"It's bad. It's damned bad."
- Abraham Lincoln's first reaction to the Union Army's rout at First Manassas

"I failed, I failed, and that is about all that can be said about it."
- Abraham Lincoln's self-criticism of his famous "Gettysburg Address"

"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

"He looked as though he ought to have been, and was, the monarch of the world"
- Description of Robert E. Lee

"Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigues anything"
- Abraham Lincoln directed this remark to George B. McClellan, who had excused his lack of action in the fall of 1862 due to tired horses. McClellan was removed from command shortly there-after.

"By some strange operation of magic I seem to have become the power of the land"
- George McClellan spoke this self-appraisal shortly after he assumed command of the Union forces around Washington in 1861

"He will take more chances, and take them quicker, than any other general in the country--North or South"
- A contemporary so described Robert E. Lee

"Look at Jackson's brigade! It stands there like a stone wall!"
- Confederate General Barnard E. Bee of South Carolina gave this description of Stonewall Jackson's brigade at First Manassas *

"War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over"
- Union General William T. Sherman said this shortly before beginning his brutal March to the Sea

"It's just like shooting squirrels, only these squirrels have guns"
- A Federal veteran so instructed new recruits in musket drill

"Boys, he's not much for looks, but if we'd had him we wouldn't be caught in this trap"
- A captured Union soldier described Stonewall Jackson in this way

"Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can, and strike him as hard as you can. And keep moving on!"
- Ulysses S. Grant's philosophy of war

"a tyrannical, hot-headed vulgarian"
- A subordinate so described Nathan Bedford Forrest

"That old man...had my division massacred at Gettysburg!"
- George Pickett said these words to John S. Mosby shortly after paying Lee a visit in Richmond

"Well, it made you famous"
- Mosby's reply to Pickett

"The time for compromise has now passed, and the South is determined to maintain her position, and make all who oppose her smell Southern powder and feel Southern steel"
- Jefferson Davis used these words in his inaugural speech on February 16, 1861

"I can make men follow me to hell"
- The daring and profane Union General Philip Kearny used these words to evaluate his leadership ability

"There is really no crisis except an artificial one...If the great American people will only keep their temper, on both sides of the line, the trouble will come to an end"
- Abraham Lincoln made this statement on February 15, 1861, while en-route to his inauguration

"a damned old goggled-eyed snapping turtle"
- Subordinate officers so described Union General George Meade

"Tonight we will water our horses in the Tennessee River"
- Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston made this unfulfilled prophecy shortly before the Confederate defeat at Shiloh, which cost Johnston his life

"I know the hole he went in at, but I can't tell you what hole he will come out of"
- Abraham Lincoln made this remark when asked the destination of Sherman's destructive March to the Sea

"Do you see those colors? Take them!"
- General Winfield S. Hancock issued this order to the 1st Minnesota on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, as the Union line was being driven back. The Minnesotans carried out the orders, driving back the Confederates and taking the colors--at a loss of one-third of the regiment

"With this honor devolves upon you also a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so under God it will sustain you"
- Abraham Lincoln used these words to confer upon Ulysses S. Grant the rank of lieutenant general--the army's highest rank

"If you don't have my army supplied, and keep it supplied, we'll eat your mules up, sir"
- William T. Sherman issued this warning to an army quartermaster prior to the departure of Sherman's army from Chattanooga toward Atlanta

"I can only say that I am nothing but a poor sinner, trusting in Christ alone for salvation"
- Robert E. Lee spoke these words to his army's chaplains

"Really, Mr. Lincoln, I have had enough of this show business"
- Ulysses S. Grant used these words to decline to attend a White House party in his honor, so that he may return to the front

"The rebels are out there thicker than fleas on a dog's back!!"
- An excited Union officer used these words to report the advance of Confederate forces at Shiloh

"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

"Pray excuse me. I cannot take it"
- These words were Jefferson Davis' last, spoken in response to his wife's attempt to give him medicine shortly before he died on December 6, 1889, at age 81

"Hello, Massa; bottom rail on top dis time"
- A black Union soldier spoke these words to a Confederate prisoner he recognized--his former master

"No, no. Let us pass over the river and rest under the shade of the trees"
- Stonewall Jackson spoke these words on May 10th, 1863, just before pneumonia took his life **

"It is well that war is so terrible--we should grow too fond of it"
- Robert E. Lee gave this observation while watching thousands of Union soldiers sent to the slaughter at Fredericksburg

"Strike the tent!"
- Robert E. Lee spoke these words in delirium, shortly before he passed away on
October 12, 1870 **

"Send for a clergyman, I wish to be baptised. I have been basely murdered."
- General William Nelson, commander of the Union Army of Kentucky, made this final request after being fatally shot by a fellow officer, General Jefferson C. Davis, during an argument in Louisville in 1862.

"Our Southern brethren have done grievously, they have rebelled and have attacked their father's house and their loyal brothers. They must be punished and brought back, but this necessity breaks my heart."
- Major Robert Anderson, defender of Fort Sumter in April of 1861, gave this assessment of the situation between North and South.

