I don’t know if everyone dreams of heroic last words. I imagine some people dream of never dying, and some want to go peacefully in their sleep.
My brain has always told me that if I truly believed the cause, I’d face the firing squad without fear.
I hope to never find out if that’s actually true.
- “Come on boys, let us get at them.”
–Second Lieutenant Aylett Cameron Cushen, 30 June 1916
At the Battle of Boar’s Head, the 21-year-old officer went over the top in charge of a party hoping to hold a captured strongpoint. Slammed by machine-gun fire, he still called the men forward. He was seen dead in No Man’s Land a short time later; his body was never recovered. - “Soldiers, when I give the command to fire, fire straight at my heart. Wait for the order. It will be my last to you. … Soldiers, fire!”
–Marshal Michel Ney, 7 December 1815
One of Napoleon’s marshals, condemned after the Hundred Days. He refused a blindfold, adjusted his own uniform, and gave the firing squad its orders himself. The title “bravest of the brave” was already attached to him; this did not reduce it. - “The war is at its height. Wear my armor and beat my war drums. Do not announce my death.”
–Admiral Yi Sun-sin, 16 December 1598
Mortally wounded during the Battle of Noryang. He ordered that his armor be put back on him and that the drums continue so the fleet would not know he was gone. The fighting continued. The Japanese fleet was broken. The body was said to have smiled. - “Thank God I have done my duty.”
–Admiral Horatio Nelson, Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805
Struck by a musket ball while directing the fleet, Nelson was carried below. He lived minutes long enough to hear that the victory was complete. The phrasing is one of the most modest commentaries about a decisive and important battle won. - “Now, God be praised, I die contented.”
–General James Wolfe, 13 September 1759
Mortally wounded while leading the British assault on Quebec. An officer told him the French were retreating. Wolfe gave a few final instructions about cutting off the enemy, then said the line. The battle was already won. But he never knew. - “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”
–Hugh Latimer, 16 October 1555
Spoken to Nicholas Ridley as the two were burned together in Oxford for heresy. Latimer was addressing the man beside him and the longer future at the same time. The candle line is the one that stayed. - “Push on, brave York volunteers!”
–Major-General Isaac Brock, 13 October 1812
Leading a counterattack at Queenston Heights, Brock was hit in smack dab in the the chest by an American sharpshooter. His last words were to hold the position against painful odds.The position held. - “Dan liever de lucht in!” (“I would rather be blown up!”)
–Lieutenant Jan van Speijk, 5 February 1831
Commanding a Dutch gunboat during the Belgian Revolution, Speijk was boarded and ordered to strike his colors. He threw a lit cigar into the powder magazine instead. The blast killed him and a large number of the boarders. The phrase became a Dutch naval byword. - “Tell my wife I fought like a man and will die like one.”
–Brigadier General William Barksdale, 2 July 1863
Leading the Mississippi brigade in the assault on the Peach Orchard at Gettysburg, Barksdale was hit multiple times. He passed the message to a Union sergeant who reached him before he passed out. He died the next day.} - “I never surrender — the true words of a British soldier. … I go to die now. I am not afraid to die.”
–Private Patrick Coughlan (or the soldier whose blood-written note was later recovered), Western Front, 1918
Captured and sentenced to death for refusing to surrender earlier, he left a short note to his wife and child. The refusal itself is the line that survives.
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