You People Speak So Lightly Of War;

This War Differs From Other Wars, In This Particular. We Are Not Fighting Armies But A Hostile People, And Must Make Old And Young, Rich And Poor, Feel The Hard Hand Of War.

If The People Raise A Great Howl Against My Barbarity And Cruelty, I Will Answer That War Is War, And Not Popularity Seeking.

To Secure The Safety Of The Navigation Of The Mississippi River I Would Slay Millions. On That Point I Am Not Only Insane, But Mad... I Think I See One Or Two Quick Blows That Will Astonish The Natives Of The South And Will Convince Them That, Though To Stand Behind A Big Cottonwood And Shoot At A Passing Boat Is Good Sport And Safe, It May Still Reach And Kill Their Friends And Families Hundreds Of Miles Off. For Every Bullet Shot At A Steamboat, I Would Shoot A Thousand 30-pounder Parrots Into Even Helpless Towns On Red, Ouachita, Yazoo, Or Wherever A Boat Can Float Or Soldier March.

The War Now Is Away Back In The Past, And You Can Tell What Books Cannot. When You Talk, You Come Down To The Practical Realities Just As They Happened. You All Know This Is Not Soldiering Here. There Is Many A Boy Here Today Who Looks On War As All Glory, But, Boys, It Is All Hell. You Can Bear This Warning Voice To Generations Yet To Come. I Look Upon War With Horror, But If It Has To Come, I Am There.

We Must Act With Vindictive Earnestness Against The Sioux, Even To Their Extermination, Men, Women And Children... During An Assault, The Soldiers Cannot Pause To Distinguish Between Male And Female, Or Even Discriminate As To Age.