Brig. Gen. Lewis Armistead quotes

View Quote Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit.

View Quote Virginians! Virginians! For your lands! For your homes! For your sweethearts! For your wives! For...Virginia! Forward...march!

View Quote [reaches the fence, noticing a soldier cowering nearby] Come on, boy, come on! What will you think of yourself tomorrow? Virginians! Virginians! [Impales his hat on his sword] We'll stay! Who will come with me?! The day is ours, men! Turn the cannons on them! Turn the cannons!

View Quote The day is ours, men! Turn the cannons on them! Turn the cannons! [jumps off the stone wall and places his hand on a cannon] Man this cannon! Man this cannon!

View Quote [last words] Will you tell General Han**** that General Armistead sends his regrets? Will you tell him how very sorry I am?

View Quote [to Col. Fremantle, on the irony of his uncle defending the original "Star Spangled Banner" at Ft. McHenry in 1814] Colonel Fremantle, it does not begin or end with my uncle, or myself. We're all sons of Virginia here. That major out there, commanding the cannon - that's James Dearing, first in his class at West Point, before Virginia seceded. And the boy over there with the color guard - that's Private Robert Tyler Jones. His grandfather was President of the United States. The colonel behind me - that's Colonel William Aylett. Now, his great-grandfather was the Virginian, Patrick Henry. It was Patrick Henry who said to your King George III, "Give me liberty, or give me death." There are boys here from Norfolk, Portsmouth, small hamlets along the James River... from Charlottesville and Fredericksburg, to the Shenandoah Valley. Mostly, they're all veteran soldiers now; the cowards and shirkers are long gone. Every man here knows his duty. They would make this charge, even without an officer to lead them. They know the gravity of the situation, and the mettle of their foe. They know that this day's work will be desperate and deadly. They know, that for many of them, this will be their last charge. But not one of them needs to be told what is expected of him. They're all willing to make the supreme sacrifice - to achieve victory, here... the crowning victory... and the end of this war. We are all here, Colonel. You may tell them, when you return to your country, that all Virginia was here on this day.