Mansfield, Joseph Quotes
Last Updated July 25, 2010
With quotations by Mansfield first followed by others in alphabetical order of the person making the quote
“I know the dammed ship has surrendered, but we haven’t”
Joseph Mansfield, Mar 9 1862
Mansfield made this comment after he shelled Rebels tying up to the USS Congress, which had flown the white flag. Mansfield commanded the 1st Brigade of the 1st Div of the Dept of Virginia at Norfolk. This occurred one day before the battle of the Monitor and Merrimac
From The Civil War by Shelby Foote, vol. 1, p. 257 Volume 1:257
The Monitor and the Merrimac, read 5 April 1885, Military Essays and Recollections: Papers Read Before the Commandery of the State of Illinois, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (Chicago, IL: A.C. McClurg and Company. 1891), Pg. 128.
“fussy and fond of meddling with his subordinates.”
John Pope
Pope describing Brevet Major Joseph Mansfield who commanded Taylor’s Engineer Detachment in Mexico
From General John Pope A Life for the Nation. by Peter Cozzens. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000 Pg11
Originally From Pope, John “War Reminiscences, XV,” NT Mar 19 1891
“Visibly swelled before our eyes; his face flamed out with fiery ardor, and his whole figure and his every movement seemed filled with a sort of terrible passion. He pervaded all places of danger, and everywhere put himself in the forefront of the battle…I never yet have seen a man so regardless of his personal safety or so eager to imperil it.”
John Pope
Pope describing Brevet Major Joseph Mansfield in battle who commanded Taylor’s Engineer Detachment in Mexico
From General John Pope A Life for the Nation. by Peter Cozzens Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000 Pg 11
Originally from John Pope “War Reminiscences, XV,” NT Mar 19 1891
“man of kindly disposition and very just”
John Pope
Pope’s feelings toward Joseph Mansfield while in Mexico
From General John Pope A Life for the Nation. by Peter Cozzens Urbana. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000 Pg14
Originally from John Pope “War Reminiscences, XIV,” NT Mar 12 1891
“fussy but a most veteran looking officer”
Alpheus Williams
Williams description of Twelfth Corps Commander Mansfield
From For Honor, Flag, and Family Civil War Major General Samuel W. Crawford, 1827-1892. By Richard Wagner (Shippensburg: White Mane Books, 2005 Pg 132
Originally from From the Cannon’s Mouth, by Alpheus Williams, ed. Milo M Quaife. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1959
“I begged to be allowed to deploy in two rows, not twenty. I could not move him.”
Alpheus Williams
At Antietam, Williams arguing with Mansfield to deploy the units in lines, not columns
From For Honor, Flag, and Family Civil War Major General Samuel W. Crawford, 1827-1892. By Richard Wagner (Shippensburg: White Mane Books, 2005 Pg 137
Originally from From the Cannon’s Mouth, by Alpheus Williams, ed. Milo M Quaife. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1959
Antietam Voices 
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