Ummagumma

The 1914 World Champion Boston Braves The 2014 Atlanta Braves are having a disappointing season . After leading the NL East for much of the first half, the Braves went from being a struggling first-place team to an mediocre also-ran team thanks largely to losing 12 of 15 games from July 28 to August 12 .  Even since then they remain an uninspiring team to watch.  Now they are struggling to just win half their ball games .  Atlanta is so far out of it that they are not longer contenders for a wild card spot in the playoffs, but, as long-time readers know, I detest the wild card to begin with so I am happy the Braves won't be something I detest as they were in, say, 2010 . This Braves team certainly looks mediocre compared with the 1914 Boston Braves team that won a world championship 100 years ago this October.  The " Miracle Braves " still have the reputation of being one of the hottest teams in baseball history.  Their "miracle" resides in the fact t

Generals John Bell Hood and William Tecumseh Sherman. "Hundreds of sutlers and traders were waiting in Nashville and Chattanooga, greedy to reach Atlanta with their wares and goods, with which to drive a profitable trade with the inhabitants.  I gave positive orders that none of these traders, except three (one for each separate army), should be permitted to come nearer than Chattanooga; and, moreover, I peremptorily required that all citizens and families resident in Atlanta should go away, giving each the option to go south or north, as their interests and feelings dictated.  I was resolved to make Atlanta a purely military garrison or depot, with no civilian population to influence military matters.  I had seen Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez, and New Orleans, all captured from the enemy, and each at once was garrisoned by a full division of troops, if not more; so that success was actually crippling our armies in the field by detachments to guard and protect the interests of a

Hood blew up his ammunition train before abandoning Atlanta. This photo was taken a few days later as Federal forces occupied the city.  The Confederate army under General John C. Pemberton surrendered at Vicksburg on Independence Day, July 4, 1863. This was a major strategic victory for the Union cause in the War Between the States .  It severed the cattle and horse rich western Confederacy from the eastern armies of General Robert E. Lee and, at the time, General Braxton Bragg .  But in truth it did not mean much to the war weary public on both sides. The war continued and the strategic significance of Vicksburg turned out not to be enough to get Abraham Lincoln re-elected in 1864. Lincoln feared he would lose the presidency to his Democratic opponent, Union General George B. McClellan .  The north was tired of the war and wanted peace.  There were anti-draft riots in New York City as well as pervasive grumbling throughout the northern states.  Also in the summer of 1863