not quite 4 - Robert E. Lee

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There is a quote attributed to Robert E. Lee who fought for the U S in the Mexican War of 1845 and the Confederacy in the Civil War 1861-65. He was a highly respected General who won (among many others) the the Battle of Fredericksburg (13th December 1862) by placing his men in fortified positions and slaughtering the Yankee troops that Union General Burnside sent across an open field.
Afterwards he said: "It is well that war is so terrible - otherwise we would grow too fond of it."

Seems to me that this is one of those quotes that doesn't quite work because if it wasn't "so terrible", then there wouldn't be any problem with "growing too fond of it."

PS Eight months later on the 3rd day at Gettysberg Lee repeated Burnside's mistake and had Gen George Pickett launch thousands of Rebels across an open field against a greater number of men behind a stone wall. When the Yankees drove the surviving Rebels back across the field they banged on the wall and chanted: "Fredricksburg! Fredricksburg! Fredricksburg!"

PPS I suppose that you would have to say that Lee's decision was worse than Burnside's since it came later. But surely the worst would be those WWI generals who had fifty years to study that war and even greater firepower and still they issued those orders to go "over the top" and across those open fields. Apparently, they had never taken notice of what had happened in "the colonies".
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