Gettysburg (1993)

Royce D. Applegate: Brig. Gen. James L. Kemper

Photos 

Quotes 

• Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead : What does Col. Fremantle think? Will the British come in on our side?

  James L. Kemper : Oh, hell yeah, they'll come in - they'll come in when we don't need 'em no more. Just like some damn bank gon' loan you money when you no longuh in debt.

• Major General George E. Pickett : Sirs, perhaps there are those among you who believe you are descended from a ape. I suppose there may even be those among you who believe that I am descended from a ape. But I challenge the man to step forward who believes that General Robert E. Lee is descended from a ape.

  James L. Kemper : Hear, hear!

  Brig. Gen. Richard B. Garnett : Not likely.

• 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.