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JUDE AND THE PRINCEBy James G. Sweeney

(Author Prologue - In 2007 Sally Jenkins and Lars Anderson each authored detailed accounts of the1912 game between Carlisle and West Point and its background. Both built their stories around ametaphor featuring the Indians, with the magnificent Jim Thorpe running wild, symbolically besting thehorse soldiers and "Long Knives" and thereby gaining respectability for their people after the tragedy atWounded Knee in December 1890. Yet for reasons that can only be speculated upon, neither author tellsof the first time the Indians and Cadets met on the Plain seven years earlier, in what I believe to be amore significant game in terms of their metaphor and which was a great game of college football thatdrew national attention. Because Jenkins and Anderson didn't tell the story ofthe 1905 game, I will.)

The weather on the Plain at West Point that Saturday afternoon was sunny, but brisk. Twenty-two youngmen - lIon each side of an imaginary line of combat - lined up across from each other. At a givensignal they pushed and shoved, blocked and tackled, grunted and groaned in a great game of collegepigskin persuasion, football. Some wore leather helmets. Others were bareheaded. All were outfitted inmoleskins. Their faces were etched with fierce determination. Sweat dripped from their brows. One sidebulled into the other struggling to advance the egg shaped ball across a few more yards of turf. The otherside, just as determined to deny the advance, rose up and ferociously pushed back with every fiber oftheir bodies. It was a seesaw struggle of human strength between evenly matched elevens. The game, theIndians of Carlisle against the Cadets of Army. The day, November 11, 1905.

There are times when written histories tend to overtake the actuality of the events written about. The taleand its teller seem to become more important than the truth. So it is with Sally Jellkins' and LarsAnderson's recent accounts of the wonderful contest between these two great teams also played on thePlain seven years later, the game in which the great Thorpe, as one reporter put it, ran wild. In their storyof how the Indians bested the hated "Long Knives" that day, neither tells of the first time these twoelevens met. Both fail to recount this game played much closer in time to the horrors at Wounded Kneewhere the soul of the American Indian died at the hands of the horse soldiers. The 1905 contest was assignificant. It was also a great game of football and it drew national attention. Its story should be told.

By 1905 these two football teams had reached a high level of excellence. Yet, they had never met.Indeed, it took a special order from the Secretary of War to allow the game to be played at all. Nowonder. This was the first time since Wounded Knee the Indians had a chance to even the score for themassacre of their forefathers in the Plains wars and for the horrors inflicted on them by the recklessWest Point grad Col. James W. Forsythe (class of 1856), a horse soldier of the Seventh Cavalry, aGeorge Custer protege. Forsythe had unleashed the Hotchkiss gun, a fearsome new weapon, at theLakota Sioux camp on the banks of Wounded Knee Creek that day, slaughtering 180 men, women andchildren on a bitterly cold day in December 1890, just 15 years earlier. Now on this November afternoonin 1905 these American Indian boys, gathered together from all over the nation, would walk slowly ontothe Plain this November afternoon to face the cadets, the figurative sons of those horse soldiers. Theywere wrapped in bright red Indian blankets and hoped to seek some kind of symbolic recompense. Thisfight for the mythic turf of the gridiron - the battlefield of the Plain - would be hard fought. The Indianswould prevail and would go home from West Point victorious and proud.

This was also a game of high irony. Major William A. Mercer, the Superintendent of Carlisle, had beenone of the hated horse soldiers, one of the "Long Knives" that Jenkins and Anderson scorn in theirbooks. He was at the massacre scene of Wounded Knee. He would also be on the Plain this day,

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cheering these young Indians on against the soldiers. In structuring the great metaphor that shapes theirstories, the revenge of the Indian players against the Cadets for the slaughter of their forefathers atWounded Knee, Jenkins and Anderson chose not to tell of this irony. It would have spoiled their story.

This clash of bodies and brawn would be caught for all time by pioneering photographers operatingunder shrouds behind big wooden box cameras set up on tripods. Action shots of surprising claritywould be spread across five columns on the front page of the next day's Sunday newspapers. The gamewas the equivalent of the lead story on evening television news. In the background was a large crowdstudded with generals and admirals of high order in the armies and navies of both America and Britain,who watched as the Indians faced off against the Cadets at the Army's elite military academy carvedinto the Ramapo Mountains on the west side of the Hudson River, about 60 miles north of Manhattan.

