Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

William Tecumseh Sherman

American Soldier, Businesman, General in the Union Army, Educator, Author

"War is hell."

"War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it."

"When one professes [courage] too openly, by words or beating, there is a reason to mistrust it."

"A bulky staff implies a division of responsibility, slowness of action, and indecision; whereas a small staff implies activity and concentration of purpose."

"A battery of field artillery is worth a thousand muskets."

"An Army is a collection of armed men obliged to obey one man. Every change in the rules which impairs the principle weakens the army."

"An army to be useful must be a unit, and out of this has grown the saying, attributed to Napoleon, but doubtless spoken before the days of Alexander, that an army with an inefficient commander was better than one with two able heads."

"Atlanta is ours, and fairly won."

"But, my dear sirs, when peace does come, you may call on me for any thing. Then will I share with you the last cracker, and watch with you to shield your homes and families against danger from every quarter."

"Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster"

"He belonged to that army known as invincible in peace, invisible in war."

"Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk, and now we stand by each other."

"General Polk, who was dignified and corpulent, walked back slowly, not wishing to appear too hurried or cautious in the presence of the men, and was struck across the breast by an unexploded shell, which killed him instantly."

"Courage - a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it."

"I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell."

"Hold the fort! I am coming!"

"I can make this march, and I will make Georgia howl!"

"I am a damned sight smarter man than Grant. I know more about military history, strategy, and grand tactics than he does. I know more about supply, administration, and everything else than he does. I'll tell you where he beats me though and where he beats the world. He doesn't give a damn about what the enemy does out of his sight, but it scares me like hell? I am more nervous than he is. I am more likely to change my orders or to countermarch my command than he is. He uses such information as he has according to his best judgment; he issues his orders and does his level best to carry them out without much reference to what is going on about him and, so far, experience seems to have fully justified him."

"I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton."

"I confess, without shame, that I am sick and tired of fighting ? its glory is all moonshine; even success the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies, with the anguish and lamentations of distant families, appealing to me for sons, husbands, and fathers ... it is only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated ... that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation."

"I have for some days held and controlled every avenue by which the people and garrison of Savannah can be supplied, and I am therefore justified in demanding the surrender of the city?I am prepared to grant liberal terms to the inhabitants and garrison; but should I be forced to resort to assault, or the slower and surer process of starvation, I shall then feel justified in resorting to the harshest measures, and shall make little effort to restrain my army?burning to avenge the national wrong which they attach to Savannah and other large cities which have been so prominent in dragging our country into civil war."

"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast."

"I hereby state, and mean all I say, that I never have been and never will be a candidate for President; that if nominated by either party I should peremptorily decline; and even if unanimously elected I should decline to serve."

"I intend to make Georgia howl."

"I make up my opinions from facts and reasoning, and not to suit anybody but myself. If people don't like my opinions, it makes little difference as I don't solicit their opinions or votes."

"I know this of my own knowledge, because when the garrison of Baton Bouge was sent to the Bio Grande to assist in protecting that frontier against the guerrilla Cortina, who had cause of offense against the Texan people, Governor Moore made strong complaints and demanded a new garrison for Baton Rouge, alleging as a reason that it was not prudent to have so much material of war in a parish where there were 20,000 slaves and less than F¯,0<H) whites, and very shortly after this he and Bragg, backed by the militia of New Orleans, made 'prisoners of war' of that very garrison, sent there at their own request."

"I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices today than any of you to secure peace."

"I notice in Kentucky a disposition to cry against the tyranny and oppression of our Government. Now, were it not for war you know tyranny could not exist in our Government; therefore any acts of late partaking of that aspect are the result of war; and who made this war? Already we find ourselves drifting toward new issues, and are beginning to forget the strong facts of the beginning. You know and I know that long before the North, or the Federal Government, dreamed of war the South had seized the U.S. arsenals, forts, mints, and custom-houses, and had made prisoners of war of the garrisons sent at their urgent demand to protect them 'against Indians, Mexicans, and negroes'."

