Going Home Quotes

“Hundreds of thousands of men had died in this war already.”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“The saw made a wet, ripping sound as it tore through flesh and bone. The wounded man jerked upward, his torso coming off the table. “Damn it! Hold him!” “I’m trying,” responded Rebecca.”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“Nurse Rebecca Walker held the wounded Union soldier by both shoulders, pressing with all her weight to keep him from jerking off the table. The man stared up at her with wild terror, biting down hard on a dirty cloth. Doctor Thomas Johnston stood at the lower”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“pain and his head explode with bright lights. “Let me tell you something, lad. You’re going to keep your mouth shut. If you breathe a word of this to your ma, you won’t live out the day. I need to think, do you understand? Now go to bed before I give you another hand.”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“patients. Doctor Johnston would walk away from”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“I’ve realized you can’t always trust what they say; you have to look at what they do. Funny it took me this long to figure it out.”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“Actually, it’s the rats I prefer the most. They keep me company.”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“You look like you’re having a nice time,” observed David. “Is it wet and cold enough for you? Is your blanket suitably moldy and worn out? Is there enough mud for your boots?”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“If the cannon were lobbing shells into his town, onto his farm? If his family might be raped or killed if the city fell? He understood their spirit and their resistance, even while he hoped and prayed that they would soon surrender.”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“captured enemies. The rebels were dressed in tatters with rags wrapped around their feet. Their bodies, once assuredly strong and muscular, were now no more than skeletons. He wondered how they endured,”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“only a trickle of supplies was reaching the Confederate lines. Those men were not only freezing, but starving and sick with disease from lack of medicine and fresh clothing.”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“How could he tell his little girl he was off to kill other men or be killed? She would never understand that because it didn’t make any sense.”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“She would not be dominated by weak emotions. She was a nurse and a Christian woman.”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“She knew she must continue in her faith, even without understanding.”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“She knew she couldn’t understand God’s plan, but how could He be allowing all of this to happen?”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“He had nowhere to run, no family or friends to depend on. He was done with crying, done with begging. He had no choice. He would do what was necessary. He would survive.”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“He prayed everything would change in America and that they would live forever in happiness.”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“Two orderlies pulled the soldier off the table and carried him on a stretcher to the recovery area while two more brought another wounded Union soldier onto the table. Rebecca quickly washed the instruments and sponges in cold water. The water was already bloody from a dozen previous operations, but she did her best to clean the tools before they started the next procedure.”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“The doctor cut the rest of the way through the leg, blood spattering his already-stained and dirty shirt. He casually tossed away the foot and calf onto a pile of other limbs in the corner of the tent. He then motioned”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home

“Joseph felt a terrible ripping pain in his left shoulder and chest. He was blown backward by the impact. His head hit the mud of the trench. A fire pulsed in his shoulder. He tried to reach up and feel the wound, but he couldn’t move his hands. He fought to stay conscious but his mind was drawn into the darkness. His last thought was of home. UNION MILITARY HOSPITAL CAMP, NEAR THE JERUSALEM ROAD PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 1865”
― James D. Shipman, Going Home