Clint Johnson > Quotes

“Anyone who studies the history of American commerce or warfare should be interested in Burning Springs, nicknamed "Oiltown." This was the site of the first oil well in West Virginia, drilled in 1860, just one year after the nation's first well was opened in Pennsylvania.”
― Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites

“A young women asked Lee what he would do. Lee replied, "I shall welcome him into my home, show him all the courtesy which is due from one gentlemen to another, and try to do everything in my power to make his stay agreeable.”
― Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites

“Federal Officer: "The arms piled on the ground were not worth 10 cents a ton.”
― Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites

“Jones described what followed in his official report:
All the oil, the tanks, barrels,engines for pumping, engine-houses, and wagons- in a word, everything used for rising, holding, or sending it off was burned. The smoke is very dense and jet black. The boats, filled with oil in bulk, burst with a report almost equaling artillery, and spread the burning fuel down the river. Before night huge columns of ebony smoke marked the meanderings of the stream as far as the eye could see. By dark the oil from the tanks on the burning creek had reached the river and the whole stream was a sheet of fire. A burning river, carrying destruction to our merciless enemy, was a scene of magnificence that might well carry joy to every patriotic heart.- General William E. " Grumble" Jones”
― Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites

“Flag committee chairman Miles did not agree with that sentiment. He opposed adoption of this design and wrote:"There is no propriety in retaining the ensign of a government which, in the opinion of the States composing this Confederacy, had become so oppressive and injurious to their interests as to require their separation from it.It is idle to talk of 'keeping' the flag of the United States when we have voluntarily seceded from them.”
― Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites

“Not knowing how mant troops Jenkins truly had, Johnson refused to surrender "unless forced to do so by an exhibition of your boasted strength."
Jenkins fought for more than five hours before pulling back.”
― Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites

“Floyd did not accept the blame for his defeat. He blamed his fellow general Henry Wise for not committing some of his regiments to the battle. Wise reacted to the charge by calling Floyd "that bullet-hit son of a bitch.”
― Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites

“Lincoln replied:"There is a difference between secession against the Constitution and in favor of the Constitution.”
― Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites

“Awakened by artillery fire, the frightened Confederate recruits ran out of town, some still in their bedclothes. The Federals gave this embarrassing retreat the derisive nickname of "The Battle of the Philippi Races.”
― Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites

“A South Carolina native, Miles was a lawyer, a mayor of Charleston, and a congressman. He was one of his state's "fire-eaters," a term applied to men who openly advocated secession rather than finding accomodation with the Union in the summer and fall of 1860.”
― Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites

“When Mr.Cunningham ran outside during the battle shouting "Hurrah for Jeff Davis!", a Union shot clipped his ear. Mr.Cunningham ran back inside his house. His cheering was over for the day.”
― Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites

“Lee replied: "Tell your friends it is unworthy of them as women, especially Christian women, to cherish feelings of resentment against the North. Tell them that it grieves me inexpressibly to know that such a state of thing exists, and that I implore them to do their part to heal our country's wounds.”
― Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites

“After the war, Lee described Traveller in a letter:"Fine proportions, muscular figure, deep chest, short back, strong haunches, flat legs, small head, broad forehead, deliciate ears,quick eye, small feet and black mane and tail. Such a picture would inspire a poet, whose genius would then depict his worth and describe his endurance of toil,hunger,thirst,heat and cold, and the dangers and sufferings through which he passed.”
― Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites

“While the nation would be told by President Roosevelt’s radio address that the “United States was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan,” it was the USS Ward (DD-139) that suddenly and deliberately attacked and sank a vessel of the Imperial Japanese Navy.”
― Clint Johnson, Tin Cans and Greyhounds: The Destroyers that Won Two World Wars

“Richmond's newspaper questioned how a senior general could not even get two of his own generals to cooperate with him. They nicknamed him "Granny" Lee or "The King Of Spades," because he insisted that his men dig trenches on Sewell Mountain.”
― Clint Johnson, Touring Virginia's and West Virginia's Civil War Sites

“while the captain wrote that only that the .50 caliber machine guns got into action.”
― Clint Johnson, Tin Cans and Greyhounds: The Destroyers that Won Two World Wars

“three destroyers in dry dock beside her were also bombed. Within a half hour, USS Cassin (DD-372), USS Downes (DD-375), and USS Shaw (DD-373), all Mahan class, were burning.”
― Clint Johnson, Tin Cans and Greyhounds: The Destroyers that Won Two World Wars