Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States
Abraham Lincoln (American Memory Collection)
"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this
government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not
expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall. But I
expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all
the other."
Abraham Lincoln, 1858
Dear Brother,
They are avolunteering right smartly here.
If you want to join a company, come down here and let's go together. I have a notion of trying it awhile.
James Jackson,
Covington County Alabama
[Portrait of a Federal soldier from
Ohio] Library of Congress "American Memory" No. 1055
Confederate Soldier:
[Pvt. Hite Bird, Virginia Regiment, C.S.A.] Library of Congress American Memory edition timeline. No. 1049
General Ulysses S. Grant (Union Army)
"Grant don't care a snap if men fall like leaves, he fights to win,
that chap does..."
Mary Chestnut
"I can't spare this man...he fights."
Abraham Lincoln
General Robert E. Lee (Confederate Army)
It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it.
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee; Photo by M.B. Brady, LC-USZ61-1117
Anna Mary Young, Gettysburg
1862 photograph by Timothy Sullivan;
"American Memory" Library of Congress
Though the shells fell thick around us, shattering trees, knocking bricks out of the house, cousin Jenny stood on the cellar steps cutting bread, spreading it with apple butter and giving it to the poor men who had been marched double quick for miles without any breakfast. The poor fellows were so grateful, and would say, Courage ladies, we'll drive the rebs!"
Anna Mary Young, Gettysburg
Clara Barton, Angel of the Battlefield
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division(LC-USZC4-6307)
"While our soldiers stand and fight, I can stand and
feed and nurse them."