Gayly dressed wives and girl friends circled through thecrowd and sat in the grandstand on the west side of thePlain with their husbands and beaux. A multitude ofofficers were in full dress uniform. It was a bright,colorful and festive day on the Plain at West Point.

Over 8,000 would see the contest. Only a paltry three tofive thousand watched Thorpe and Eisenhower sevenyears later. Every important newspaper covered thestory both on their front pages and in their sportssections. That didn't happen in 1912 and there were nophotographs either. Indeed, in 1912 the New YorkHerald said there were other more important gamesbeing played that day. Not in 1905. This was "the"game of the day. As the Tribune's reporter put it:"Never before has a football game at West Point beenwitnessed by a more distinguished gathering. Seated onthe grandstand was Prince Louis of Brattenberg,surrounded by army officers, both British and American.

The gold lace and trappings ofmilitary men, mingled with the gay dresses and flags of pretty girls, madea sight worth seeing."

The Cadets were looking beyond this game to their upcoming clash with the Middies of Navy, to beplayed at Princeton in a few weeks. President Theodore Roosevelt would be in attendance. There weremany navy men in the stands this day and the Cadets were out to impress them. That was a mistake. TheIndians were more focused.

The Indians were not coached by the crusty Glenn S. "Pop" Warner as in 1912, but by Hall of Famecoach George Woodruff, a player (at Yale) and coach (at Penn) hugely respected by historians and,statistically speaking, more accomplished than Warner, topped only by Rockne and Leahy in majorcollege coaching history. Yet, Jenkins, without explanation, savages Woodruff as "unsuitable" and hisIndian team as "predictable." This would be Woodruff's last game of his illustrious career. Woodruffwas a close friend of Gifford Pinchot and a lawyer by training. He would go on to be the first legalcounsel for the new U. S. Forestry Service headed by Pinchot. Later President Roosevelt would namehim a federal court judge, and still later then Governor Pinchot would appoint him as Attorney Generalof his home state of Pennsylvania. Woodruff would be inducted into the College Football Hall of Famein 1963. Warner himself, along with famed football historian and commentator Parke Davis and thegreat Red Blaik, would sing Woodruff's praises as one ofthe best of the best.

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Army was coached this day by Second Lieutenant Robert "King" Boyers, an All-American at theAcademy (class of 1903), who was aided by graduate assistant Ernest "Pot" Graves, another formerArmy all-star who would not forget this game and would go on to coach the Cadets in the 1912 gameagainst Thorpe and the Indians. Legendary Army Hall of Fame coach and player Charles Daly alsoassisted Boyers. For decades Army chose its coaches from among Academy graduates. It was not until1962 with the hiring of Paul Dietzel that Army went outside of its own ranks for its head coach.

Thorpe, Eisenhower, Leland Devore, and Indian Joe Guyon would not be on the Plain this Saturday butAll-American and Hall of Famer Albert Exendine would be. So too would Wahoo (Guyon's olderbrother), Jude, Lubo, Frank: Mount Pleasant, Bowen, and Larocque, great players all. Mount Pleasantwould be named by Caspar Whitney as a second team All-American at quarterback. A year later, afterthe rule change allowing the forward pass, he would be among the fIrst to throw a spiral pass for over 40

yards. Army's eleven included a pair of big guards, Henry"Pappy" Weeks, a second team All-American, and Bill Christy,as well as two-time fIrst team All-America fullback Henry"Harry" Tomey and future fIrst team All-American William"Red" Erwin at left tackle. These were two very good teams.Army was big and strong, and the Indians were, as usual, lightand fast.

