"The last war fought between gentlemen"

[Victor Steinbok]

Had this been the reason for the expression, it would have applied to
WWI, not to the Civil War. See La Grand Illusion (Renoir) for a clear
statement on this account.

> Why did you make an exception of me by inviting me here?
>
> Because your name is Boeldieu, career officer in the French Army. And
> I am Rauffenstein, career officer in the German Imperial Army.
>
> But my comrades are officers, as well.
>
> A Maréchal and a Rosenthal, officers?
>
> They're fine soldiers.
>
> Charming legacy of the French Revolution.
>
> Neither you nor I can stop the march of time.
>
> Boeldieu... I don't know who will win this war, but whatever the
> outcome, it will mean the end of the Rauffensteins and the Boeldieus.
>
> We're no longer needed.


     VS-)

On 6/22/2012 5:22 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> There seem to be no 19th C. exx. of the phr. "war between gentlemen."
>
> Back then the assumption was that all commissioned officers were gentlemen
> by definition and all enlisted men were, well, farm boys and (except during
> said American Civil War) losers and ne'er-do-wells.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 5:14 PM, Garson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> The 1950 Frank O'Connor quote is intriguing, Jon.
>>
>> Regarding the footnote number 86 in "The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and
>> His Image in American Society" (1977) by Thomas Connelly. I still have
>> not see the contents of the footnote. But the citation below probably
>> explains why the author Connelly connected the quote to Virginius
>> Dabney. A 1955 article in The Saturday Review by Dabney contained the
>> quote and attributed it to Churchill.
>>
>> This instance matches your original query text exactly. But this cite
>> is a couple years after James H. Street published a slightly different
>> version of the quote in his book and ascribed the words to Churchill.
>>
>> Cite: 1955 March 19, The Saturday Review, Appomattox: Epic Surrender
>> by Virginius Dabney, Saturday Review Associates, Inc., New York. (Unz)
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Just ninety years ago, on April 9, 1865, the conflict which Winston
>> Churchill has called "the last war fought between gentlemen" came to
>> its close at Appomattox Courthouse.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Here is an earlier "war between gentlemen":
>>
>> Cite: 1908, The Historians' History of the World by Henry Smith
>> Williams, Page 132, Hooper & Jackson, London. (Google Books full view)
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=-a8VAAAAYAAJ&q=joust#v=snippet&
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> In this war between gentlemen, the worst that could happen to the
>> beaten party was to go and take their part in the festivities of the
>> victors, to hunt and joust in England, and enjoy the courtesy of the
>> English; a noble war, doubtless, which crushed none but the villein.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Garson

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