I will not accept if nominated, and will not serve if elected.

An army is a collection of armed men obliged to obey one man. Every enactment, every change of rule which impairs this principle weakens the army, impairs its value, and defeats the very object of its existence.

...[We] must stop these swarms of Jews who are trading, bartering and robbing.

War is too serious a matter to leave to soldiers.

If nominated by either party, I should peremptorily decline, and even if unanimously elected, I should decline to serve.

War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.

I will accept no commission that would tend to create a rivalry with Grant. I want him to hold what he has earned and got. I have all the rank I want.