Kieran Mulroney

Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart: You wish to see me, sir?

General Robert E. Lee: [Lee nods and sighs; there is a short pause] It is the opinion of some... excellent officers that you have let us all down.

Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart: [angry at the slight to his honor] General Lee, sir, if you will please tell me who these gentlemen are...

General Robert E. Lee: There will be none of that. There is no time.

Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart: Sir, I only ask that I be allowed to defend my...

General Robert E. Lee: [raising his voice slightly] There is no time.

[Stuart looks stunned]

General Robert E. Lee: General Stuart... your mission was to free this army from the enemy cavalry and report any movement by the enemy's main body. That mission was not fulfilled. You left here with no word of your movement or movement of the enemy for several days. Meanwhile, we were engaged here and drawn into battle without adequate knowledge of the enemy's strength or position, without knowledge of the ground. So it is only by God's grace that we did not meet disaster here.

Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart: General Lee, there were reasons...

General Robert E. Lee: [Lee holds up his hand to silence Stuart] Perhaps you misunderstood my orders? Perhaps I did not make myself clear. Well, sir... this must be made *very* clear. You, sir, with your cavalry, are the eyes of this army. Without your cavalry, we are made blind. That has already happened once. It must never, *never* happen again.

Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart: [Stuart stares at the floor, then slowly draws his sword in token of his resignation] Sir... since I no longer hold the General's...

General Robert E. Lee: [suddenly furious, Lee pounds the table with his fist] I have *told* you, there is no time for that! There is no time!

[he pauses, takes a deep breath, and calms down again]

General Robert E. Lee: There is another fight comin' tomorrow, and we need you. We need every man, God knows. You must take what I have told you, and learn from it, as a man does.

[he takes Stuart's sword and replaces it in its scabbard]

General Robert E. Lee: There has been a mistake. It will not happen again; I know your quality. You are one of the finest cavalry officers I have ever known, and your service to this army has been invaluable. Now... let us speak no more of this.

[he turns and slowly walks away, then turns back to Stuart]

General Robert E. Lee: The matter is concluded. Good night, General.

[not knowing what to think of this show of mercy, Stuart snaps a crisp salute, and Lee returns it]

James L. Kemper: [Kemper, Pickett, Garnett, and Col. Freemantle are sitting around a table playing cards, while Kemper expounds on the Confederate cause] You see, Colonel, uh... the government derives its power from the consent of the people. Every government, everywhere. Well, let me make this very plain to you, sir: we do not consent, and we will *never* consent. And what you've got to do is -

[he stands up and looks straight at Freemantle]

James L. Kemper: - you've got to go back over there to your Parliament, and you've gotta make it very plain to *them*. You've gotta tell them that what we're fighting for here is the - is the freedom from what we consider to be the rule of a foreign power! I mean, that's all we want. That's what this war is all about.

Brig. Gen. Richard B. Garnett: Jim -

[he tries to pull Kemper back into his chair]

James L. Kemper: [brushes Garnett off] No, no, no, no. Now-now, we-we established this country in the first place with very strong state governments just for that very reason. I mean, uh... let me put it to you this way: my home is in Virginia. The government of my home *is* home. Virginia would not allow itself to be ruled by... by some, uh, king over there in London. And it's not about to let itself be ruled by some president in Washington! Virginia, by God, sir, is gonna be run by *Virginians*!

Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead: [Armistead and Longstreet are walking by and overhear this] Oh, my. "The Cause."

Major General George E. Pickett: [looks at his cards] Actually, Jimmy, I got a pair of kings.

[laughs]

James L. Kemper: [keeps plowing on] And it's all for the Yankees, the damn, money-grubbin' Yankees. I mean, those damn fools, they don't get the message! Always the darkies, nothin' but the darkies.

Major General George E. Pickett: You know, Jim... ahem. Sit down.

[he abruptly pulls Kemper back into his seat]

Major General George E. Pickett: I think that my idea, my, uh... my analogy of a gentlemen's club is-is fair enough. It's clear enough.

[he turns to Freemantle]

Major General George E. Pickett: Colonel, think on it, now. Now you suppose that we all join a club, a gentlemen's club. And then, well, after a time, several of the members began to, uh... began to *intrude* themselves into our private lives, our home lives. Began tellin' us what we could do, what we couldn't do. Well, then, wouldn't any one of us have the right to resign? I mean, just...

[he snaps his fingers]

Major General George E. Pickett: ... resign. Well, that's what we did. That's what *I* did, and now these people are tellin' us that we don't have that right to resign.

James L. Kemper: Well...

[he starts chuckling]

James L. Kemper: I gotta hand it to you, George. You certainly do have a talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious. You ever considered runnin' for Congress?

Brig. Gen. Richard B. Garnett: Oooh.

Major General George E. Pickett: [laughs] It's a thought.