Small Talk-Trivia

Small Talk — January 2018

By Stephen Davis · Originally published January 2018 · pp. 33–46

Prominent figures in the war said and wrote lots, and some of their statements have become famous quotations. Or, at least, the figures themselves have become famous. Below are a few of both. See if you can match the quotation on the right with the individual below. Answers appear on page 46. A. Abraham Lincoln B. Robert E. Lee C. Ulysses S. Grant D. Jefferson Davis E. William T. Sherman F. Thomas J. (“Stonewall”) Jackson G. John Sedgwick H. John C. Pemberton I. Jubal A. Early J. Joseph Hooker

1. “If you think so, sir, you had better not say anything about it.” 2. “Follow Forrest to the death if it costs 10,000 lives and breaks the Treasury. There will be never be peace in Tennessee till Forrest is dead.” 3. “I am a northern man. I know my people. I know their peculiar weaknesses and their national vanity; I know we can get better terms from them on the Fourth of July than on any other day of the year.” 4. “You are green, it is true; but they are green, also; you are all green alike.” 5. “We haven’t taken Washington, but we’ve scared Abe Lincoln like hell!”

2. “In the time I am writing every stalk of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the slain lay in rows precisely as they had stood in their ranks a few moments before. It was never my fortune to witness a more bloody, dismal battle-field.” 7. “All we ask is to be let alone.” 8. “It is I that have lost this fight, and you must help me out of it the best way you can.” 9. “No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.” 10. “I am ashamed of you. They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.” Steve Davis is the Civil War News Book Review Editor. He can be contacted by email at: [email protected]

3. F. “If you think so, sir”—Jackson at First Manassas, when an officer worried that “the day is going against us.” (G.F.R. Henderson, Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War) 2. E. “Follow Forrest”—Sherman in the summer of 1864. (Brian Wills, A Battle from the Start) 3. H. “I am a northern man”—Pemberton, before he surrendered Vicksburg (Shelby Foote, The Civil War) 4. A. “You are green”—Lincoln to McDowell before Bull Run (David Detzer, Donnybrook) 5. I. “We haven’t taken Washington”—Early, July 1864 (Vandiver, Jubal’s Raid) 6. J. “Every stalk of corn”—Hooker on Antietam (Murfin, The Gleam of Bayonets) 7. D. “All we ask”—Davis, April 29, 1861, to the Confederate Congress (William C. Davis, Jefferson Davis) 8. B. “It is I”—Lee at Gettysburg (Freeman, Lee) 9. C. “No terms except”—Grant at Fort Donelson (Cooling, Forts Henry and Donelson) 10. G. “I am ashamed of you”—Sedgwick at Spotsylvania, moments before he was killed (Battles and Leaders)