American Civil War

Explore 30 quotes about American Civil War

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

Abraham Lincoln

Second Annual Message to Congress

More information about this quote

Topic

Solving problems Adaptability Changing with the times American Civil War

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Source

Second Annual Message to Congress

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1862 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. Second Annual Message to Congress. 1 Dec. 1862, US Congress, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out.

William Tecumseh Sherman

More information about this quote

Topic

Horrors of war War American Civil War

Author

William Tecumseh Sherman

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Sherman, William Tecumseh. Letter to Mayor James M. Calhoun and E. E. Rawson and S. C. Wells. 12 Sept. 1864.

Current Citation

Sherman, William Tecumseh. Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman, 1860-1865. University of North Carolina Press, 1999, ch. 12.

If all do not join now to save the good old ship of the Union on this voyage, nobody will have a chance to pilot her on another voyage.

Abraham Lincoln

Buy Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings at Amazon Buy Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings at Amazon
Read the full transcript of this speech at digital.lib.niu.edu

More information about this quote

Topic

American Civil War American experiment

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Source

Speech in Cleveland, Ohio.

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1861 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Speech in Cleveland, Ohio." 15 Feb. 1861, Cleveland, OH, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Speech at Cleveland, Ohio, February 15, 1861." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.

Abraham Lincoln

Read the full text of this speech at umich.edu

More information about this quote

Topic

Just cause Perseverance Fear of failure American Civil War

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Source

The Sub-Treasury: Speech at a Political Discussion

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1839 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "The Sub-Treasury: Speech at a Political Discussion." 26 Dec. 1839, Hall of the House of Representatives, Springfield, IL, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Speech on the Sub-Treasury at Springfield, Illinois, December 26, 1839." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1832-1858, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

It is very strange that I, a boy brought up in the woods, and seeing, as it were, but little of the world, should be drifted into the very apex of this great event.

Abraham Lincoln

More information about this quote

Topic

American Civil War Fate

Speaker

Abraham Lincoln

Source

The Daily Dispatch

Medium

Interview Newspaper

Language

English

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Interview of a Canadian Editor with the President." The Daily Dispatch (Richmond), 5 Sept. 1864.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. Quoted in "The People with the Governing Power," Conversations with Lincoln by Charles M. Segal. G. P. Putman's Sons, 1961.

My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destory slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.

Abraham Lincoln

More information about this quote

Topic

American Civil War

Author

Abraham Lincoln

Source

Letters of Abraham Lincoln

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1862 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. Letter to Horace Greeley. 22 Aug. 1862.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "To Horace Greeley, August 22 1862." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

We are not only fighting hostile armies, but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war.

William Tecumseh Sherman

More information about this quote

Topic

American Civil War Military strategy

Author

William Tecumseh Sherman

Source

Letter to Henry W. Halleck

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Sherman, William Tecumsch. Letter to Henry W. Halleck. 24 Dec. 1864.

Current Citation

Sherman, William Tecumsch. Memoirs of General William Tecumseh Sherman. Vol. 2, Penguin Classics, 2000, ch. 21.

War is the remedy our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want.

William Tecumseh Sherman

More information about this quote

Topic

American Civil War

Author

William Tecumseh Sherman

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sherman, William Tecumseh. Letter to James Guthrie. 14 Aug. 1864.

I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.

John Brown

More information about this quote

Topic

Slavery American Civil War America

Author

John Brown

Source

LAST WORDS

Statement Type

Prophecies and predictions

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Brown, John. Quoted in John Brown and His Men, written by R. J. Hinton. Funk and Wagnals, 1894. Originally was his last written words, 2 Dec. 1859.

It created in this country what had never existed before-a national consciousness. It was not the salvation of the Union; it was the rebirth of the Union.

Woodrow Wilson

On the Civil War.

More information about this quote

Topic

American Civil War

Speaker

Woodrow Wilson

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1915 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Wilson, Woodrow. Memorial Day address. 31 May 1915, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA, USA.