Walt Whitman Quotes
He got badly hit in his leg and side at Fredericksburg that eventful Saturday, 13th of December. He lay the succeeding two days and nights helpless on the field, between the city and those grim terraces of batteries. His company and regiment had been compelled to leave him to his fate. To make matters worse, it happened he lay with his head slightly down hill, and could not help himself. At the end of some fifty hours he was brought off the field, with other wounded, under a flag of truce. I ask him how the rebels treated him as he lay during those two days and nights within reach of them -- whether they came to him -- whether they abused him? He answered that several of the rebels, soldiers and others, came to him at one time and another. A couple of them, who were together, spoke roughly and sarcastically, but nothing worse. One middle-aged man, however, who seemed to be moving around the field, among the dead and wounded, for benevolent purposes, came to him in a way he will never forget; he treated our soldier kindly, bound up his wounds, cheered him, gave him a couple of biscuits and a drink of whiskey and water, and asked him if he could eat some beef.
Despite the horrors and war crimes of Andersonville Prison, there were many instances of both sides of the Civil War assisting the enemy when wounded. Also, the primitive facilities for caring for the wounded, who would sometimes lay on a battlefield for 2-5 days before anyone got around to assisting them if they were still alive. Walt Whitman, in addition to being a great poet, was a nurse.
Walt Whitman, 1819-1902, Poet & Journalist, Description of the Treatment of a Wounded Union Soldier by Confederate Soldiers, 1863
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The Patent Office was one of the most imposing buildings in Civil War Washington. There was truly a society at war where every resource was put to us for the war effort. Walt Whitman, in addition to being a great poet, was a nurse.
Sherman had friends in the South and he saw rebellion and war coming. Most Southerners had a romanticized view of war and were so wrapped up in trying to preserve their economic and cultural way of life that they did not think through the implications of such a war. After and during the war, he was particularly angry with the Southerners who had brought such terrible casualties and destruction upon the land and its people.
Committee of the Congress. This was the prevailing Congressional and public view except for the South which had coalesced around an intellectual rationalization. See {618013}.
That is the way he was killed. The phrase, “We are bound to believe that, anyhow” indicates that Stuart really realized how futile the Southern war effort would be but loyalty and patriotism required him to suspend his rational belief structure.
The Civil War produced more deaths than all other American wars put together. Lee’s skill and gentlemanly demeanor subdue the fact that his treasonous efforts caused more American soldiers to die than the entire Second World War—and yet some Americans regard him as a hero while others see him as a traitor.
Wade was one of the Radical Republicans who advocated a much more vigorous prosecution of the Civil War effort in the North. It is important for two reasons: First, it illustrates the position of the “Hawks” who constantly pressured Lincoln to counter the Democrat lack of enthusiasm for the fighting. Many believed that the South would come to its senses and end the rebellion. Second and more important, this is one of the quotations that apologists for the South during the Jim Crow segregation issue use to show that there was a strong desire to impoverish the South. This is partly true. Wade and the other radicals did argue to impoverish the South only so long as they were continuing the war and rebellion. They did not argue that the South should be impoverished after the war was over. However, the reality was that the Southern economy had become so dependent on slave labor, that after Emancipation, it was very difficult to rebuild the Southern Economy. With Slavery Southern Cotton sold to England was cheaper than Egyptian Cotton. If labor had to be paid, the Egyptian cotton became cheaper. The South had squandered almost all of their capital resources on financing the war and had no capital to finance modern manufacturing enterprises. And they so resented Northerners that it was very difficult for Northern businessmen who did have capital to start and finance enterprises in the South. There also was little money for good public schools after the war, and the inferior education of the South made the situation very hard to change.
Tito often did not support Soviet policies, but in the case of the Hungarian Revolution he did. He saw Hungary was split into pro and anti Communist factions in the midst of the Cold war. He and the Russians feared that if the Hungarians were allowed to settle their own dispute, there would be a protracted civil war with neither side strong enough to win rapidly. If this happened, the Russians were treaty bound to provide arms and other assistance to the Communist Hungarian government. And if they did so, it was very likely that NATO and the United States would supply similar assistance to the Hungarian Revolutionaries. The result would surely involve enormous loss of Hungarian lives on both sides, and the clear risk of an East West clash that would lead to a World War that might be nuclear. Russian troops and tanks rolled into Hungary and the conflict was over in a few days with very little loss of life. Therefore, even though Hungary lost its independence and freedoms, it was a necessary evil in Tito’s view.
Sherman had friends in the South and he saw rebellion and war coming. Most Southerners had a romanticized view of war and were so wrapped up in trying to preserve their economic and cultural way of life that they did not think through the implications of such a war. After and during the war, Sherman was particularly angry with the Southerners who had brought such terrible casualties and destruction upon the land and its people and he was the leader of the March through Georgiam the most effective and humiliating campaign against the South.
Some Southerners, in order to obtain support in England for the Confederate cause claimed in their propaganda that slavery was not the issue but their issue with the Union was just one of local and regional autonomy. The British and most Europeans at that time were strongly against slavery so this “spin” might have gotten some support. Stowe and others put the lie to this, and the Confederacy never did get any significant material support from any country in Europe. The secession resolutions of the Southern States all state that Slavery was the cause (and often the ONLY cause stated) of secession. Also Southern General Mosby, called the spin for what it was. See {584991}.
He stated that he had a vision and made these two prophesies that indeed came true. The first was the South Carolina secession starting the Civil War. The second, when the North used former slaves as soldiers who fought their old masters.
More new technology was deployed in the Civil War than any other war in history and Moltke did not realize that the classic European military tactics were obsoleted. However, neither did most of the Southern Generals and many of the Union Generals. Lincoln, Grant and Sherman were the ones who developed strategies and tactics to function in the new world of warfare.
The national troops acquired a confidence … at Belmont, that did not desert them throughout the war.
The battle had little strategic value, but was very significant as the Western Union troops gained an espirit de corps and a battle tested confidence.
Walter Whitman was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sensuality. Whitman's own life came under scrutiny for his presumed homosexuality.
