But it is neither cannon nor bayonet that will do the worst damage to this city. No, this place will remember the war against our government just as long as there are inhabitants here.
Knute Nelson

Gen. Banks has issued an order for the instruction of Negro children. Schoolhouses are to be built or rented and Teachers hired for this purpose, and the farmers and planters are to pay the Taxes in support of this.
Knute Nelson

I know that money speaks more loudly than need.
Knute Nelson

I would prefer being in a hard battle; however, I will be satisfied with whatever happens to me in this war, if only the country comes out of this peril safe and to the satisfaction of the finest and best government on earth.
Knute Nelson

In the midst of these hard times it is our good health and good sleep that are enjoyable.
Knute Nelson

It is in Virginia and Georgia that the war now rages and where it will continue; for at these points - Richmond and Atlanta - the enemy's main strength is concentrated.
Knute Nelson

It is with this as with religion: one usually believes what he has been taught.
Knute Nelson

Man is remembered by his deeds.
Knute Nelson

Mess is fairly good. It is like what is found in American hotels except for cake and pie.
Knute Nelson

That death was near, I suppose I believed, but I saw it only as a rest after the day's work.
Knute Nelson


The scene was not a happy one yet we looked upon it in the cold stoical spirit of a soldier; a slight chilling pang and then a return soul and body to the enemy before us.
Knute Nelson

Vicksburg lies on top of a bluff on the east side of a large tongue of land jutting out into the Mississippi.
Knute Nelson

We set the town on fire and burned down every house as a warning to other small towns along the river.
Knute Nelson

What is best and most necessary usually happens.
Knute Nelson

You must not forget that you have been given worldly means to use and employ against human arrogance and wrong.
Knute Nelson

You say that your hope is in God, and he will, I am sure, stand by you. But you must not forget that you have been given worldly means to use and employ against human arrogance and wrong; it is necessary to see such things with a broad mind in order to oppose them.
Knute Nelson