American civil war Quote by Bruce Catton

“Here was the greatest and most moving chapter in American history, a blending of meanness and greatness, an ending and a beginning. It came out of what men were, but it did not go as men had planned.” quote by Bruce Catton — Download Open image

“Here was the greatest and most moving chapter in American history, a blending of meanness and greatness, an ending and a beginning. It came out of what men were, but it did not go as men had planned.”

Bruce Catton

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More by Bruce Catton

Beneath everything else, North and West, there ran a profound, unvoiced, almost subconscious conviction that the [American] nation was going to go on growing-in…

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The 1860 election became a referendum on the southern way of life.

Bruce Catton

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What began as a bitter dispute over Union and States' Rights, ended as a struggle over the meaning of freedom in America. At Gettysburg…

Bruce Catton

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And there is the headlight, shining far down the track, glinting off the steel rails that, like all parallel lines, will meet in infinity,…

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The Civil War was fought in 10,000 places, from Valverde, New Mexico, and Tullahoma, Tennessee, to St. Albans, Vermont, and Fernandina on the Florida…

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Even the most painstaking history is a bridge across an eternal mystery.

Bruce Catton

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Shiloh had as many casualties as Waterloo, and yet there were another 20 Waterloos to come.

Bruce Catton

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“The end of the war was like the beginning, with the army marching down the open road under the spring sky, seeing a far light on the horizon. Many lights had died in the windy dark but far down the road there was always a gleam, and it was as if a legend had been created to express some obscure…

Bruce Catton

“Early youth is a baffling time. The present moment is nice but it does not last. Living in it is like waiting in a junction town for the morning limited; the junction may be interesting but some day you will have to leave it and you do not know where the limited will take you. Sooner or later you must…

Bruce Catton

The present moment is nice but it does not last. Living in it is like waiting in a junction town for the morning limited;…

Bruce Catton

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Like most Rebel soldiers, Sam Watkins owned no slaves.

Bruce Catton

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Abraham Lincoln was not all brooding and melancholy and patient understanding. There was a hard core in him, and plenty of toughness. He could…

Bruce Catton

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Explore all 43 Bruce Catton quotes

More American civil war quotes

It cost about 75 cents to kill a man in Ceasar's time. The price rose to about $3,000 per man during the Napoleonic wars;…

Homer Bone

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Strange, (is it not?) that battles, martyrs, blood, even assassination should so condense - perhaps only really lastingly condense - a Nationality.

Walt Whitman

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We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word many mean for some men to do as they please with other…

Abraham Lincoln

The 1860 election became a referendum on the southern way of life.

Bruce Catton

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What began as a bitter dispute over Union and States' Rights, ended as a struggle over the meaning of freedom in America. At Gettysburg…

Bruce Catton

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Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery .…

Alexander H. Stephens

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“For my part I consider the central idea pervading this struggle is the necessity that is upon us of proving that popular government is not an absurdity. We must settle this question now, whether in a free government the minority have the right to break up the government whenever they choose. If we fail it will go far to prove…

Shelby Foote

My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy 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 save it by freeing some and…

Abraham Lincoln

The triumph of the Confederacy... would be a victory for the powers of evil which would give courage to the enemies of progress and…

John Stuart Mill

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If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it.

Abraham Lincoln

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“Across the river he could see the burnt and crushed buildings of Fredericksburg, the debris piled along the streets, the scattered ruins of people's lives, lives that were changed forever. His men had done that. Not all of it, of course. The whole corps had seemed to go insane, had turned the town into some kind of violent party, a…

Jeff Shaara