Lee May I Quote you, General Lee?

Bonny Blue Flag

1st Lieutenant
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Location
Grand Prairie, Texas
This is a collection of quotes from R.E. Lee. Please fell free to add to this post with quotes you find from Lee or other generals.

The source material is: Observations and Utterances From the South's Great Generals. Edited by Randall Bedwell / 1997

"My loyalty to Virginia ought to take precedence over that which is due to the federal government. If Virginia stands by the old Union, so will I. But, if she secedes, then I will still follow my native state with my sword, and need be with my life."
--Robert E. Lee to Charles Anderson, February 1861

"I must side either with or against my section or country. I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children. I should like, above all things, that our difficulties might be peaceably arranged...Whatever may be the result of the contest, I foresee that the country will have to pass through a terrible ordeal, a necessary expiation perhaps for our national sins."
--Robert E. Lee, excerpt from a letter to a Northern girl who had requested his photograph.

"Alabama soldiers, all I ask of you is to keep up with the Texans!"
--Robert E. Lee, preparing to advance, the Wilderness, 1864

"It is well that war is so terrible, else men would love it too much."
--Robert E. Lee, Fredericksburg, 1862

"An invasion of the enemy's country breaks up all his preconcieved plans of invasion."
--Robert E. Lee

"If we can defeat or drive the enemy from the field, we shall have peace. All our efforts and energies should be devoted to that object."
--Robert E. Lee to Jefferson Davis, July6th, 1864

"It is important that conflict not be provoked until we are ready."
--Robert E. Lee, 1861

"There has always been a hazard in military movements, but we must decide between the positions of inaction and the risk of action."
--Robert E. Lee

"Apparent failure often proves to be a blessing."
--Robert E. Lee

"It is easier to defend a railroad by massing troops at salient and commanding points to repress the attack of the enemy and strike him if he advances, than to extend the force the whole line."
--Robert E. Lee

"It is sometimes better to wait until you are attacked."
--Robert E. Lee

"There is only one attitude in which I should never be ashamed of you seeing my men, and that is when they are fighting."
--Robert E. Lee, discounting the ragtag appearance of his troops to a British correspondent.

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More quotes to follow. Please submit quotes from other great Generals.

--BBF
 
“We may be annihilated, but we cannot be conquered.”
General Albert Sidney Johnston, CSA, in accepting his command rank, August, 1861.
(Define the word Conquer)

“Before this war is over, I intend to be a Major General or a corpse.”
- Brigadier General Isaac Trimble to Stonewall Jackson.
(He became a POW)

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance"
- Union General John Sedgwick spoke these words just moments before being shot dead by a confederate sniper at Spotsylvania

"I shall come out of this fight a live major general or a dead brigadier."
- Confederate Brigadier General Albert Perrin made this oath on the eve of the Battle of Spotsylvania, where he was killed in action.


"The Rebel army is now the legitimate property of the Army of the Potomac"
- Joseph Hooker spoke these pompous words shortly before he was soundly defeated by Robert E. Lee at Chancellorsville

“I always thought the Yankees had something to do with it.” - Reply of George Pickett when asked why he thought the Confederates lost at Gettysburg.

"The Rebel bullet that can kill me has not yet been molded." - General Philip Kearny subsequently riding into Confederate troops ignored a demand to surrender, and while attempting to escape, a single bullet penetrated the base of his spine, killing him instantly. Confederate Maj Gen. A.P. Hill upon hearing the gunfire, ran up to the body of the illustrious soldier with a lantern and exclaimed, - "You've killed Phil Kearny, he deserved a better fate than to die in the mud."


My All time favorite!
“I have stood your meanness as long as I intend to. You have played the part of a **** scoundrel, and if you were any part of a man I would slap your jaws and force you to resent it…”

Nathan B. Forrest to Braxton Bragg


Buzzard
 
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"I have broken all ties that bind me to the (U.S.) Army, not suddenly, impulsively, but conscientiously and after due deliberation. I sacrifice more to my principles than any other officer in the Army can do. I would rather carry a musket in the cause of the South than be Commander-In-Chief under Mr. Lincoln."
--Edmund Kirby Smith

"I owe all that I am to the government of the United States. It has educated and clothed me with honor. To leave the service is a hard necessity, but I must go. Though I am resigning my position, I trust I may never draw my sword against the old flag."
--Joseph E. Johnston

"It seems like fate that Texas has made me a rebel twice."
--Albert Sidney Johnston, referring to his participation in the War for Texas Independence from Mexico.

"People are anxious to bring on war don't know what they are bargaining for; they don't see all the horrors that must accompany such an event."
--Stonewall Jackson

--BBF
 
"Our present political system has been achieved in a manner unprecedented in the history ofnations...It illustrates the American idea that governments rest on the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish them at will whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established. Obstacles may retard, but they can not long prevent the progress of a movement sanctified by its justice and sustained by a virtuous people."
--President Jefferson David's inaugural address, Montgomery, Alabama, February 1861

"There is no sacrifice I am not ready to make for the preservation of the Union save that of honor."
--Robert E. Lee to his wife, Mary Custis Lee, January 1861

"The line of duty is clear. Each one to follow his own state if his state goes to war; if not, he may remain and help on teh work of reunion."
--Matthew Fontaine Maury

"As we are now engaged in this contest, all my wishes, all my desires and all the energies of my hand and heart will be given to the cause of my state. Whether we have the right of secession or revolution, I want to see my state triumphant."
--Jubal Early

"You have your bayonets!"
--Thomas C. Hindman's response to a subordinate who advised against mounting a charge due to a lack of ammunition, Shiloh, 1862

--BBF
A
 
Is it not strange that the descendants of those Pilgrim Fathers who crossed the Atlantic to preserve their own freedom of opinion have always proved themselves intolerant of the spiritual liberty of others?
To his wife 12/27/1856
 
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