How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
He had never believed in this invasion. Lee and Davis together had overruled him. He did not believe in offensive warfare when the enemy outnumbered you and outgunned you and would come looking for you anyway if you waited somewhere on your own ground. (1.1.53)
Longstreet thinks the South should be playing tenacious D… by which we mean tenacious defense, of course. He thinks the Southern troops aren't powerful enough to attack the North on its own turf. Lee would probably argue that it's better to try to force a conclusion by beating the Union in its own territory and winning foreign support for the South in the process, instead of letting the North slowly grind down the Southern defenses.
Quote #2
"We are good men and we had our own good flag and these goddamned idiots use us like we was cows or dogs or even worse. We ain't gonna win this war. We can't win no how because of these lame-brained bastards from West Point, these goddamned gentlemen, these officers." (1.2.81)
Bucklin, one of the Mainers refusing to fight, complains to Chamberlain about the way the officers have been treating him and the other men. The Union soldiers liked McClellan, the general responsible for training the army and making it the fighting force it became, but they don't care much for many of the commanders who replaced McClellan. The problem with McClellan, though, in Lincoln's eyes, was that he was reluctant to attack the Confederates.
Quote #3
Nothing quite so much like God on earth as a general on a battlefield. (1.2.108)
Joshua Chamberlain, being a colonel, sees the highest officers, the generals, as godlike. They hold the fates of human beings and of nations in their hands. But a general might feel that he himself is a pawn of higher powers—as General Lee does.