Norman Burton: General Ulysses S. Grant

Quotes 

• Sec. Edwin Stanton : Grant, what do you hear from North Carolina?

  General U.S. Grant : From Sherman? Only that he's got Johnson's army up a tree and doesn't know what its intentions are.

  Sec. Edwin Stanton : Suppose that Rebel army's intention is not to surrender, but to fight. What then?

  General U.S. Grant : Then, gentlemen, Hell will be hauled out of its shuck.

• Abraham Lincoln : When news comes from Sherman, I'm confident it will be good.

  Sec. Edwin Stanton : And your confidence is based on what?

  Abraham Lincoln : A dream. It's a dream I had last night. I seemed to be aboard some singular, indescribable vessel and to be approaching very rapidly a distant, indefinite shore. I'll allow it's odd, but I had this identical dream just preceding news of Sumter, and Bull Run, and Antietam, Gettysburg, Stone River, and just before the taking of Vicksburg. And last night I dreamt it again. I'm certain that awesome news is forthcoming.

  General U.S. Grant : Mr. President, Stone River, Bull Run, and Antietam could hardly be called good news, sir.

  Sec. Edwin Stanton : I'm sure we'll agree omens make a charming fancy, but in the War Department, Lincoln, we like to rely for our messages on the military telegraph!