Quotes from Robert L. O'Connell

In other words, what we know for sure is entirely limited, and all the rest is basically opinion.

Real strategists are warriors and must be willing and able to fight battles, to "see the elephant," as Civil War soldiers were fond of saying.

I hope to have God on my side; but I must have Kentucky," Lincoln reputedly said.

About the best that can be done is to try to place oneself in a position to get lucky. Nothing is certain, but shrewd, well-informed planning, a determined use of every possible advantage, and a continuous awareness and acceptance of an ever-shifting environment can raise the odds.

While the morality of slavery alone might have eventually led to a showdown, it was America's sprawling growth that made the issue explosive.

He too was experimental and creatively disobedient, but he was still able to operate effectively in a fairly rigid hierarchy—something Americans do particularly well.

He wanted to bring up his plan for a retreat, but something told him not to. "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" he opened instead. "Yes," Grant replied chewing on a cigar. "Lick 'em tomorrow, though."75

Rome, on the other hand, lost—suffering on that one day more battle deaths than the United States during the entire course of the war in Vietnam, suffering more dead soldiers than any other army on any single day of combat in the entire course of Western military history.

Or imagine him in the middle of a battle coming upon a soldier cowering behind a tree and loudly proclaiming his intention to desert—prompting Sherman to shower the tree with rocks, convincing the reluctant warrior he was under even heavier fire.

I wish I were there to watch the operations and changes; but alas! I am in Kansas scratching for a living.

if you thought like Sherman and there was a nest of treason to be found, Columbia was in your crosshairs.

it was in defeat more than victory that Polybius saw the essence of Rome's greatness. It

Tom Jr. was steeped in Free Soil politics and was now chief justice of the Kansas State Supreme Court.

That's the way it is with Appian; things that appear ridiculous on average just might have happened, so they cannot be entirely dismissed.

His descriptions of his own stay in Kansas—now "Bleeding Kansas" to many—were devoid of references to the violence of the nearby Border War. He had blinded

better than Sherman.