Gettysburg Quotes

Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead: [Armistead sees a young soldier cowering behind a fence on the Emmitsburg Road during Pickett's Charge and stoops down next to him] Come on, boy, come on! What'll you think of yourself tomorrow? [he stands back up]
Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead: Virginians! Virginians! [he takes off his hat and impales it on his sword, then holds it aloft]
Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead: With me! Who will come with me? [he charges ahead, his brigade hot on his heels]

Movie: Gettysburg
Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain: We are the flank.

Movie: Gettysburg
General Robert E. Lee: To be a good soldier you must love the army. To be a good commander you must be able to order the death of the thing you love.

Movie: Gettysburg
General Robert E. Lee: [Lee and Longstreet are discussing moving the army] I believe you are right, General; there may be an opportunity here. I left my spectacles on the table, General, what is the name of that town?
Lieutenant General James Longstreet: Gettysburg.

Movie: Gettysburg
James L. Kemper: [Kemper, Pickett, Garnett, and Col. Freemantle are sitting around a table playing cards, while Kemper expounds on the Confederate cause] You see, Colonel, uh... the government derives its power from the consent of the people. Every government, everywhere. Well, let me make this very plain to you, sir: we do not consent, and we will *never* consent. And what you've got to do is - [he stands up and looks straight at Freemantle]
James L. Kemper: - you've got to go back over there to your Parliament, and you've gotta make it very plain to *them*. You've gotta tell them that what we're fighting for here is the - is the freedom from what we consider to be the rule of a foreign power! I mean, that's all we want. That's what this war is all about.
Brig. Gen. Richard B. Garnett: Jim - [he tries to pull Kemper back into his chair]
James L. Kemper: [brushes Garnett off] No, no, no, no. Now-now, we-we established this country in the first place with very strong state governments just for that very reason. I mean, uh... let me put it to you this way: my home is in Virginia. The government of my home *is* home. Virginia would not allow itself to be ruled by... by some, uh, king over there in London. And it's not about to let itself be ruled by some president in Washington! Virginia, by God, sir, is gonna be run by *Virginians*!
Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead: [Armistead and Longstreet are walking by and overhear this] Oh, my. "The Cause."
Major General George E. Pickett: [looks at his cards] Actually, Jimmy, I got a pair of kings. [laughs]
James L. Kemper: [keeps plowing on] And it's all for the Yankees, the damn, money-grubbin' Yankees. I mean, those damn fools, they don't get the message! Always the darkies, nothin' but the darkies.

Movie: Gettysburg
Lieutenant General James Longstreet: This is almost perfect, now we got them where we want them. Swing south and east, down the road, get between them and Lincoln, find some good high ground, then they'll have to hit us, they'll have to, we'll have them, sir.
General Robert E. Lee: You mean disengage?
Lieutenant General James Longstreet: Well sir, I've always been under the impression that it was our strategy to conduct a defensive campaign wherever possible in order to keep the army intact.
General Robert E. Lee: Granted, but the situation has changed now.
Lieutenant General James Longstreet: In what way?
General Robert E. Lee: We've already pushed them back, they're on the run, vacating the town. How can we move off to the south and the east in the face of the enemy? What are you thinking, General?
Lieutenant General James Longstreet: Maybe we should not have fought here?
General Robert E. Lee: I know that. But we have prevailed. The men have prevailed.
Lieutenant General James Longstreet: Yes sir, they have always done that. But in the morning we may be outnumbered, and they'll be entrenched on the high ground.
General Robert E. Lee: General, you know as well as I, we have never concerned ourselves with being outnumbered.
Lieutenant General James Longstreet: That is true, sir, you are right. If we move to the south to Washington, they have to pursue us, and then we can fight on ground of our choosing.
General Robert E. Lee: But the enemy is here! We did not want the fight but the fight is here! How can I ask this army to retreat in the face of what they have done this day?
Lieutenant General James Long

Movie: Gettysburg