John Gibbon Quotes
Suddenly a single shot on the extreme left rang out on the clear morning air, followed quickly by several others, and the whole line pushed rapidly forward through the brush.
Gibbon, John. "The Battle of the Big Hole." Harper's Weekly, vol. 39, 21 Dec. 1895, p. 1216.
At the time 18 year old Douglas wanted to enlist to fight in the Philippines where his father was about to be given military command. Young Douglas took his father’s prescient advice and attended West Point instead. In an amazing historical precursor, General Arthur MacArthur ended up in policy disputes with the President over how aggressive American tactics should be. President Taft relieved MacArthur of his command.
Prior to whites settling in America, various Indian tribes had a long history of fierce fighting for control of Kentucky. The Transylvania Land company negotiated for the “rights” to Kentucky. Dragging Canoe, who opposed the treaty, argued that the land had a bad history and would be very difficult to settle. Poet Theodore O’Hara described Kentuckians as “Sons of the Dark and Bloody Ground” in his poem, The Bivouac of the Dead.
Cunningham was part of an American Diplomatic Delegation negotiating with the Vietnamese. He had been an Naval Ace Fighter Pilot during the Vietnam War. He was notorious for his lack of tact.
The general was expressing a principle that is believed to this day by many policy makers, military people and civilians: Once a war has begun, one must not stop it until victory has been attained. It is unacceptable to negotiate an end to hostilities unless the enemy has been badly beaten on the battlefield. There is this view that “honor” would be lost and that enemies and even allies will not respect you and think the nation is weak and fearful. So there would always be extensive pressure to keep on fighting and not negotiate until there is a military dominant position.
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.
John Gibbon was a career United States Army officer who fought in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars.
