Bunker Hill Quotes

• I declare that civil war is inevitable and is near at hand. When it comes the descendants of the heroes of Lexington and Bunker Hill will be found equal in patriotism, courage and heroic endurance with the descendants of the heroes of Cowpens and Yorktown. For this reason I predict the civil war which is now at hand will be stubborn and of long duration.

  Sam Houston

  War, Hero, Hands

  Sam Houston (1943). “The Writings of Sam Houston, 1813-1863: 1825-1863”

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• Liberty knows nothing but victories. Soldiers call Bunker Hill a defeat; but liberty dates from it though Warren lay dead on the field.

  Wendell Phillips

  Soldier, Victory, Liberty

  Wendell Phillips (1864). “Speeches, Lectures, and Letters”, p.274

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• Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!

  William H. Prescott

  Memorial Day, Military, War

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• We'll make a bunker hill of it.

  George Pickett

  War, Hills, Bunkers

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• I shall enter on no encomium upon Massachusetts; she needs none. There she is. Behold her, and judge for yourselves. There is her history; the world knows it by heart. The past, at least, is secure. There is Boston and Concord and Lexington and Bunker Hill; and there they will remain forever.

  Daniel Webster

  Heart, Past, Boston

  Second Speech on Foote's Resolution, U.S. Senate, 26 Jan. 1830. Often misquoted as "Massachusetts, there she stands."

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• If one, then, asks me the meaning of our flag, I say to him, It means just what Concord and Lexington meant, what Bunker Hill meant; it means the whole glorious Revolutionary War, which was, in short, the rising up of a valiant young people against an old tyranny, to establish the most momentous doctrine that the world had ever known - the right of men to their own selves and to their liberties.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Veterans Day, Mean, Men

  "Freedom and War: Discourses on Topics Suggested by the Times".

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• My bursting heart must find vent at my pen.

  Abigail Adams

  Women, Losing A Loved One, Heart

  Abigail Adams, John Adams, L. H. Butterfield, Marc Friedlaender, Mary-Jo Kline (1975). “The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784”, p.90, UPNE

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• Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes! Then fire low!

  Israel Putnam

  Military, War, Eye

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• July 4, 1776 was the historic day on which the representatives of three millions of people vocalized Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker Hill, which gave notice to the world that they proposed to establish an independent nation on the theory that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

  Calvin Coolidge

  Independent, Men, Pursuit Of Happiness

  "Equal Rights". Speech by Calvin Coolidge, en.wikisource.org. 1920.

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• When a friend of Abigail and John Adams was killed at Bunker Hill, Abigail's response was to write a letter to her husband and include these words, "My bursting heart must find vent at my pen.

  David McCullough

  Husband, Grief, Writing

  11 Copy quote