Eric J. Wittenberg > Quotes

“He concluded, “I’m sure there will be lawyers all over this thing if the citizens of Frederick County decided they wanted to join (West Virginia).”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia

“The National Road, sometimes called the Cumberland Road because it originally terminated in Cumberland, Maryland, was the first Federal highway. It was built between 1811 and 1820 for some $7,000,000 to connect Baltimore with Ohio. It followed a route laid out by Gen. James Braddock’s pioneers during the French and Indian War and became an important line of commerce.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, July 4–14, 1863

“By this point in the war Lee had become a master at outlining a course of action that was specific enough to obtain the necessary bureaucratic backing but vague enough to allow him maximum flexibility of action once underway.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, July 4–14, 1863

“I wonder if Napoleon or even Robt. Lee were our commander this evening would they pursue a defeated army in this cautious, courteous way?”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, July 4–14, 1863

“The division of a state is dreaded as precedent. But a measure made expedient by war is no precedent for times of peace. It is said that the admission of West Virginia is secession, and tolerated only because it is our secession. Well, if we call it by that name, there is difference enough between secession against the constitution and secession in favor of it.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia

“The misinterpretation of intelligence was nothing new for Alfred Pleasonton. Known universally as a toady whose sights seemed eternally fixed on self-promotion, one of Pleasonton’s many weaknesses was gathering and qualifying intelligence on the enemy’s movements and intentions.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Plenty of Blame to go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg

“Garrison believed that the Constitution “was ‘a covenant with death and an agreement with hell.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia

“Like the fabled Charge of the Light Brigade, Farnsworth’s Charge was brave, memorable, and fruitless.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Gettysburg's Forgotten Cavalry Actions: Farnsworths Charge, South Cavalry Field, and the Battle of Fairfield, July 3, 1863

“Lincoln was not keen on admitting West Virginia as it had “seceded” from Virginia—which was a state and Lincoln would never concede that it, and other “so called” Confederate states, had left the Union.11 So, supporters of West Virginia created a legal fiction that what became West Virginia, was really the authentic Commonwealth of Virginia.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia

“In short, a government created by the Unionist portion of Virginia—a minority of the total population—purported to speak for the entire state, including the majority of the state that supported secession.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia

“A Federal officer called Wyndham “a big bag of wind.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, The Union Cavalry Comes of Age: Hartwood Church to Brandy Station, 1863

“Do not place confidence in that,” he warned Meade. “I have men in my Construction Corps who could construct bridges in forty-eight hours sufficient to pass that army, if they have no other material than such as they could gather from old buildings or from the woods, and it is not safe to assume that the enemy cannot do what we can.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, July 4–14, 1863

“The Virginian made a number of critical errors that morning. His first was ordering his column forward with no skirmishers leading the way well to the front. Because he had no cavalry to screen his advance, Heth should have deployed these skirmishers to avoid stumbling into a fight at a disadvantage. This was a critical blunder because it meant that his column would grope blindly for the enemy as it marched along.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, "The Devil's to Pay": John Buford at Gettysburg: A History and Walking Tour

“What we do know for certain is that he made up his mind to take the 125 wagons with him into Pennsylvania. The decision triggered a controversy that has raged for more than 140 years.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Plenty of Blame to go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg

“Article IV, Section 3 of the United States Constitution requires the consent of a state before a new state can be formed from its territory.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia

“Couch later wrote, “The retrograde movement had prepared me for something of the kind, but to hear from his own lips that the advantages gained by the successful marches of his lieutenants were to culminate in fighting a defensive battle in that nest of thickets was too much, and I retired from his presence with the belief that my commanding general was a whipped man.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, The Union Cavalry Comes of Age: Hartwood Church to Brandy Station, 1863

“Congress quickly increased the number of Supreme Court Justices from seven to nine, enabling Grant to nominate two new members of the Court. The plan to pack the Court with Republican justices had worked.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia

“Further Resolved, That the 158 years which have elapsed since this invitation was first extended have not diminished the feelings of deep affection in which Frederick County and her citizens are held by the citizens of West Virginia; and, be it”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia

“After the war, Fitz Lee served as governor of Virginia and became one of several former Confederate commanders to return to duty in the U.S. Army for the Spanish-American War.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Protecting the Flank at Gettysburg: The Battles for Brinkerhoff's Ridge and East Cavalry Field, July 2 -3, 1863

“Because the B&O ran through these counties, the new government intended to incorporate them into West Virginia. Not trusting the outcome of the vote, these counties were simply excluded from participating in the election.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia

“Of these was the town of Romney, which changed hands fifty-three times throughout the war.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia

“Fourteen years later, while visiting John Rummel, Miller found his saber hilt and a portion of the blade among the relics collected by Rummel after the battle.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Protecting the Flank at Gettysburg: The Battles for Brinkerhoff's Ridge and East Cavalry Field, July 2 -3, 1863

“Meade recognized the perils of fighting for the various mountain gaps, which may help explain why his overall pursuit was so cautiously executed. His caution only increased when Sedgwick reported that the critical passes through South Mountain to the west of Fairfield were already too stoutly defended to assail.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, July 4–14, 1863

“Buford didn’t dress for respect, he earned it. He didn’t try to get his name in the newspapers, instead he led with deeds that caused his men to follow his guidon with confidence and the full expectation of success.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, The Devils to Pay: John Buford at Gettysburg. a History and Walking Tour.

“This regiment included some of the most famous army officers of the era, including Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, then–Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee, Major George H. Thomas, Captains Edmund Kirby Smith and Earl Van Dorn, then-Lieutenant Fitzhugh Lee, and Lieutenant John Bell Hood—all of whom became general officers during the Civil War and five of whom commanded armies.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, The Union Cavalry Comes of Age: Hartwood Church to Brandy Station, 1863

“His decision to break off, however, left the critical ground between South Mountain and Hagerstown firmly in Confederate hands, meaning that Lee’s army would be able to concentrate there. In this, Kilpatrick inexplicably cost the Army of the Potomac the initiative that it never could regain.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, July 4–14, 1863

“She [Virginia] can have no right, years after all this has been settled, to come into a court of chancery to charge that her own conduct has been a wrong and a fraud.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia

“If there is blame to be cast for the Army of the Potomac’s failure to destroy Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia on the north side of the Potomac River, much of that blame should be cast on Alfred Pleasonton.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, July 4–14, 1863

“Few people consider that something as simple as an ill-fitted horseshoe could break a horse as quickly as overburdening it or failing to provide it with adequate rest or fodder.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Plenty of Blame to go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg

“firing weapon had a devastating effect on the Southerners.18 The 5th Michigan’s Pvt. William H. Rockwell wrote to his wife a few weeks after the battle about the weapon’s effect. “We are put in all of the worst places on account of [the] seven shooters,” he boasted. “The rebs call us the seven devils for they say we can load in the morning and fight all day. If they find the 5th [Michigan] is after them they skedaddle.”
― Eric J. Wittenberg, Plenty of Blame to go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg