-- Soldier's Quotes from the War

Taken from Arthur Freemantle's book "Three Months in the Southern States April - June 1863 " this was a quote during the march to Gettysburg.


"One female had seen fit to adorn her ample bosom with a huge Yankee flag and stood at the door of her house, her countenance expressing the greatest contempt for the barefooted Rebels. Several companies passed her without taking any notice; but at length a Texan gravely remarked, "Take care madam, for Hood’s boys are great at storming breastworks when the Yankee colors is on them." After this speech the patriotic lady beat a precipitate retreat."
 
"Your communication demanding surrender of my comand I acknowledge receipt of, and would respectfully reply that we are prepared for the "needless effusion of blood" whenever it is agreeable to you." US Genl Corse in reply to CS Genl French demand for the surrender of the garrison at Allatoona pass.
 
"The troops....have for some time past been confined to reduced rations consisting of 18 ounces of flour, four ounces of bacon of indifferent quality, with occasional supplies of rice, sugar or molasses [this for each 100 men, every third day].

The men are cheerful, and I receive but few complaints.....Symptoms of scurvy are appearing among them, and.....each regiment is directed to send a daily detail to gather sassafras buds, wild onions and garlic, lambs quarters and poke sprouts, but for so large an army the supply obtained is very small." ---General Robert E. Lee in a letter to The Secretary of War. (They Called Him Stonewall A Life of Lieutenant General T.J.Jackson, C.S.A., Burke Davis,Burford Books,p.184)
 
The Battle of Champion Hill, many have said, decided the fate of the Confederacy because if Grant had been defeated there, the Confederates could have cut him off from his base at Grand Gulf, and the very existence of his army would have been threatened.

As things turned out, when Grant won at Champion Hill, he won Vicksburg.

At Champion Hill, the Union suffered nearly 2,500 casualties, while the Confederates lost nearly 4,000 men, forcing the Southerners back into the defenses of Vicksburg.

From those who were there:

"I cannot think of this bloody hill without sadness and pride. Sadness for the loss of my true and gallant men; pride for the heroic bravery they displayed...It was, after the conflict, literally the hill of death; men, horses, cannon, and the debris of an army lay scattered in wild confusion...our heroes slept upon the field with the dead and dying all around them...I never saw fighting like this." ....Official Report of Brigadier General Alvin P. Hovey, U.S. Army, Commanding Twelfth Division, whose forces bore the brunt of the battle

"The enemy now made a new and vigorous attack in three lines upon [my] whole front. They were bravely met, and for a long time the unequal conflict was maintained with stubborn resolution. But this could not last. Six thousand five hundred men could not hold permanently in check four divisions, numbering from their own statements, about 25,000 men; finally, crushed by overwhelming numbers, my right gave way and was pressed back."...Official Report of Major General Carter L. Stevenson, C.S.A. Army, Commanding Division
 
"I am disgusted and worn out with the system that seems to prevail. There is so much apathy, and so little disposition to fight and co-operate that I wish to be relieved from the Army of the Potomac. I do not wish to put myself and soldiers in front where I cannot get a support short of 12 miles. The ground I gain I would like to hold ... I am willing to serve my country, but I do not wish to sacrifice the brave men under my command."

--John Buford, letter to Union Cavalry Commander Pleasanton over his frustration from coordination problems with Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum's Twelfth Corps, August, 1863--
 
Let me tell you what is coming. After the sacrifice of countless millions of treasure and hundreds of thousands of lives you may win Southern independence, but I doubt it. The North is determined to preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, impulsive people as you are, for they live in colder climates. But when they begin to move in a given direction, they move with the steady momentum and perseverance of a mighty avalanche.

Sam Houston
 
Away down South in the land of traitors,
Rattlesnakes and alligators,
Right away, come away, right away, come away.

Where cotton's king and men are chattels,
Union boys will win the battles,
Right away, come away, right away, come away.

Union version of Dixie
 
The same General J. M. Corse referenced in post #82 on this thread, during the same action at Allatoona, replied thusly to a message from Sherman asking if Corse had been wounded:

"I am short a cheekbone and one ear, but am able to whip all hell yet."

The man wasn't discouraged easily, was he?
 
"I think people talk to much about fighting for the negroe, for my part what I believed to be the curses of slavery has become knowledge and instead of thinking les of a negroe I have sadly learned to think them better than many wight men that hold responsible positions. Why blame the negroe for what he can not help? Why speak of him with scorn and contempt when does all he is alowed to do, god knows that a soldier life is hard, but I do not wish to exchange mine for that of a negroes bond or free, as for liberty I have all that a soldier could expect and ceretainly feel as free as a king. I agreed to obey orders and therefore no one is to blame but myself if I do not like them. Can a slave say the same?"

M.P. Larry

Letters of Meschack P. Larry, Maine soldier, Maine Historical Society, Portland, ME, February 16, 1863.

Unionblue
 
"It is these hand-to-hand fights that make war devil's work; for it is they which excite all the bloodthirsty passions and utterly silence every sentiment of humanity. One may fight at long-range as a patriot and a Christian, but I believe that no man can engage in one of these close struggles, where he can look into the eyes of his adversary and see his blood, but he becomes for the time at least, a mere beast of prey."

J.F.J. Caldwell
 
An old man living in Kentucky during the Secession War had two sons; one enlisted in the Confederate Army and the other in the United States Army. Within twelve months one was brought home dead, and within a short time the other was brought home like his brother, having also been killed in battle. Both were buried in his garden side by side and this inscription was placed upon the monument: “God alone knows which was right.”

U.R. Brooks, in the Preface to Butler and His Cavalry
 
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