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“In glades they meet skull after skull
Where pine cones lay-the rusted gun,
Green shoes full of bones, the mouldering coat
And cuddled up skeleton;
And scores of such. Some start as in dreams,
And comrades lost bemoan;
By the edge of those wilds Stonewall had charged-
But the year and the Man were gone.”
~Herman Melville (The Armies of the Wilderness)
(Photo Credit: Library of Congress)
“Better a generation should die on the battlefield, that their children may grow up in liberty and justice.” ~Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe
(Photo Credit: Library of Congress)
“I never see one of Jackson’s couriers approach without expecting an order to assault the North Pole.” Confederate General Richard Ewell
Confederate General Richard Ewell
(Photo Credit: Library of Congress)
President Lincoln appointed General George Meade to command the Federal Army of the Potomac on June 28, 1863. When General Meade was given the news that he was appointed to take over the army, he attempted to refuse the promotion. When told that the appointment was an order, he responded, “Well, I’ve been tried and condemned without a hearing, and I suppose I shall have to go to the execution.”
General Meade
Gettysburg Battlefield
General Grant wrote that at the time of the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox Court House, his recollection was, “I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.”
Statue of General Grant
Vicksburg Battlefield
The Civil War Book 