Quote of the Day May 11, 2011

Lee fought with his back to the Potomac (shown here near Shepherdstown)

“in referring to criticisms that had been made on the great risks he had taken…that such criticisms were obvious but that the disparity of forces between the contending armies rendered the risks unavoidable.”  William Allan.  Lee discussing with William Allen the need for taking risks.  He was an ordnance officer in the ANV during the war and a faculty member at Washington College afterward and knew Lee there.  From Taken at the Flood Robert E. Lee & Confederate Strategy in the Maryland Campaign of 1862 by Joseph L. Harsh.  Kent:  The Kent State University Press, 1999 page 50.  Allan William.  The Army of Northern Virginia in 1862 by William Allan  (Dayton, Ohio:  Morningside House, 1984) page 200.

Quote of the Day March 31, 2012

View from Frosttown Gap lookins south toward Fox Gap

“All up the mountain side rocks and boulders abound, and here and there, stone walls.  When to these features are added the heavily wooded portions and frequent depressions in the ground itself, some idea may be gathered of the difficulty of the task laid upon the division.”   O.R. Thomas Howard, regimental historian of the Pennsylvania Bucktails recalls the terrain at Frosttown Gap.  From The Battle of South Mountain by John David Hoptak.  Charleston:  The History Press, 2011 page 94. Originally from History of the “Bucktails”: Kane Rifle Regiment of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps by O.R. Howard Thomas, and William H. Rauch . Philadelhia: Electric Printing Company, 1906 page 204.

Quote of the Day March 28, 2012

Robert E. Lee

“In view of all the circumstances, it was better to have fought the battle of Maryland than to have left it without a struggle.” Robert E. Lee to Maria Jackson January 25, 1866.  From A Glorious Army by Jeffry D. Wert. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011 page 129.  Originall found in the Hotchkiss Papers, Library of Congress.

 

Quote of the Day March 21 1862

A Confederate Soldier

“The march up to Maryland liked to have ruined me.” J.G. Montgomery from Alabama in a letter to brother Arthur and sister Bettie, January 1, 1863, recalling the Maryland Campaign. From From A Glorious Army by Jeffry D. Wert. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011.