Grenville Dodge

The Filipinos indulged in every torture and indignity that was possible, and, as a general thing, our soldiers did not retaliate.

I have had much to do with Indian warfare, but have never seen any cruelties to be compared with those inflicted upon our soldiers by the Filipinos, and these occurrences were not rare, but general,--happening all the time.

You have not, however, seen in these papers any pictures portraying the cruelties perpetrated upon our soldiers, which have been worse than any acts ever committed by the savages in our wars with them; they are, in fact, too revolting to…

In order to work upon the sympathies of the people, some of the papers are publishing pictures showing our soldiers in the very act of committing great outrages; the pictures were manufactured in their own offices, as were also most of the…

The yellow journals may continue to howl, but the loyal American people will sustain the soldiers of the Nation in every effort to compel peace that comes within the rules of war.

War is never a picnic, but should at all times be made terrible in order that peace and safety may be speedily gained.

An officer has great latitude under such circumstances, and it is not safe or fair to condemn one for almost any act that detects a traitor and spy in arms against the Government which he has sworn to protect, and which has put him in a…

If these are the facts, under the usages of war these officers were justified in what they did; in fact, if they had shot the traitor they would never have been called to account, and in all probability this is what would have happened to…

Therefore, he was a traitor and a spy, and his every act was a violation of the laws of war, and branded him an outlaw and guerilla.

This alone will prohibit his being treated as a prisoner of war, when caught, as Davis was, in our uniform, with valuable documents upon him, and seals his fate.

A soldier caught in the uniform, or a part of the uniform, of his enemy, within his enemy's lines, establishes the fact that he is a spy and is there in violation of the Articles of War and for no good purpose.

The fact that the information they obtain is found within their enemy's lines, and the probability of great danger to an Army, is what causes the penalty to be so very severe.

The severe penalty of death, where a spy is captured, is not because there is anything dishonorable in the fact of the person being a spy, as only men of peculiar gifts for such service, men of courage and cool judgment and undoubted…

It is not, therefore, necessary for me to state that I regretted to see sentence executed; but it was one of the fates of war, which is cruelty itself, and there is no refining it.

He knew to a certainty, if he informed me of the facts, that Shaw would be executed, for he was a far more important person to us than was Davis.

It is evident from our experience in the West that our block-house and stockade system of defending our lines of communication was a great success, not only as against raids of cavalry, but from attacks of infantry and artillery, and saved…

With the small force we had it would have been impossible to maintain our mail, telegraph and overland routes successfully, if it had not been for our system of block-houses and stockades, dotted for thousands of miles over each of the…

During the two or three days we were with Grant he outlined in a general way his plan of campaign that every Army should move as early as possible in the spring, all on the same day against the enemy, so that Lee and Johnston could not…

Had the Sixteenth Corps given way the rebel army would have been in the rear of the Seventeenth and Fifteenth Corps, and would have swept like an avalanche over our supply-trains, and the position of the Army of the Tennessee would have…

He said that it was the first time they had been treated decently, and they were thankful they had fallen into the hands of some one who appreciated them.

One of the pleasantest recollections of my life is that I received a letter from General Smith, thanking me for appreciating their condition, and having in Nashville when they arrived, everything they needed.

No one who knew or saw Sheridan then thought of the great position he was to occupy in our Army, but when he took hold of that Army and stripped it and fed it, three hundred miles away from rail or water communication, we all knew that his…

Another thought we forward cast to that not distant day, When left of all our gallant band will be one veteran gray, And here's to him who meets alone--wherever he may be, The last, the lone survivor of the grand old Tennessee.

Our roster thins; as years pass on we drop off one by one; Ere long, too soon, to yearly call, there will be answer--none; Then as along the record page these mourning columns creep, The whisper comes to closer still our living friendships…

As myriad sparks of war's romance our meetings warm inspire; The heady fight, the anxious march, the jolly bivouac fire; The days of doubt, of hope, of care, of danger, and of glee; Oh, what a world of racy thought illumines Tennessee!