Casualties Quotes
Sherman had friends in the South and he saw rebellion and war coming. Most Southerners had a romanticized view of war and were so wrapped up in trying to preserve their economic and cultural way of life that they did not think through the implications of such a war. After and during the war, he was particularly angry with the Southerners who had brought such terrible casualties and destruction upon the land and its people.
This may have been the origin of the famous Stalin later quotation of very similar sentiment {616657}. No one is certain if Stalin had ever seen this work. Or he might have come upon it independently. The original source does not mention Massigli by name. However the description of the “Diplomat vom Quai d’Orsay” fits Massigli and his expertise so we attribute it to him. However, he was not the first to express this idea. The Anglican Bishop of London, Beilby Porteus, appears to have been the earliest—See {627489}.
This was a very significant battle. The Barbary states had navies of corsairs who were very experienced in battle. The new United States barely had a navy and the Enterprise was just an armed schooner. When the Enterprise sighted the Tripoli, many in the crew thought that the American ship would run. The schooner was badly outgunned by the warship and just as badly outmanned. And the Tripoli sailors were battle hardened while the Americans had little battle experience. Yet Sterett not only attacked, but won one of the most one sided sea battles in which the United States has ever engaged. There were NO casualties for the Enterprise while half the Tripolitan crew was killed and the other half wounded. The Americans while not battle hardened were great sailors and they outmaneuvered the Tripoli and cut their rigging to pieces with very accurate gunnery. One reason that this quotation is so important is that it made the Americans realize that Americans could not only hold their own, but could defeat the Barbary corsairs even when outgunned and out manned. This created much confidence in President Jefferson and the other American leaders of the time. This Enterprise was the first of 4 American ships that would bear that name.
Jackie Kennedy used this quotation in the last letter she wrote from the White House. It was to Khrushchev.
General Howe was the Commander of British Troops in the American Revolution. The early American Army was neither professional, experienced, or well officered. Execution as a means of punishment was much more common than in the larger, professional British army. Rush ran the hospitals for the Revolutionary Army and talked to many officers and enlisted men, and also observed much of the British military practices.
The bombing of Tokyo to which she referred, killed over 100,000 Japanese in a single raid, more than each of the two atomic bombs. However, those who, in hindsight, raise the issue of the morality of using the atomic bombs, say nothing about the firebombing. The graphic is of Dr. Libby when she was working with Enrico Fermi to create the first nuclear chain reaction to prove the feasibility of a nuclear bomb. She was the only female on the team.
