Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Free Lance

Confederate general Daniel Harvey Hill put the matter more simply: the Confederate soldier "was unsurpassed and unsurpassable as a scout and on the skirmish line," but "of the shoulder-to-shoulder courage, born of drill and discipline, he knew nothing, and cared less. Hence, on the battlefield, he was more of a free lance than a machine. Whoever saw a Confederate line advancing that was not crooked as a ram's horn? Each ragged Rebel yelling on his own hook and aligning on himself."

- From Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War & Reconstruction by Allen C. Guelzo

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