Gods and Generals (film)

"[first address to his brigade, prior to First Manassas/Bull Run] Men of the Valley! Citizen soldiers! I am here at the order of General Robert E. Lee, commanding all Virginia forces. On April fifteenth of this year of our Lord, eighteen sixty-one, Simon Cameron, the Secretary of War of the United States, sent a telegram to our Governor, John Letcher, directing him to raise three regiments of infantry to be sent to assist in suppressing the Southern Confederacy. Governor Letcher's answer is well known to you, but perhaps not his words. His wire to Washington stated: "You have chosen to inaugurate civil war. And having done so, we will meet you in a spirit as determined as the Lincoln administration has exhibited toward the South." Few days later, the Virginia legistlature voted for secession. Just as we would not send any of our soldiers to march in other states and tyrannize other people, so will we never allow the armies of others to march into our state and tyrannize our people! Like many of you, indeed most of you, I've always been a Union man. It is not with joy or with a light heart that many of us have welcomed secession. Had our neighbors to the North practiced a less bellicose form of persuasion, this day might not have come, but that day has been thrust upon us, like it was thrust upon our ancestors! The Lincoln administration required us to raise three regiments; tell them we have done so! Dismissed!"

"[farewell address to the Stonewall Brigade, prior to Fredericksburg] Throughout the broad extent of the country through which you have marched, by your respect for the rights and property of others, you have always shown you are soldiers, not only to defend, but able and willing both to defend and protect. You have already won a brilliant reputation throughout the army of the whole Confederacy, and I trust in the future by your deeds in the field, and by the assistance of the same kind Providence who has hitherto favored our cause, you will win more victories, and add luster to the reputation you now enjoy. You've already gained a proud position in the future history of this, our Second War of Independence. I shall look with anxiety to your future movements, and I trust that whenever I shall hear of the First Brigade on the field of battle, it will be of still nobler deeds achieved and higher reputation won. [draws his sword and holds it up in salute] In the Army of the Shenandoah, you were the First Brigade! In the Army of the Potomac, you were the First Brigade! In the Second Corps of this army, you are the First Brigade! You are the First Brigade in the affections of your general, and I hope by your future deeds and bearing you will be handed down the posterity as the First Brigade in this, our Second War of Independence! Godspeed!"

"[last words - May 10, 1863] Let us cross over the river...and rest under the shade of the trees."

"[at Fredericksburg, as the Army of the Potomac crosses the Rappahanock] In the Roman civil war, Julius Caesar knew he had to march on Rome itself, which no legion was permitted to do. Marcus Lucanus left us a chronicle of what happened. "How swiftly Caesar had surmounted the mighty Alps and in his mind conceived immense upheavals, coming war. When he reached the water of the little Rubicon, clearly to the leader through the murky night appeared a mighty image of his country in distress, grief in her face, her white hair streaming from her tower-crowned head, with tresses torn and shoulders bare, she stood before him and sighing said, 'Where further do you march? Where do you take my standards, warriors? If lawfully you come, if as citizens, this far only is allowed.' "Then trembling struck the leader's limbs, his hair grew stiff and weakness checked his progress, holding his feet at the rivers edge. At last he speaks, 'O Thunderer, surveying Rome's walls from the Tarpeian Rock. O Phrygian house gods of Iulus, Clan and Mystery of Quirinus who was carried off to heaven, O Jupiter of Latium seated in lofty Alda and Hearths of Vesta, O Rome, equal to the highest deity, favor my plans! Not with impious weapons do I pursue you. Here am I, Caesar, conqueror of land and sea, your own soldier, everywhere, now too, if I am permitted. The man who makes me your enemy, it is he who be the guilty one.' "Then he broke the barriers of war and through the swollen river swiftly took his standards. And Caesar crossed the flood and reached the opposite bank. From Hesperia's Forbidden Fields he took his stand and said, "Here I abandoned peace and desecrated law; fortune it is you I follow. Farewell to treaties. From now on war is our judge!'" [the Confederate cannons on Marye's Heights open fire] Hail Caesar! We who are about to die salute you!"

"[in winter quarters, to his brother Tom] War is a scourge, but so is slavery. It is the systematic coercion of one group of men over another. It has been around since the book of Genesis. It exists in every corner of the world, but that is no excuse for us to tolerate it here when we find it right in front of our very eyes in our own country. As God as my witness, there is no one I hold in my heart dearer than you. But if your life, or mine, is part of the price to end this curse and free the Negro, then let God's work be done."

"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it."

"[to artillerist E. Porter Alexander, at Fredericksburg] Colonel Alexander, Federal troops amassed across that river are watching us prepare for them. If I were General Burnside, I would not attack here. I'd move back upstream, come across from above us. But Burnside is not a man with the luxury of flexibility. He's being pushed from behind by loud voices in Washington, by newspapers who demand quick action. No, we're here, and so he will attack us here."

"[after Jackson's wounding] He's lost his left arm...I've lost my right."

"This is a hell of a regiment."

"[instructing Chamberlain on troop movements] Line of battle consists of two lines of men, one behind the other, so that while one line fires, the other reloads. Behind them is a line of file closers - lieutenants and sergeants. But two lines make a regiment unwieldy on the move, so we need to switch to column of fours. We need to be able to change from column of fours into line of battle and back again quickly. It is not difficult to move from line of battle to column of fours. It is much harder to move from column of fours into line of battle, and if we're called upon to make that move, it will be when we're under fire. I'm sure you can understand, Colonel, how important it is that these moves are learned so thoroughly that the men could perform them in their sleep."

"[at Fredericksburg] 20th Maine to the front!"

"The nation's heart was touched by Gods and Generals."

"Stephen Lang - Lt. Gen. Stonewall Jackson"

"Jeff Daniels - Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain"

"Robert Duvall - Gen. Robert E. Lee"

"Kevin Conway - Sgt. Buster Kilrain"

"Joseph Fuqua - Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart"

"Matt Letscher - Col. Adelbert Ames"

"Brian Mallon - Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock"

"Alex Hyde-White - Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside"

"Carsten Norgaard - Maj. Gen. Darius N. Couch"

"Malachy McCourt - Francis Preston Blair"