The Southern armies' most revered figure, General Robert E. Lee, once remarked that duty is the most sublime word of the English language. Perhaps reflecting upon the South's uncompromising fortitude and unbreakable will to fight on, though relief from peril looked grim -- indeed, was able to fight on though adversity after adversity was their reward, till it seemed She had no more to give -- he further exhorted his fellow countrymen, "Do your duty in all things, you cannot do more, you should never wish to do less."
"Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. You can never do more, you should never wish to do less." ~ Robert E. Lee writing to his son ~
Thanks for that reply. It was indeed Lee.
Perhaps the greatest soldier ever to serve the British Empire was 1st Viscount Garnet Wollsely. He visited America during the war Between the States and spent a month with the Confederate leaders. This is just a small part of what he said of Lee. Many of Wollsely’s other writings are just as praisworthy of Lee. In another account he simply says Lee was the best man he ever knew.
” I have met many of the great men of my time, but Lee
alone impressed me with the feeling that I was in the
presence of a man who was cast in a grander mould,
and made of different and of finer metal than all other
men. He is stamped upon my memory as a being apart
and superior to all others in every way: a man with whom
none I ever knew, and very few of whom I have read, are
worthy to be classed.”
Wolseley on the greatness of Lee