Military & Veterans

"Abraham Lincoln once asked Gen. Winfield Scott this question: "Why is it that you were once able to take the City of Mexico in three months with five thousand men, and we have been unable to take Richmond with one hundred thousand men?" "I will tell you," said General Scott, "The men who took us into the City of Mexico are the same men who are keeping us out of Richmond"..."

Quote by Abraham Lincoln on armed citizens in civil war

""The militia trained hard. This time, in contrast to their unpreparedness when British troops earlier occupied Boston, the people of Massachusetts would be ready to counter any further invasion. All the militia of the colony were soon directed to train according to Colonel Timothy Pickering's new book, Easy Plan of Discipline for a Militia (1775). From Salem, Pickering imaginatively simplified the stodgy and ritualistic rules of British army drill and emphasized the American woodsman's habit of individual marksmanship, a practice particularly suited to an armed people's guerrilla war. Political philosophy and military tactics blended as one, for Pickering stressed that the American soldier was an individualist, a freeman, and a property owner, in contrast to professional European soldiers trained as obedient 'machines.' Pickering wrote that 'men must see the reason and the use of any action or movement. 'Tis the boast [of European commanders] that their men are mere machines. . . . God forbid that my countrymen should be thus degraded.'""

Quote by Colonel Timothy Pickering on individual vs machine soldiers

""The sentiment of the American nation is opposed to standing armies, nor will the wisdom of the government, permit a greater regular force, than is sufficient to garrison our frontier posts, and the most exposed of our sea-ports.—A well regulated militia has always been esteemed the best resource of a free people, and is relied upon by the United States as the surest bulwark of National defence.""

Quote by W.C.C. Claiborne on territorial governor