Civil War Quotes

[Locke1740]

What are some of your favorite quotes from the civil war. My favorite are in my signature but there are some others that i really like.

"To be a good soldier you must love the army. To be a good commander, you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love. We do not fear our own death, you and I, but there comes a time. we are never quite prepared for so many to die or we do expect the occasional empty chair, a salute to fallen comrade, if this war goes on and on and the men die, the price gets ever higher, we are prepared to lose some of us, but we are never prepared to lose all of us, and there is the great trap general..."
Robert E. Lee to James Longstreet

[Sneaky Cheese]

Duty, then is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less.

Robert E Lee

[Grant97]

Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or to keep one.
Robert E. Lee

If you see the President, tell him from me that whatever happens there will be no turning back.
Ulysses S. Grant

[crazychester1247]

"Get down you fool!" Oliver Windell Holmes Jr. to Abraham Lincoln at the Battle of Fort Stevens.

"June 3, 1864, Cold Harbor. I was killed.” Unknown union soldier, his last diary entry.

"Bring up Little Powell." *some time later* "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.” Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, his last words.

and of course... "They couldn't hit an elephant from this distance." General John Segdwick, his last words, before he was shot in the head. Honestly I would have laughed if I saw that happen.

[Lyman Trumbull]

"It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it." Robert E. Lee

[Pvt.Scott]

This isn't civil war but I copied and pasted it from a guy from steam. So you know it's Legit.

The soldier stood and faced God,
Which must always come to pass.
He hoped his shoes were shining,
Just as brightly as his brass.

"Step forward now, you soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To my Church have you been true?"

The soldier squared his soldiers and said,
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't.
Because those of us who carry guns,
Can't always be a saint.

I've had to work most Sundays,
And at times my talk was tough.
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.

But, I never took a penny,
That wasn't mine to keep...
Though I worked a lot of overtime,
When the bills just got too steep.

And I never passed a cry for help,
Though at times I shook with fear.
And sometimes, God, forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.

I know I don't deserve a place,
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around,
Except to calm their fears.

If you've a place for me here, Lord,
It needn't be so grand.
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."

There was a silence all around the throne,
Where the saints had often trod.
As the soldier waited quietly,
For the judgement of his God.

"Step forward now, you soldier,
You've borne your burdens well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
RIP YOUR IN HEAVEN NOW

Rangers lead the way
We ride together, We die together, Bad Boys for life
Old soldiers don't die they just fade away
Marines never die they just go to hell and regroup
Men do not seek power they only seek glory
I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.
Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.

Marines never die they just go to hell and regroup
Never thought about that. Hmm.

[crazychester1247]

Marines never die they just go to hell and regroup
Never thought about that. Hmm.

And if you think about it, routing is just advancing to the rear.:p

[David Dire]

Routing is just bravely charging against all odds the wrong direction.

[George A. Custer]

"June 3, 1864, Cold Harbor. I was killed.” Unknown union soldier, his last diary entry.

How did he write that then, was it a zombie??????

[Burger Rambo]

How did he write that then, was it a zombie??????

He wrote it with his last dying breath. When he got shot (probably in the gut) he knew he was going to die so he wrote it down then bleed to death.

[Colonel P. R. Page]

"How do you like this, our coming back into the union?"

Confederate soldier to Pennsylvanian civilian before Gettysburg.

[Brooklyn]

"This war was a fearful lesson, and should teach us the necessity of avoiding wars in the future." - Ulysses S. Grant

[1SGT Shannon]

"Nothing fills me with deeper sadness than to see a Southern man apologizing for the defense we made of our inheritance. Our cause was so just, so sacred, that had I known all that has come to pass, had I known what was to be inflicted upon me, all that my country was to suffer, all that our posterity was to endure, I would do it all over again." - Jefferson Davis

[JaegerCoyote]

"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast."- William Tecumseh Sherman

[Colonel P. R. Page]

"How far these people are deserving of pity, it is hard to tell." Chaplain John Hight, 58th Indiana

"There seems to be no God here, but more than the average amount of the devil." Sgt Cyrus Boyd

"For this war is essentially a war of conquest. If ever a nation did wage such a war, the North is now engaged, with a determination worthy of a more hopeful cause, in endeavoring to conquer the South..."

-- Col. James Arthur Lyon Fremantle, Coldstream Guards, British Army "Three Months in the Southern States: April, June, 1863"


"It is stated in books and papers that Southern children read and study that all the blood-shedding and destruction of property of that conflict was because the South rebelled without cause to preserve human slavery, and that their defeat was necessary for free government and the welfare of the human family.

As a Confederate soldier and as a citizen of Virginia, I deny the charge, and denounce it as a calumny. We were not rebels; we did not fight to perpetuate human slavery, but for our rights and privileges under a government established over us by our fathers and in defense of our homes."

-- Colonel Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, at the dedication of the Confederate monument at Old Chapel in Clarke County, Virginia.


At the battle of Harpers Ferry in September 1862, the Union garrison of over 12,000 men was surrounded and captured by Confederate forces led by Stonewall Jackson, with help from McLaws, Walker, and A.P. Hill.

Following the surrender, Jackson rode out to review the Union troops that were to be paroled. Jackson, never especially particular about his appearance, was wearing a somewhat dirty and bedraggled homespun gray suit and the usual battered kepi, riding a relatively nondescript cream-colored horse (apparently not Little Sorrel).

One of the Union soldiers spoke out and said, "Boys, he's not much to look at, but if we'd had him, we wouldn't have been caught in this trap."


When asked by Braxton Bragg, "Do you know what a retreat looks like:," one of his men replied, "I ought to know, General, I've been with you during the entire campaign."

[Bob_Rabbit]

“if the Irishmen ever ran from the field he would have to run as well.” - General Edwin Sumner

[Brooklyn]

"I have served my country, under the flag of the Union, for more than fifty years, and so long as God permits me to live, I will defend that flag with my sword, even if my native state assails it!" - Brevet Lieutenant General Winfield Scott