Frederick the Great At a review of his tall grenadiers, Frederick the Great of Prussia asked Sir Robert Sutton if an equal number of Englishmen could beat them. "Sir," replied Sutton, "I do not venture to assert that, but I know that half the number would try." --Book of Naval and Military Anecdotes, anon, London, 1824. Zhukov "Zhukov, in asking Boldin why he was not at Laptevo as ordered, reminded him that this was his third time in encirclement and asked sarcastically if he wasn't overdoing it a bit." --The Road to Stalingrad, page 275, by John Erickson, detailing a conversation between Western Front commander General Zhukov and 50th Army commander General Boldin on the eve of the Soviet Moscow counteroffensive in December, 1941. Thomas J. Jackson My men have sometimes failed to take a position, but to defend one, never!" --Lieutenant General Thomas J. Jackson, after the battle of Fredericksburg in 1862 (from Civil War Quotations: In the Words of the Commanders, Sterling Publishing Co., 1998). Abraham Lincoln I have just read your dispatch about sore-tongued and fatigued horses. Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigue anything? --President Abraham Lincoln, to General George McClellan U.S. Grant The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike at him as hard as you can and as often as you can, and keep moving on. --U.S. Grant Colonel John S. Mosby I believe I was the first cavalry commander who discarded the sabre as useless and consigned it to museums for the preservation of antiquities. My men were as little impressed by a body of cavalry charging them with sabres as though they had been armed with cornstalks ...I think my command reached the highest point of efficiency as cavalry because they were well-armed with two six-shooters and their charges combined the effects of fire and shock. --Col. John S. Mosby, The Memoirs of Colonel John S. Mosby, 1917 (from Civil War Quotations: In the Words of the Commanders, Sterling Publishing Co.,1998). Almost up! To show the ardor of the troops in this charge without orders I am reminded of the story of my friend, E.P. Smith, then a member of the Christian Commission, who followed hard after the moving lines to be ready for whatever relief he could bring. Just after the action had lulled, he met four stout soldiers carrying a sergeant to the rear. Smith stopped the stretcher bearers for a moment and said gently: “Where are you hurt, sergeant?” He, as if a little dazed by the question, replied: “Almost up, sir.” “I mean in what part are you injured?” He looked steadily toward my friend and answered with all the firmness his failing strength could muster: “Almost to the top.” Then Smith folded down the sergeant’s coat, or blanket, and saw the bleeding, broken shoulder where the shell had struck him. The sergeant also turned his face toward the wound. “Yes,” he exclaimed, “yes, that’s what did it; but for that I should have reached the top.” The sergeant had held the flag at the time he was struck. His utterance continued to grow fainter and fainter, as he repeated his sorrowful thought, “Almost up! Almost up!” till his lifeblood ebbed and his spirit left the shattered clay.” --Major General Oliver O. Howard, of the charge up Missionary Ridge, in The Autobiography of Gen. O.O. Howard, 1907 (from Civil War Quotations: In the Words of the Commanders, Sterling Publishing Co.,1998). Back to Table of Contents -- Courier # 83 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com