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To: Rocky
I remember him quoting Faulkner when he was talking about Gettysburg ...

Foote's best quote was about a soldier waiting to make Pickett's Charge, who saw a rabbit running away ...

The soldier said to the rabbit something like:

"Run, you old hare - if I was an old hare, I'd run too ..."

The best ficticious quote I know is from the movie, Gettysburg:

Colonel Freemantle:

"He tells me it was your uncle who defended Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. And that he was therefore the guardian of the original "Star-Spangled Banner". I must say,I do appreciate the irony of it all."

General Longstreet:

"Colonel Fremantle, it does not begin or end with my uncle or myself. We're all sons of Virginia here.

That major out there commanding the cannon: That's James Dearing. First in his class at West Point, before Virginia seceded.

And the boy over there with the color guard. That's Private Robert Tyler Jones. His grandfather was President of the United States.

The colonel behind me,that's Colonel William Aylett. Now, his great grandfather was the Virginian Patrick Henry. It was Patrick Henry who said to your King George III: "Give me liberty or give me death."

There are boys here from Norfolk, Portsmouth, small hamlets along the James River. From Charlottesville and Fredericksburg. The Shenandoah Valley.

Mostly they're all veteran soldiers now. The cowards and shirkers are long gone. Every man here knows his duty. They would make this charge even without an officer to lead them. They know the gravity of the situation and the mettle of their foe. They know that this day's work will be desperate and deadly. They know that for many of them this will be their last charge. But not one of them needs to be told what is expected of him. They are all willing to make the supreme sacrifice to achieve victory here. The crowning victory and the end of this war. We are all here.

You may tell them when you return to your country that all Virginia was here on this day."

19 posted on 11/19/2011 1:17:17 AM PST by Lmo56 (If ya wanna run with the big dawgs - ya gotta learn to piss in the tall grass ...)
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To: Lmo56
While a good deal of the dialog from Gettysburg was made up, it is still one of my favorite movies. My many-greats-uncles were in the Wheatfield and Peach Orchard on the second day with Company F of the 16th Georgia Infantry.
22 posted on 11/19/2011 8:21:08 AM PST by Stonewall Jackson (Democrats: "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.")
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