A Plea for Captain John Brown (1859)
Context: I hear many condemn these men because they were so few. When were the good and the brave ever in a majority? Would you have had him wait till that time came? — till you and I came over to him? The very fact that he had no rabble or troop of hirelings about him would alone distinguish him from ordinary heroes. His company was small indeed, because few could be found worthy to pass muster. Each one who there laid down his life for the poor and oppressed was a picked man, culled out of many thousands, if not millions; apparently a man of principle, of rare courage, and devoted humanity; ready to sacrifice his life at any moment for the benefit of his fellow-man.
“I rejoice to hear of the defeat of that vile traitor, Major Rogers, and his party of Tories, though I am exceeding sorry to hear it cost us so brave an officer as Major Greene.”
Letter to George Washington (24 October 1776)
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Nathanael Greene 126
American general in the American Revolutionary War 1742–1786Related quotes
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