War is not football, and football is not war, but having done both, they sometimes look like one another.

 

Despite it being a relatively small affair, the Spanish-American War has cemented itself in the American psyche. From the Rough Riders, to “Remember the Maine”, Yellow Journalism to Guantanamo Bay, we know the legends. Little however has survived of the war itself outside of the result: total American victory, and the new American Empire replacing the dying Spanish Empire. Despite the ultimate victory, critical lessons were learned in a near defeat in the first battle of the war, as the US Army transitioned into a modern fighting force.

The US Army that went to war in Cuba (and the Philippines) in 1898 was war from the dominant force we see today. Technologically inferior to its European foes, the Army was commanded by Generals who had learned their trade on the battlefields of the Civil War and in the endless wars against the Native Americans of the Plains and Southwest that followed. The generals brought tactics that had been successful at that time and place, but by the eve of the 20th Century, were vastly out of date. The US Army had spent nearly the entire previous century out gunning and overpowering the numerically inferior enemies they faced. Despite the soldiers of the Spanish Army in Cuba knowing their Empire was in its death throws, they were armed with the latest Mauser rifles, and an intimate knowledge of jungle fighting.

The Americans opened the war strongly, hanging 55 on the Spanish at Manila Bay half a world away, and crushing resistance at Guantanamo Bay. Defying orders, General Joseph Wheeler, Confederate veteran of the Civil War and former US Congressman, did what years of war had taught him: “get after the enemy fast”. Wheeler’s troops included the 1st US Volunteer Cavalry (the Rough Riders) and the 10th US Regular Cavalry (the Buffalo Soldiers). While the 1st USVC was a mixed bag of western cowboys and Upper West Siders (Hamilton Fish would be killed at Las Guasimas), the 10th was likely man for man the best unit in the entire American Army.

 

Joseph Wheeler, aka Brady Hoke circa 1898

 

Wheeler sent his cavalry forward dismounted (they hadn’t brought horses to Cuba thankfully), with skirmishers out like he was hunting Yankees or Sioux. When they hit the prepared Spanish positions under the command of Major General Antero Rubin (himself disobeying orders to fall back) they expected to brush aside the Spanish quickly. That did not happen. The Spanish opened fire with their superior smokeless powder Mauser rifles, and stopped the Americans. Eschewing a maneuver around the flanks, or perhaps just not trusting his soldiers to maneuver where he could not see them, Wheeler leaned in and continued the assault. The young cavalry officers, most who would go on to serve in the First World War took charge in the jungle, moving their men from cover to cover, finding weak points in the Spanish line. Learning and developing under fire, eventually the weight, courage, and superior morale (and General Rubin finally obeying his orders) allowed the Americans to carry the day. One of the officers of the 1st USVC noted "It is a good thing we are not at war with England or Germany or France, for we should not last a week." The victory was flawed, but it was still a victory against the enemy of the day. The US Army was bloodied, but had learned some valuable lessons.

 

Kalel Mullings is not dumb, nor is he bad at football. He was an Academic All-Big Ten honoree, and has been successful at football his entire life. While I don’t know much of his personal story, he is a Linebacker at the University of Michigan who the coaching staff had in the field late in a close game, so I am going to assume he has been successful while he was a Captain at Milton Academy too. Despite having some game experience under his belt, that experience does not include facing a resolute passing attack with a mobile (backup?) QB running a hurry up in a close game. So on 4th and 12, with 48 seconds on the clock and up by 15, when he sees one of his teammates out of position all of his experience tells him to get over there and correct it, to shift himself out of position for the briefest of moments to get his team right. He is the Linebacker, the defensive General, that is his job. “What is the risk?” he asks himself, after all, his entire career he has been fast enough, or lucky enough to recover back to his spot. Except 2022 Maryland isn’t Colorado State, or the Belmont Hill School. They are a dangerous offensive weapon, and one of those weapons, CJ Dippre, made him pay. He tried to do what he thought was right, something his experience told him that he could, but he quickly learned that everything he thought he knew was in the past, and that he had better quickly develop those new instincts.

 

I have faith he can do it. I have faith that at the end of the season, he will laugh about this with whatever DT he was trying to move into position after a win in Columbus. Just like the US Army learned and developed and in the days following Las Guasimas stormed San Juan and the other hills around Santiago, pushing the previous battle into the footnotes of history.  So to, (hopefully) will Michigan-Maryland fade into the dark recesses of Michigan Football Memory. This team has challenges and obstacles in front of it, and just like the men battling yellow fever and the Spanish, they will need to take what they’ve learned in this near defeat, and use it to win the battles to come.

Artist Unknown

Michigan Football After Victory in Columbus (2022)