The Indians came into this game with a strong record of six winsand two losses. In their fIrst six games no opponent had scored asingle point against them. Two weeks before this game they mettheir arch rival, the University of Pennsylvania, at Franklin Fieldin Philadelphia and lost 6-0 in a contest that the media called acheat that should have been won by the Indians if the refereeshad done their job. A week later they met Harvard at Cambridgebefore nearly 22,000 on a soft rain-sodden field and lost 23-11.In that game the Indians, most likely because of the wet fIeld,departed from their usual razzle dazzle style of play, usinginstead traditional straight ahead between the tackles line plunges,but scoring twice early and "somewhat humiliating" heavilyfavored Harvard. Ultimately the Crimson, a bigger and stronger

team, came from behind for the victory. Army, on the other hand, had only two wins against four losses,but had a spectacular game against Harvard the week before the Indians played them, losing 6-0 in amuch noticed game. The media had Army as the favorite in this game - but just barely.

The Army-Carlisle game gathered national publicity. It became the centerpiece of the visit of PrinceLouis of Brattenberg to New York. At the direction of King Edward VII and the First Lord of theAdmiralty, Prince Louis was on a goodwill visit to the former colony. The prince, although of Germanorigin, was a high ranking Rear Admiral in the British Navy and was soon to be the Sea Lord of theentire Royal Navy, the greatest navy the world had seen up to that time.

On Friday, November 10, 1905, the British fleet in all its majesty sailed into New York Harboraccompanied by six U.S. Navy battleships and cruisers. This group of warships and their tendersanchored in a line stretching up the Hudson River from the Battery to 125th Street. It was an awesomesight of naval might never before seen in America. The city overflowed with 4,000 British sailors. ThePrince, his party, and his sailors were received with great fanfare and a massive welcome by the city andAmerican military and naval officers of the highest rank.

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On Saturday morning Prince Louis and over 800 members of his staff, their wives, and family andfriends who had come along on the trip to America, together with many elite members of the UnitedStates Army and Navy, boarded the C. W Morse, a Hudson River steamer, and traveled upriver from42nd Street to West Point. The Prince disembarked at the same dock that is still there today and ascendedthe hill along Thayer Road to review the Corps of Cadets on the Plain. He then walked to the grandstandon the other side of this majestic open space in the heart of the Academy, took his place in the fIrst rowof the grandstand at the 50 yard line, and watched "the" game ofthe day.

The game began at 2:30 PM. The mid-November day was sunny but brisk, yet warm enough so thatmost of the Prince's entourage would not bring overcoats or shawls. That proved to be a mistake as thegame went into the second half and the sun began to set behind the Ramapo Mountains. A sharp mid­November chill set in, chasing many of the notables, but not the Prince, indoors to nearby Cullum Hallwhere a post-game reception was planned. The Prince stayed for the entire game and reportedly enjoyedit to the utmost.

At game time the Indians walked silently onto the Plain, led by coaches Woodruff, Kinney, Pierce, andHudson, followed by Nicholas Bowen, a Seneca from northern New York, the team captain, andExendine, Wahoo, Lubo, Mount Pleasant, Jude and nine more players. Fifteen in all suited up for thegame. Besides Major Mercer there were not many fans in the stands rooting for the Indians. They werenot even citizens. The players were wrapped in their red Indian blankets. The Prince thought that oddbut colorful. A symbol yes, but the Indians also knew the day would grow cold.

Unlike the one-sided 1912 game, this contest was a hard fought defensive duel between two equallymatched teams. The pre-game media thought that the Cadets with their "pluck" might prevail. It wasn'tto be. Frank Jude, the Indians unheralded substitute right end, a Chippewa from Minnesota who the NewYork Times called "Jude the Obscure" and "the flying Jude," was the hero ofthe day. He was all over thefIeld and recovered a fumble by Bill Christy early in the fIrst half, running 55 yards for the touchdown(worth only fIve points at that time) and Mount Pleasant converted with the point after. The Prince stoodand cheered as Jude ran by. Shortly after that Jude recovered another Army fumble deep in Indianterritory, and pulled off another twisting, turning 46-yard run and was on his way to pay dirt again whenbig Charley Mettler brought him down at the Army 44.

