William Tecumseh Sherman Quotes


For five days, 10,000 men worked hard with a will in that work of destruction with axes, crowbars, sledges, clawbars and fire, and I have no hesitation in pronouncing the work well done. Meridian, with its depots, storehouses, arsenal, hospitals, offices, hotels and cantonments, no longer exists.


Context

The objective was not just to win battles but to make it impossible for the area to support any kind of military operation thereafter.


Citations

William Tecumseh Sherman, 1820-1891, General of the Army, Official Report on Part of Sherman’s March through Georgia to the sea

Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations

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As influential and revered as he was, Houston would not overcome the drive for secession by the wealthy, large, slave holders of Texas.


Lawrence was a thriving community of abolitionists. Quantrill’s irregular force generally murdered prisoners, scalped them, mutilates their bodies, and wore scalps and body parts as clothing decoration. Quantrill “cleansed” Lawrence by burning virtually every building and killing the male population, See {617769}. It has been a source of great argument as to whether the Confederate command and politicians were fully aware of his actions and endorsed them or didn’t know. Since many of his escapades were printed in the Newspapers of the day, it is probably the case that the Confederate authorities had so much to do, that they just didn’t want to determine the truth of the accusations.


14 Arab Armies in a coordinated attack on the 1 day old Israeli state, intended to massacre all the Israelis as demonstrated by this quote. Note that this kind of extermnination intent was advertised with pride. To everyone's surprised, the Jewish defenders not only beat back the viscious attacks but enlssarged their terroitory by capturing strategic sites from which the attacks had been launched. Many people credit to the Israely victory to the fact that they were litterally fighting for their lives. Defeat would have meant death for them and their families. The Arab armies, in contrast, were fighting for land that other Arabs claimed that should have been theirs. The willingness to stand and fight for this goal did not match the self preservation that motivated the Israelis--especially in the aftermath of the Holocaust killing 6 million Jews in WWII.

There are some who argue that the quotation was made earlier and was not meant as an incendary call for massacre of Israelis. It well may be that in his original thinking, he was predicting what would happen if the State of Israel was created, basing his thoughts on historical artrocieties of the past. And many think he was concerned about that possible outcome and was trying to avoid it. The import of the quotation was not necessaruly to hisltorically blame Assam for the point of view but to simply establish that there were many Arab voices calling for victories of history where there were massacres in the Middle East. And there were those who took Azzam's quotation and broadcasted it on Arab radio, calling for the very massacre that Assam may have been warning about. Note that this notion of Jewish massacre and extermination was also picked up 60 years later and called for by the President of Iran.


This verse is often cited by Muslim scholars who are defending against the claim that The Koran teaches violence against non-Muslims. In this case, the Jews are admonished to kill their defeated enemies. Today many Muslims claim that Jews and Christians who believe in the Old Testament believe that the violence was justified because it was ordered by God. Therefore when God orders Muslims to kill idolaters and other enemies, it is the same thing and not reprehensible.


As in modern times the Navy encouraged the media and leading writers to promote their latest weaponry. Hawthorne however shortly after the Monitor and the Merrimac battle saw the future in terms even more dramatic than most of the military.


John Mason led a force of 90 Pilgrims and 70 Mohegan Allies quietly surrounded the Pequot village at Mystic. Then they fired their guns into the village and charged the Pequot houses, setting them on fire and killing all those who tried to escape. Over 400 Pequot were killed. The Mohegan allies were so shocked at the carnage that they shouted, “Stop! Stop! It is naught, it is naught, because it is too furious, and slays too many men.” Prior to the massacre of Mystic Village, there had been many battles and villages destroyed, but this marked the first time that entire populations of men, women and children were exterminated in the English Colonization. After Mystic village both whites and Indians participated in terrible massacres inflicted on each other. This was not the first massacre in America as the Spanish in the South and West commonly used the tactic.


The Arab armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and the PLO were preparing a coordinated attack on Israel. After statements like this, the Israeli’s preempted the attack, routed the Egyptian Airforce and Army, and then defeated the other three. The Arab “War of Liberation” resulted in the Arabs losing more with Israel tripling it’s control of area. The quotation however cast a pall over attempts thereafter to create a Palestinian State as in effect the PLO had announced a policy of a Holocaust—the extermination of the Israelis. The dispute over land was not for the Jewish state a land negotiation amenable to compromise and give and take, but instead was an existential threat to Israel whereby any compromise might result in the death of the entire population. As the ultimate intention of the PLO had been revealed.


William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman
  • Born: February 8, 1820
  • Died: February 14, 1891
  • Nationality: American
  • Profession: Soldier

William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), receiving recognition for his command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the scorched earth policies he implemented in conducting total war against the Confederate States. British military theorist and historian B. H. Liddell Hart declared that Sherman was "the first modern general".