Jesse L. Reno

Jesse L. Reno  Quotes

Last Updated June 28, 2011

With quotations by Reno first followed by others in alphabetical order of the person making the quote

“you damned black sons of bitches.”

Jesse L. Reno

Reno to Rutherford B. Hayes when he catches 23rd Ohio illegally foraging

From “My God! Be Careful! Morning Battle at Fox’s Gap.”by Scott D. Hartwig.  The Maryland Campaign of 1862 Civil War Regiments:  A Journal of the American Civil War. Vol 5, No 3. Campbell CA:  Savas Publishing Company, 1998.  Page 29

Originally From Hayes, Rutherford B. Diary and Letters of Rutherford B. Hayes, edited by Charles R. Williams (Columbus, OH, 1922-1926)

 

“Yes, yes I’m dead. Tell the boys if I can’t be with them in body I shall be with them in spirit.”

Jesse L. Reno Sep 14 1862

Last words

From Our Boys Did Nobly Schuylkill County Pennsylvania, Soldiers at the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam by John David Hoptak.  John David Hoptak, 2009. Page 93

“Hallo Sam, I’m dead….Yes, yes. It is all up with me. I am dead. Goodbye.”

Jesse L. Reno

Sep 14 1862

Jesse Reno to Sam Sturgis.  His dying words

From The Battle of South Mountain by John David Hoptak.  Charleston:  The History Press, 2011.  Page 84

“A mastermind has passed away.”

Alfred Pleasanton on Reno’s death

From The Battle of South Mountain by John David Hoptak.  Charleston:  The History Press, 2011.

Page  84

Originally From OR 19 (1)

 

“No more valuable [a] life than his has been lost during this contest for our country’s preservation.”

Ambrose Burnside recalling Reno’s death

From The Battle of South Mountain by John David Hoptak.  Charleston:  The History Press, 2011.  Page  84

Originally From OR 19 (1)

“In person, General Reno was of middle stature, stout, well-knit, and compact in frame. His forehead was high and broad, his face wore a genial expression, his eye beamed upon his friends with rare and quick intelligence, or, kindled in the excitement of conflict, flashed out in brave defiance of the foe. He had a magnetic kind of enthusiasm, and, when leading on his men, he seemed to inspire his followers, and make them irresistible in action.”

August Woodbury historian of the Ninth Corps describes Reno

From The Battle of South Mountain by John David Hoptak.  Charleston:  The History Press, 2011.  Page  82

Originally From Woodbury, Augustus. Major General Ambrose E. Burnside and the Ninth Corps. (Providence RI: S.S. Rider & Brother, 1867.

 

“He had a magnetic kind of enthusiasm, and when leading on his men, he seemed to inspire his followers and make them irresistible in action. A dauntless soldier, whose likes we rarely see.””

August Woodbury a biographer of the Ninth Corps

From The Maryland Campaign of September 1862 Vol. 1 South Mountain. Edited by Tom Clemens. New York:  Savas Beatie, 2010. Page  160

Originally From Woodbury, Augustus. Major General Ambrose E. Burnside and the Ninth Corps: A Narrative of Campaigns in North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee During the War for the Preservation of the Republic (Providence RI: Sidne S. Rider & Brother, 1867)

“He seemed pale but perfectly composed. No one of us spoke. We bore our beloved commander silently, slowly, tenderly…although conscious that he was mortally wounded, I did not hear him utter a word or a groan as we were carrying him off the field.”

Gabriel Campbell

Capt Campbell describes carrying the mortally wounded General Reno down the mountain   17  MI Inf

From The Battle of South Mountain by John David Hoptak.  Charleston:  The History Press, 2011.  Page  83

Originally From Gabriel Campbell to Ezra Carmen Aug 23 1899, ANB Library, 17 Michigan Unit File;

“I cannot express myself too highly of the zealous, gallant, and cheerful manner in which General Reno deported himself from the beginning to the end of the operations.  Ever prompt, earnest, and soldierly, he was the model of all accomplished soldier and a gallant gentleman.”

John Pope

Pope to Cullum regarding Reno at the Battle of Second Manassas and Chantilly

From The Maryland Campaign of 1862 edited by Joseph Pierro. New York: Routledge, 2008 Page 78

“Thus, like a pure, noble, and true hero this gentleman, friend, and gallant soldier passed away….His bravery and never been doubted, or it was of that cool, deliberate…character, that inspired his troops to deeds of daring, ever confidant of his care for them in camp or in field, which endeared him to them.”

Joseph Gould

Sgt Joseph Gould of the 48th Pennsylvania on the death of Reno. 48 PA Inf

From Our Boys Did Nobly Schuylkill County Pennsylvania, Soldiers at the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam by John David Hoptak.  John David Hoptak, 2009. Page 94

Originally From Gould, Joseph. The Story of the 48th, 1861-1865. Philadelphia:  Alfred M. Slocum Co., 1908

 

“little General was well loved-his loss was a great blow to the Ninth Corps.”

Oliver Bosbyshell

Bosbyshell recalling the death of General Reno   48 PA Inf

From The Battle of South Mountain by John David Hoptak.  Charleston:  The History Press, 2011.  Page 84

Originally From Bosbyshell, Oliver Christian. The 48th in the War. Philadelphia: Avil Printing Company, 1895.

“Thus passed away one of the army’s brightest stars, as a gentleman, a friend and a soldier.”

Thomas Parker of the 51st PA recalls Reno   51 PA Inf

From The Battle of South Mountain by John David Hoptak.  Charleston:  The History Press, 2011.  Page 84

Originally From Parker, Thomas H. History of the 51st Pennsylvania Volunteers. Philadelphia: King & Baird Printers, 1869.

“By the death of this distinguished officer, the country loses one of its most devoted patriots, the army one of its most thorough soldiers. In the long list of battles in which General Reno has fought in his country’s service, his name always appears with the brightest luster, and he has now bravely met a soldiers death while gallantly leading his men at the battle of South Mountain.”

Special Order 17 of the Ninth Corps

From The Battle of South Mountain by John David Hoptak.  Charleston:  The History Press, 2011.  Page 84

Originally From Special Order 17, HQ Ninth Corps

“The Yankees on their side lost General Reno, a renegade Virginian, who was killed by a happy shot from the Twenty-third North Carolina.”  D.H. Hill in his report on the Battle of South Mountain. From OR 19 (1) page 1020.