I'm looking for a quote...

[Mr. Q]

Hi folks

A while ago, I read a quote somewhere and I cannot find it again. I'm hoping that one of you might recognise the gist of it and point me in the right direction.

All I can recall is that it was from the first few pages of a book of reminiscences written by a veteran of the ACW (a Southerner, if I recall correctly).
I thought the quote was from one of the books I purchased as research for a novel, but I can't find it in any of those books... "Company Aytch" by Sam Watkins, "Reminiscences Of A Rebel" by Wayland Fuller Dunaway and "Rebel Private: Front And Rear" by William A. Fletcher. (NOTE:--Just because I couldn't find it in these books doesn't mean it isn't from one of them... I may have missed it).

The essence of the quote ran something like this:
"It seems to me that a lot of important folks often seem to write our history books, so I thought that I'd have a go at writing my own memoirs, because even the little guy deserves a chance."

Does that ring any bells with any of you? I realise that it's a vague clue, but hopefully someone will know what I'm getting at.

Thank you in advance.

--Mr. Q

 

[scone]

Wish had a answer but awesome quote

 

[DixieRifles]

"It seems to me that a lot of important folks often seem to write our history books, so I thought that I'd have a go at writing my own memoirs, because even the little guy deserves a chance."

It does appear to imply that he wrote this long after the war and after he had read other historical books and personal journals.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

A few of the vet memoirs got re-published so they're more well known. Hate to give you a long, long list to plow through but boy are there dozens of pretty much the same thing? I use Hathitrust quite a bit- type in ' Civil War ', refine the search to the years you'd like to browse and around a gazillion memoirs pop up. Best thing about it is most are public access, no copy right worries.

That's a nice quote. It seems typical of a lot of the vet memoirs. You read what it was they lived through yet seem to have remained incredibly humble about their role. Well, unless it was Sickles. He won the whole thing all by himself.

 

[Mr. Q]

It does appear to imply that he wrote this long after the war and after he had read other historical books and personal journals.

Yes, I think it was from a memoir that was written some years after the war; however, because I can't find the source of the quote, I can't be sure. Thanks for your comment.

 

[Mr. Q]

To JPK Huson 1863:

Thank you for directing me to Hathitrust. Believe it or not, I had not heard of the site before; but after just a few minutes looking at it, I can tell that I will spend a considerable amount of time there in days to come. What an amazing resource!

I appreciate your comment, and the bit about Dan Sickles made me smile. What else can you expect from the man?--He was a lawyer AND a politician!

 

[diane]

It does ring a bell but not loudly enough to tell me who! I seem to recall Sherman said something of the kind about writing his memoirs but can't be certain.

 

[LSBusch]

Did you know you can look for phrases in Google Books? Probably the Hathi site, too. I just tried "have a go at writing" and "little guy deserves," but too many hits showed up to wade through. When I added "Civil War" to narrow it down, your post here was the top hit! Anyway, you might want to play around with searches for parts of the quote you remember.