“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…That is one reason why there are so very few good officers. Although there are many good men.”
Lee directs this sentiment towards Longstreet while deliberating on what makes a good officer specifically the Generals who hold the task of strategizing. The motif of the art of war particularly in strategy and planning is central in the novel due to its significance in the American Civil War. Thus, in the assertion, Lee expresses the difficulty actually involved in making these decisions that might cost good men their lives. Officers have the hardest task in war and that is why there are fewer officers that are good at their jobs because most are not willing to make this ultimate sacrifice.
“Honor without intelligence is a disaster. Honor could lose the war.”
Longstreet asserts this statement to illustrate the evolving nature of strategy in war. He points out the illusion of honor as the only attribute needed among soldiers to defeat their opponents and win battles. However, strategy is a big part of warfare and the American Civil War was not exempted from this fact. Hence the quotation is an expression on how intelligence in planning is a bigger part of winning as honor alone could cost them victory.
“We are fighting for ... our freedom from the rule of what is to us a foreign government.”
Kemper articulates the basis of the Confederates’ reason to fight the Union Army in the war. In that the South is seeking autonomy from the rule of the North as they view them as the foreign power of autocracy. He emphasizes that their reasons are not to defend slavery but rather a protection of their freedom to mold their own authority. Kemper views their side of the battle as honorable because they are fighting for independence.
“You looked in the eye and there was a man. There was the divine spark.”
Chamberlain accentuates the sentiment that all men are equal regardless of the color of their skin or ethnicity. During war was when the majority race apprehended other men of minority races are same as them since they fought and bled as them. In times of life and death, they realize that all men are no different irrespective of the constructs ingrained in society. Further fostering the main cause of the civil war, the abolishing of slavery.
