I don't have the Killer Angels at home so this is a direct lift from another site. Does anyone know if the bolded quotation is an actual Robert E. Lee quote or just part of the historical fiction of the book? Thanks.
To be a good soldier you must love the army. But to be a good officer you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love. This is ... a very hard thing to do. No other profession requires it. That is one reason why there are so few good officers. Although there are many good men. (...) We are prepared to lose some of us. (...) But never all of us. Surely not all of us. But ... that is the trap. You can hold nothing back when you attack. You must commit yourself totally. And yet, if they all die, a man must ask himself, will it have been worth it?
Comment