the Repubs did not support her. They were jealous of her popularity and success.
We need leadership in the Conservative movement. We need to get rid of the debris that is running the RNC and replace them with real conservatives. John Bolton or Newt Gingrich would be good for the job.
Posted by: TomR at November 7, 2008 10:03 AM
Come now 'Comrades For Change'...the Baracksheviks are suddenly perplexed about your regrouping and counter offensives at this time.
Hmmmmmmmm? A little COSSACK pride in Team Theodore perhaps? Very interesting! Da or Nyet?
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at November 7, 2008 12:33 PM
Well TomR stole my thunder or rumble. Where is our Phil Sheridan. It was said that after Sheridan's campaign in the Shannondoah, 'that it was stripped clean of anything to eat and a Crow would have to provide it own Provendre to traverse that distance.'
Now all that is needed is a leader. And the McCain staffers are trying desparately to chase our only legitimate away and taint her with blame.
I am saying we got to go after the RNC and hammer them until they cry enough.
Posted by: Mark at November 7, 2008 01:13 PM
We need a Phillip Sheridan, George Patton to lead the pack. People like General Anthony McAuliffe. Nuts!!! or Chesty Puller.
"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller
The RNC, sheesh, I'm sick of their crap, it's time to form a new and better union.
Posted by: Jack at November 7, 2008 02:18 PM
Do those staffers at the RNC really care who is in the White House or Congress? Except for the person in charge, the staffers get paid whether we win an election or not. They're making big bucks and as long as they can fill the ranks with RINO's, they'll continue to draw their salaries. But, you let some true Conservatives get in power and these RINO's will be booted out the building.
Sarah Palin appointed her Public Safety Director. He didn't support the budget cuts she wanted so she booted his butt out of the building. That's what we need in charge of the RNC; someone who will kick take names and kick butts.
Posted by: BobF at November 7, 2008 03:50 PM
Chrissie, you're the ginchiest.
Posted by: cuchieddie at November 7, 2008 06:07 PM
Chief, love it, thank you so much.
Posted by: Wild Thing at November 7, 2008 07:31 PM
Horace, LOL I know him, Arnold that is, but he is not someone Nicholas and I are fond of. He and his wife, the kennedy fammily icky person have been to our home, back when we lived in Calif. No big deal at all, excpet we didn't like her, she was rude and one just can't get rid of the Kennedy thing when you meet her. YUK!
I agree about Arnold messing with the Rep. party and bringing it down. He is no conservative that's for sure. Some of the republicans I have met like Arnold are party members because the Rep. always wanted less taxes so that is a big reason they sign up. But all the rest of their thinking is pure democrat. grrrrr
Yes he should go back to the gym and get the heck out of politics.
I plan on keeping in touch with Sarah, just an email now and then. Nothing to bug her, but keep her knowing we miss her and are all for her.
Thank you Horace!!!
Posted by: Wild Thing at November 7, 2008 07:42 PM
Tom, you hit the nail on the head......."do not provide inspiring or guiding leadership. They just occupy positions of supposed leadership."
And what a difference when they are not like that we can zoom and do so great.
It is weird how for those of us on here it really would not be a big deal to stick to our guns and do the right thing. But for those disappointing us it is almost impossible. It can't be pressure from their peers because we have all had that too. But if they just could be strong, they would find after awhile it does get easier because your reputation preceeds a person and let's everyone know don't mess with him or even her. heh heh
Posted by: Wild Thing at November 7, 2008 07:50 PM
Darth, heh heh but of course.
We must only take a short time to lick our wounds and then get back out on the battle field. America, she is waiting for us.
We might not know the how yet, but our guns are loaded in word and passion to let them have it full force.
Posted by: Wild Thing at November 7, 2008 07:53 PM
Mark, AMEN and DITTO!!!!
"I am saying we got to go after the RNC and hammer them until they cry enough."
Posted by: Wild Thing at November 7, 2008 07:55 PM
Jack, I love Chesty, he was just so awesome. I love that quote by him you shared too.
Posted by: Wild Thing at November 7, 2008 07:57 PM
BobF, exacty. And I think we have to let the RNC know they are to blame. They are the ones that have disappointed us and have become our number one enemy and how we do this I have no idea. The money sure stop donations, but it is more then that. It is writing them, bugging them, being a pain in the ass with them every time one of the politicians messes up, blame them and not just the stupid politician. Make them see, force them to answer to us. They will get sick of it and know we have a voice. Just an idea anyway.
Posted by: Wild Thing at November 7, 2008 08:01 PM
cuchieddie, blushing, thank you so much!!!
Posted by: Wild Thing at November 7, 2008 08:03 PM
