“With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die.” - Abraham Lincoln

From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst

February 7

There was no dearth of humor among the Rebels. Whenever General Lee would ask how his veterans were, particularly toward the end, they would say, “General, I’m real hungry.” One with a bit of the poet to him years later expressed it this way: “I thanked God I had a backbone for my stomach to lean up against.” Yet another put his situation this way “My shoes are gone; my clothes are almost gone. I’m weary, I’m sick, I’m hungry. My family has been killed or scattered, and may now be wandering helpless and unprotected. I would die, yes, I would die willingly because I love my country. But if this war is ever over, I’ll be damned if I ever love another country!”