QUOTES by William Tecumseh Sherman
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The war now is away back in the past, and you can tell what books cannot. When you talk, you come down to the practical realities just as they happened. You all know this is not soldiering here. There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell. You can bear this warning voice to generations yet to come. I look upon war with horror, but if it has to come, I am there.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
We cannot change the hearts of the people of the South, but we can make war so terrible that they will realize the fact that however brave and gallant and devoted to their country still they are mortal and should exhaust all peaceful remedies before they fly to war.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see that in the end you will surely fail.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
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.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
To secure the safety of the navigation of the Mississippi River I would slay millions. On that point I am not only insane, but mad... I think I see one or two quick blows that will astonish the natives of the South and will convince them that, though to stand behind a big cottonwood and shoot at a passing boat is good sport and safe, it may still reach and kill their friends and families hundreds of miles off. For every bullet shot at a steamboat, I would shoot a thousand 30-pounder Parrots into even helpless towns on Red, Ouachita, Yazoo, or wherever a boat can float or soldier march.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
You might as well appeal against the thunder-storm as against these terrible hardships of war. They are inevitable, and the only way the people of Atlanta can hope once more to live in peace and quiet at home, is to stop the war, which can only be done by admitting that it began in error and is perpetuated in pride.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it...Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them?
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
To those who would submit to the rightful law and authority, all gentleness and forbearance; but to the petulant and persistent secessionists, why, death is mercy, and the quicker he or she is disposed of the better. Satan and the rebellious saints of Heaven were allowed a continuous existence in hell merely to swell their just punishment. To such as would rebel against a Government so mild and just as ours was in peace, a punishment equal would not be unjust.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
The young bloods of the South; sons of planters, lawyers about towns, good billiard players and sportsmen, men who never did any work and never will. War suits them.. They are splendid riders, first rate shots and utterly reckless. These men must all be killed or employed by us before we can hope for peace.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
I found so many Jews and speculators here trading in cotton, and secessionists had become so open in refusing anything but gold, that I have felt myself bound to stop it. The gold can have but one use - the purchase of arms and ammunition... Of course, I have respected all permits by yourself or the Secretary of the Treasury, but in these new cases (swarms of Jews), I have stopped it.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
The North can make a steam engine, locomotive or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or a pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical and determined people on earth-right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
We must act with vindictive earnestness against the Sioux, even to their extermination, men, women and children... during an assault, the soldiers cannot pause to distinguish between male and female, or even discriminate as to age.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
There will soon come an armed contest between capital and labor. They will oppose each other, not with words and arguments, but with shot and shell, gun-powder and cannon. The better classes are tired of the insane howling of the lower strata and they mean to stop them.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
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.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
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.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
Courage - a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
I would make this war as severe as possible, and show no symptoms of tiring till the South begs for mercy.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
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.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
This war differs from other wars, in this particular. We are not fighting armies but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
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.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
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.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
If the people raise a great howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity seeking.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
I make up my opinions from facts and reasoning, and not to suit any body but myself. If people don't like my opinions, it makes little difference as I don't solicit their opinions or votes.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
He belonged to that army known as invincible in peace, invisible in war.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
You may as well say, 'That's a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
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 is the beginning of wisdom.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
In our Country... one class of men makes war and leaves another to fight it out.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
There's many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory but it is all hell.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
I think I understand what military fame is; to be killed on the field of battle and have your name misspelled in the newspapers.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
If forced to choose between the penitentiary and the White House for four years, I would say the penitentiary, thank you.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk, and now we stand by each other.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
If you don't have my army supplied, and keep it supplied, we'll eat your mules up, sir.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
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.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman
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.
Quote by -William Tecumseh Sherman