Great scene. My favorite was Buford's (Sam Elliott) speech about the high ground.
Gen. Buford : You know what's gonna happen here in the morning?
Col. Thomas C. Devin : Sir?
Gen. Buford : Whole damn Reb army's gonna be here. They'll move through this town, occupy these hills on the other side, and when our people get here Lee'll have the high ground, and there'll be the devil to pay! The high ground! Meade'll come in slowly, cautiously, new to command. They'll be on his back from Washington. Wires hot with messages. "Attack! Attack!" So he will set up a ring around these hills. And when Lee's army is all nicely entrenched behind fat rocks on the high ground, Meade'll finally attack, if he can coordinate the army. Straight up the hillside, out in the open, in that gorgeous field of fire. We will charge valiantly... and be butchered valiantly! And afterwards, men in tall hats and gold watch fobs will thump their chests and say what a brave charge it was.
[he takes off his hat and rubs his head in resignation]
Gen. Buford : Devin, I've led a soldier's life, and I've never seen anything as brutally clear as this. It's as if I can actually see the blue troops in one long, bloody moment, goin' up the long slope to the stony top. As if it were already done... already a memory. An odd... set... stony quality to it. As if tomorrow has already happened and there's nothin' you can do about it. The way you sometimes feel before an ill-considered attack, knowin' it'll fail, but you cannot stop it. You must even take part, and help it fail.
Col. Thomas C. Devin : Sir.
Gen. Buford : We have twenty-five hundred men. They'll be comin' in force. There'll be twenty thousand comin' down that road in the morning. If we hold this ridge for a couple hours, we can keep 'em away. If we can block that road 'til the main body gets here, we can deprive the enemy of the high ground!
