Ummagumma

A typical February sky.  A gloomy shadow rests over my land for most of the wet month. February is one of my least favorite months.  Although there were a few remarkably clear and sunny days this year, most of the month, as always, was wet, overcast and gloomy.  It rained often.  Usually, it fell in the form of an unceasing all-day shower, which led to some flooding because the ground was already so saturated with water from our wet January.  We had one major thunderstorm that brought a small tornado a couple of miles from my property.  The fierce wind took out three houses. There was also several days of winter stillness and fog.  We had a strange snow just before Valentine's Day.  Enormous flakes fell for a couple of hours one morning and by evening the sun had melted it all away.  The few sunny days were often accompanied by cold temperatures and a biting gust of wind which is loud as it often roars through the naked branches grasping the air. Nevertheless, there is the

This is a shot I took of Missionary Ridge from Orchard Knob during my January trip to the Chattanooga battlefield.  While quite steep, the ridge can hardly be called imposing.  Generals Grant and Thomas had this same view of the ridge (minus all the development) during the battle.  Facing east, this is roughly the area of the initial Northern breakthrough. The Battle of Missionary Ridge was one of the most decisive battles of the War Between the States.  On November 25, 1863 the Army of the Cumberland routed the Army of Tennessee from the heights of the ridge overlooking Chattanooga and ended the two-month siege known as the Chattanooga Campaign .   General Ulysses S. Grant , after his triumph at Vicksburg about five months earlier, achieved another resounding victory for the Union, furthering solidifying the admiration of the Lincoln Administration.  The only thing is, in reality, Grant’s plan of attack did not work at all and only the remarkably spontaneous heroics of rank