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 size, in power, in everything a man could think of-and in that belief there was a might and a fury that would take form instantly at the moment of shock.

History does not usually make real sense until long afterward.

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

Yet there is a dignity in the human spirit which can become most clearly visible in the moment of defeat and disaster.

Men see things late, and it may be that at times an evil fate drives them on.

Like most Rebel soldiers, Sam Watkins owned no slaves.

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.