U. S. Grant to Henry Halleck, re: the Battle of the Crater at Petersburg

"It was the saddest affair I have witnessed in the war. Such opportunity for carrying fortifications I have never seen and do not expect again to have."

Union private Frank Wilkeson, re "calls of nature"

from Recollections of a Private Soldier in the Army of the Potomac, by Frank Wilkeson, published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1886:

"There was an unwritten code of honor among the infantry that forbade the shooting of men while attending to the imperative calls of nature, and these sharpshooting brutes were constantly violating that rule. I hated sharpshooters, both Confederate and Union, in those days, and I was always glad to see them killed."

Gen Francis C. Barlow, frustrated, May 1864:

"For Heaven's sake, at least face us in the right direction, so we shall not march away from the enemy and have to go around the world and come up in their rear!"

William T. Sherman re: Judson Kilpatrick, 1864

"I know that Kilpatrick is a hell of a damned fool, but I want just that sort of man to command my cavalry on this expedition."

Gen. John Buford at Gettysburg

Maj. Gen. John Watts de Peyster re John Buford's dragoon tactics:

"The hero at Oak Ridge was John Buford... he not only showed the rarest tenacity, but his personal capacity made his cavalry accomplish marvels, and rival infantry in their steadfastness... Glorious John Buford!"

U. S. Grant, re: Gen. John C. Frémont

"He sat in a room in full uniform with his maps before him. When you went in he would point out one line or another in a mysterious manner, never asking you to take a seat. You left without the least idea of what he meant or what he wanted you to do."