"I think I understand what military fame is; to be killed on the field of battle and have your name misspelled in the newspapers."

"I regard the death and mangling of a couple thousand men as a small affair, a kind of morning dash ? and it may be well that we become so hardened."

"I tell you, war is Hell!"

"I regret exceedingly the arrest of many gentlemen and persons in Kentucky, and still more that they should give causes of arrest. I cannot in person inquire into these matters, but must leave them to the officer who is commissioned and held responsible by Government for the peace and safety of Kentucky. It does appear to me when our national integrity is threatened and the very fundamental principles of all government endangered that minor issues should not be made by Judge Bullitt and others. We cannot all substitute our individual opinions, however honest, as the test of authority. As citizens and individuals we should waive and abate our private notions of right and policy to those of the duly appointed agents of the Government, certain that if they be in error the time will be short when the real principles will manifest themselves and be recognized. In your career how often have you not believed our Congress had adopted a wrong policy and how short the time now seems to you when the error rectified itself or you were willing to admit yourself wrong."

"I want peace, and believe it can only be reached through union and war, and I will ever conduct war with a view to perfect an early success."

"I will accept no commission that would tend to create a rivalry with Grant. I want him to hold what he has earned and got. I have all the rank I want."

"I?ve been where you are now and I know just how you feel. It?s entirely natural that there should beat in the breast of every one of you a hope and desire that someday you can use the skill you have acquired here. Suppress it! You don?t know the horrible aspects of war. I?ve been through two wars and I know. I?ve seen cities and homes in ashes. I?ve seen thousands of men lying on the ground, their dead faces looking up at the skies. I tell you, war is Hell!"

"I would make this war as severe as possible, and show no symptoms of tiring till the South begs for mercy."

"I will not accept if nominated, and will not serve if elected."

"If nominated, I will not accept; if drafted, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve."

"If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world but I am sure we would be getting reports from hell before breakfast."

"If they want eternal war, well and good; we accept the issue, and will dispossess them and put our friends in their place. I know thousands and millions of good people who at simple notice would come to North Alabama and accept the elegant houses and plantations there. If the people of Huntsville think different, let them persist in war three years longer, and then they will not be consulted. Three years ago by a little reflection and patience they could have had a hundred years of peace and prosperity, but they preferred war; very well. Last year they could have saved their slaves, but now it is too late. All the powers of earth cannot restore to them their slaves, any more than their dead grandfathers. Next year their lands will be taken, for in war we can take them, and rightfully, too, and in another year they may beg in vain for their lives. A people who will persevere in war beyond a certain limit ought to know the consequences. Many, many peoples with less pertinacity have been wiped out of national existence."

"If you don?t have my army supplied, and keep it supplied, we?ll eat your mules up, sir ? eat your mules up."

"If forced to choose between the penitentiary and the White House for four years, I would say the penitentiary, thank you"

"If the people raise a great howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity seeking"

"In treading upon the ashes of dead men in Italy, Egypt - on the banks of the Bosphorus, one almost despairs to think how idle are the dreams and toils of this life, and were it not for the intellectual pleasure of knowing and learning, one would almost be damaged by travel in these historic lands."

"In our Country... one class of men makes war and leaves another to fight it out."

"It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell."

"It will be a thousand years before Grant's character is fully appreciated. Grant is the greatest soldier of our time if not all time... he fixes in his mind what is the true objective and abandons all minor ones. He dismisses all possibility of defeat. He believes in himself and in victory. If his plans go wrong he is never disconcerted but promptly devises a new one and is sure to win in the end. Grant more nearly impersonated the American character of 1861-65 than any other living man. Therefore he will stand as the typical hero of the great Civil War in America."

"It's a disagreeable thing to be whipped."

"Let it be known that if a farmer wishes to burn his cotton, his house, his family, and himself, he may do so. But not his corn. We want that."

"My aim then was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. 'Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.' I did not want them to cast in our teeth what General Hood had once done at Atlanta, that we had to call on their slaves to help us to subdue them. But, as regards kindness to the race... I assert that no army ever did more for that race than the one I commanded at Savannah."