"It will be all right if it turns out all right."
- General Ulysses S. Grant made this comment as he watched soldiers from his army storm Missionary Ridge near Chattanooga--without orders. ***

"You are green, it is true; but they are green also. You are all green alike."
- Abraham Lincoln gave this description of the Union Army to its commander, Irvin McDowell, while urging McDowell to attack the Confederates shortly before First Manassas.

"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.

"General, get up--dress quick--you are a prisoner!"
- Confederate partisan John S. Mosby directed this order to General Edwin H. Stoughton after rousing the General from his bed at Union headquarters.

"The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea."
- Abraham Lincoln made this statement after he had heard that Federal forces had taken control of the Mississippi River in 1863.

"In the name of God and humanity I protest!"
- Confederate General John Bell Hood lodged this complaint against General William T. Sherman's orders to have the citizens of Atlanta leave the city following its capture by Union forces.

"Lee's army will be your objective point. Wherever Lee goes, there you will go also."
- Newly-appointed Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant gave this order to General George Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac, upon Grant's arrival in Virginia in 1864.

"General, if you put every [Union soldier] now on the other side of the Potomac on that field to approach me over the same line, I will kill them all before they reach my line."
- General James Longstreet made this vow to Robert E. Lee as countless Federal assaults were beaten back by Longstreet's men at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

"If you surrender you shall be treated as prisoners of war, but if I haveto storm your works you may expect no quarter."
- Nathan Bedford Forrest routinely issued this warning to opposing forces and often received his desired result.

"Every stalk of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the slain lay in rows precisely as they stood in their ranks a few minutes before."
- A Union officer who survived the Battle of Antietam gave this description of the destruction of a Confederate force posted in a cornfield there.

"I do not want to make this charge. I do not see how it can succeed. I would not make it now but that General Lee has ordered it and expects it."
- James Longstreet expressed his reservations about Pickett's Charge to a colleague as his troops moved forward to begin the infamous assault.

"All this has been my fault."
- Robert E. Lee repeatedly spoke this line to the survivors of Pickett's Charge as they stumbled back to Confederate lines.

"Whoever saw a dead cavalryman?"
- Infantry troops often uttered this sarcasm in criticism of the cavalry, who were said to fight so rarely that they seldom left casualties behind.

"If you bring these leaders to trial it will condemn the North, for by the Constitution secession is not rebellion."
- Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court privately delivered this opinion on charging captured Confederate officers with treason.

"The dead covered more than five acres of ground about as thickly as they could be laid."
- A Confederate survivor so described the Union dead at the Battle of Cold Harbor in 1864.

"Hold on with a bull-dog whip and chew and choke as much as possible."
- Abraham Lincoln offered Ulysses S. Grant this encouragement during the latter's grueling Siege of Petersburg in 1864-65.

"Success and glory are in the advance, disaster and shame lurk in the rear."
- Union General John Pope made this observation to his troops shortly before his sound defeat at the Battle of Second Manassas.

"It's all a damned mess! And our two armies ain't nothing but howling mobs!"
- A captured Confederate private gave this description of the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864.

"My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to always be ready, no matter when it may overtake me."
- Stonewall Jackson

"I am now considered such a monster, that I hesitate to darken with my shadow, the doors of those I love, lest I should bring upon them misfortune."
- Robert E. Lee gave this appraisal of his image to a friend shortly after his surrender at Appomattox in 1865.

"General, unless he offers us honorable terms, come back and let us fight it out!"
- James Longstreet said this to Robert E. Lee as he rode off to discuss terms for surrender with General Grant at Appomattox.

"The whole army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreak violence upon South Carolina. I almost tremble for her fate."
- William T. Sherman made this observation as he prepared to march his army into South Carolina following his March to the Sea.

"Stand by General Burnside as you have stood by me and all will be well."
- George McClellan gave this advice to his troops after being replaced by Burnside in November of 1862--one month before the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg.

"I am short a cheek-bone and an ear, but am able to whip all hell yet."
- Union General John M. Corse made this peculiar boast after sustaining a head wound at the Battle of Allatoona in 1864.

"It is a good face. I am glad this war is over at last."
- Abraham Lincoln spoke these words on the day he was shot when a prankster presented him with a photo of Robert E. Lee.

"I believe it to be the duty of everyone to unite in the restoration of the country and the reestablishment of peace and harmony."
- Robert E. Lee made this statement following the end of hostilities.

"We talked the matter over and could have settled the war in thirty minutes had it been left to us."
- A common Rebel soldier made this statement after fraternizing with a Union soldier between the lines.

* The meaning of this quote is somewhat controversial. Some say that Bee spoke these words encouraging his men to rally around Jackson. Others say that Bee spoke these words in contempt, criticizing Jackson for not moving to support Bee's over-whelmed brigade. The meaning will never be known, as Bee was mortally wounded soon after speaking these words.

** It is interesting to note that, on their deathbeds, both Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson gave orders to send up General Ambrose P. Hill's light division.

*** In the end, everything did turn out all right. Grant's troops broke Confederate lines and won the Battle of Chattanooga--on accident.

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