The front page reporter for the New York Herald got it right: "To Jude, the energetic right end forCarlisle, can the Indians and their followers attribute their success, as he was on the spot at just thestages when needed, supplementing his presence by keen sightedness and activity he had not heretoforeshown." Unfortunately, Frank Jude goes largely unnoticed in Carlisle literature. John Steckbeck noteshis appearance on the team in 1903-1906, and, as well, his profIciency in kicking PATs and in fumblerecoveries. However, baseball, not football, seemed to be his fIrst love. He played right fIeld for theCincinnati Reds in 1906, fInishing with a .263 slugging average in 80 games. Yet, for "Jude theObscure" this was clearly his day at West Point.

Late in the fIrst half Army was on its own 45 yard line, when Cadet halfback George Beavers got theball and made a spectacular leap, a "high jump" the Herald reporter called it, over the Indian line andheaded unhindered down the sideline towards the end zone. The Prince was on his feet again cheering.Beavers eluded the Indians and crossed the goal line, but he had stepped out of bounds at the 50 and theplay was called dead there. Late in the second half, with All-Americans Tomey and Henry Weekesgrinding out fIrst down after fIrst down for Army against a tired Indian defense, Weekes fInally plungedin for the score from the three yard line - aided by a push (legal then). But Army missed the conversionattempt from a difficult angle and thereafter the Cadets never regained possession. The game ended with

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Wahoo running around end for more Indian yardage. Final score; Carlisle 6 Army 5. The bulk of thegame was a defensive struggle with punts and fumbles galore and neither team making much ground.Ultimately, the Indian defense - and Jude - carried the day.

Unlike his "straight ahead" line plunging between the tackles game plan of the week before againstHarvard, occasioned by the wet field and poor footing, that ultimately proved unsuccessful - and whichJenkins derides as "predictable" - Woodruff changed the Indians style of play against the Cadets toWarner-like trickery and deception; using reverses, double reverses ("double passes"), the quarterbackkick, and end runs with good success in catching the Cadets off guard. It was an intense game. TheIndians returned to Carlisle battered and bruised, with guard Paul Larocque, another Chippewa from theMidwest, out for the season with a broken rib, and the yeoman right end Lubo limping home with a

twisted knee.

This mythic battle occurred fourteen years after the greatchiefs of the Plains tribes had stopped at Carlisle on theirway back to the Dakotas, having met with the president aboutthe "late outbreak," as the New York Times so politely calledthe Wounded Knee massacre. That day American Horse,whose son Ben American Horse played on the 1895 Carlisleteam, told his descendents who attended Carlisle that theIndian youth should learn the ways of the white man so thatthey could seek to regain their lands and seek retribution forlost Indian lives. The game against Army was one of thesteps along that way.

Surely Wounded Knee and the over arching message ofAmerican Horse to the students of Carlisle was in the mindsof these Indian youth in 1905 as they traveled by train toWest Point, along the west shore of the Hudson River, much

more so than it was seven years later in the 1912 game when Warner, Thorpe, Joe Guyon and the otherson that great team took the same train ride along the Hudson. The young men of the 1905 team were tenand eleven years old when the Lakota Sioux fell horribly at Wounded Knee. Surely their mothers andfathers told them of that slaughter when it happened. It had to stay with them. By contrast, Thorpe wasnot yet three years old at the time of Wounded Knee. This was 1905 and, as the Times correspondent putit in his special run up to the game published on Wednesday before the contest, this game stirred thehopes of the Indian youth at Carlisle "being the first time the War Department officials have consentedto trials of athletic skill between their proteges and the redman."

On this November day in 1905 the American Indian, championed by these 15 young redmen who hadbeen brought together from allover the nation at Carlisle by the Army, had an opportunity to achieverespectability for their people, to fmally best the horse soldiers, the "Long Knives." They did just thatand they did it on the soldiers' chosen field of battle, the Plain at their cathedral high above the Hudsonwith generals, admirals, and world leaders looking on, and reporters and photographers from the greatestnewspapers in the nation recording the victory for all to see and read about. It doesn't get better than that.Too bad Jenkins and Anderson chose not to tell of the first time the Indians beat the Cadets on the Plain.The 1905 game shaped the 1912 game. Yet it seems that Jenkins and Anderson didn't want their readersto know of it. Too bad.

**********************************************************After the Army game of 1905, Carlisle won three of its last five games to finish with a record of 10-4-0.