Valor and devotion can accomplish nothing that will compensate for the loss that must attend the continuance of the conflict. You may take with you the satisfaction of duty faithfully performed, and I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to you his blessing and protection.
Grant
(Speaking the close of Grant’s last message.)
All that it was possible for men to do in battle they have done. Let us hope for perpetual peace and harmony with that enemy whose manhood, however mistaken the cause, drew forth such Herculean deeds of valor.
[The bloody light fades and the two armies spread out into the crowds which now slowly close in.]
Lincoln
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right; let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
[The darkness has gradually closed in upon the scene except for Freedom’s face.
A great toll of the kettledrums and a voice of a man that cries out desperately in the darkness.]
The Voice