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Quote by Jeffry D. Wert

“Chancellorsville marked the culmination of achievement for Lee's "glorious army" that remains indelibly etched in the nation's history. No American army, against such odds and in less than a year, compiled such a record as that of the Army of Northern Virginia, and none altered the direction of a conflict more.”

Quote by Jeffry D. Wert

Book:A Glorious Army: Robert E. Lee's Triumph, 1862-1863
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A Glorious Army: Robert E. Lee's Triumph, 1862-1863

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Jeffry D. Wert

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“The Army of Northern Virginia was also developing its own distinctive character. It had a harder, more tragic fate, and yet there is more laughter in its legend - as if, in some unaccountable way, it worried less. Out of hardship, intermittent malnutrition, and desperately-won victories it was creating a lean, threadbare jauntiness. Beneath this was the great Characteristic which it derived from its commander - the resolute belief that it could not really be beaten no matter what the odds might be. It had paid many lives for that conviction and it would pay many more before it reached the last turn in the road, but what it got seems to have been worth the price.”

American Civil WarCivil War Eastern TheaterConfederate ArmyArmy Of Northern VirginiaConfederate States Of America
Book:Terrible Swift Sword
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“The Army of Northern Virginia kept moving, one heavy foot after another, marching through a trance. Hour after hour it diminished. Its line of march now was marked as it had never been marked now - by hundreds and hundreds of abandoned muskets, some just dropped by the roadside, other standing butt-upward, bayonets thrust in the ground: weapons discarded by men who had given up and drifted out of the ranks. Many of these men, beaten and weaponless, continued to tramp along with the army, staying where Lee was because he was the only man they could be sure about in their disintegrating world.”

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Book:Never Call Retreat
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“Local commanders went to bizarre lengths to prevent mistakes in identification during the early stages of the war. Realizing that many of the Federal troops wore gray while his own 33rd Virginia wore blue, "Stonewall" Jackson issued an order before the 1st Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) directing his men to identify themselves by tying strips of white cloth around their arms or hats. So as to make absolutely sure that no mistakes were made, his men were further directed to strike their left breasts with their right hands while simultaneously shouting "Our homes!" immediately they encountered an unknown unit. According to one disgruntled soldier, who presumably declined to take part in this somewhat lunatic theater, the commanders had "failed to tell us that while we were going through this Masonic performance we [were thus giving] the other fellow an opportunity to blow our brains out, if we had any." (page 48)”

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Book:The Confederate Army Volume 2
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“Sam Watkins knew what it was like to march day after day, half starved and half clothed, in an army that looked like it was composed of homeless people but, in fact, contained some of the bravest and most dangerous warriors on the face of the earth. Soldiers on both sides knew what it was like to watch a seemingly endless wave of men come toward you across a field, intent in taking your life, or to charge a fortified line and see all your officers killed and your friends shot to pieces all around you. Shortly the survivors of the Army of Tennessee would also know what it was like to go home to a devastated country and try to put their lives back together. For the most part, the men on both sides were average folks, trying to get by in turbulent times, take care of their own and survive with a little dignity.”

American Civil WarConfederate ArmyConfederate States Of AmericaCivil War Western TheaterArmy Of Tennessee
Book:The Battle of Franklin: When the Devil Had Full Possession of the Earth
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“Among the Confederates killed in this evening encounter in the village was Pvt. Jesse Hutchins of the 5th Alabama Battalion. He enlisted on April 15, 1861, in Livingston, Alabama, and had survived four years of war, only to die in the final few hours.”

American Civil WarCivil War Eastern TheaterConfederate ArmyArmy Of Northern VirginiaConfederate States Of AmericaAppomattox Campaign
Book:To the Bitter End: Appomattox, Bennett Place, and the Surrenders of the Confederacy
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“The Stonewall Brigade was a fine fighting unit proud to call themselves Jackson's 'Foot Cavalry', but prouder still of the title Stonewall which they shared with their leader, a title which was borne unofficially after Bull Run and officially as has been seen, following Chancellorsville. They proved themselves in the Valley Campaign to be among the greatest marchers of all time. They were the stoutest of fighters as their casualty lists substantiate. It may truly be said that the Stonewall Brigade, like the Tenth Legion of Caesar and the Old Guard of Napoleon, has made its name forever famous.”

American Civil WarCivil War Eastern TheaterConfederate ArmyArmy Of Northern VirginiaConfederate States Of America
Book:The Stonewall Brigade
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“The doctor finished his work, and the staff lifted him up, helped him to a wagon, an ambulance that had been brought up. he was helped aboard, sat on a thin mattress, and the driver saw his face, recognized him, snatched his hat from his head and held it against his chest as he began to cry, " Oh, Lord, what has happened to General Lee?" There was an embarrassed pause, and Lee looked at the man, surprised at the outburst. "Soldier," he said calmly, "I have been inconvenienced, that's all. It is a small price for the inconvenience we have given General Pope.”

American Civil WarCivil War Eastern TheaterRobert E LeeConfederate ArmyArmy Of Northern VirginiaConfederate States Of America
Book:Gods and Generals
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“Some historians believe that the Wilderness could have been as great a victory for Lee as that of Chancellorsville a year before. The difference was the absence of both Stonewall Jackson and Lee's characteristic aggressiveness. As indicated earlier, a recent historian believed Lee put his troops in motion a day too late and when he did, he issued contradictory orders to his lieutenants, Ewell and Hill . . . Gordon Rhea went a bit further in his indictment of Lee. He took issue with the commonly held belief that Lee had "trapped Grant in the Wilderness". "He was merely the fortunate beneficiary of sloppy Federal planning and reconnaissance." He went on the write that "his failure to take affirmative steps to impede Grant's progress or to accelerate his own army's response exposed the Confederates to peril." Rhea bluntly noted that "Lee made several decisions during the battle which put his army and his cause in serious jeopardy." Perhaps Lee's most serious shortcoming during the battle was his inability to coordinate the two wings of his army, and as a result they fought as independent entities.”

American Civil WarCivil War Eastern TheaterRobert E LeeConfederate ArmyArmy Of Northern VirginiaConfederate States Of America
Book:The Maps of the Wilderness: An Atlas of the Wilderness Campaign, Including all Cavalry Operations, May 2-6, 1864
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“By the afternoon of 30 August, Brig. Gen. William Starke's Louisiana Brigade of Jackson's Division had begun to run very low on ammunition. Then around 3.00 pm the men of John Hatch's Federal Brigade advanced on the Louisiana troops who were defending a section of the unfinished railroad near the "Deep Cut". Despite heavy fire Hatch's men pressed forward. A number of the Southern infantrymen eventually ran out of cartridges and rather than stand idly by they began throwing stones at the advancing Yankees. The Confederate line was never in serious danger; Porter's attack had already spent itself and the Louisianians were speedily reinforced by C.W. Field's Brigade of Virginians. However, the symbolism of the event was too powerful to ignore and became on of the most famous of the war.”

American Civil WarCivil War Eastern TheaterConfederate ArmyArmy Of Northern VirginiaConfederate States Of America
Book:Second Manassas 1862: Robert E Lee’s greatest victory
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