Military – Final Words

General Custer (1839 – 1876)

“Orderly, I want you to take a message to Colonel Benteen. Ride as fast as you can and tell him to hurry. Tell him it’s a big village and I want him to be quick, and to bring the ammunition packs.”

George Armstrong Custer gave this last order to a Sergeant Windolph prior to his death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand. The army officer and cavalry commander succumbed to fatal gunshot wounds to his head and chest and died on the field of battle at Little Bighorn in Montana, he was 36 years old.

The Red Baron (1892 – 1918)

“Kaput!”

Manfred von Richthofen, a fighter pilot ace during World War 1, was killed in action by machine gun fire from the ground. ‘Kaput’ translates into English as ‘broken, useless.’

Horatio Nelson (1758 – 1805)

“Thank God I have done my duty.”

British naval commander mortally wounded by musket shot at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Hannibal (247 BCE – 182 BCE)

“Let us relieve the Romans from the anxiety they have so long experienced, since they think it tries their patience too much to wait for an old man’s death.”

The Carthaginian general and military genius reputedly left behind this letter before taking poison to escape Roman soldiers.

George S Patton (1885 – 1945)

“This is a hell of a way to die.”

Paralysed from the neck down after a car accident, these were the general’s last words before dying in his sleep. ‘Old blood and guts’ died from pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure at a hospital in Heidelberg Germany.

Che Guevara (1928 – 1967)

“I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man.”

Ernesto Guevara, statesman and Marxist revolutionary, speaking to his captors before being executed.

Oliver Cromwell (1599 – 1658)

“It is not my design to drink or sleep. My design is to make what haste I can to be gone.”

Politician, statesman and soldier, this was his response when offered a drink by a servant. He died at the palace of Whitehall, the cause of death most likely being sepsis following a urinary infection.

Napoleon (1769 – 1821)

“France, the army, the head of the army, Josephine.”

The final words of the military genius Napoleon Bonaparte, he died on the island of Saint Helena, the cause of death is uncertain.

Joan of Arc (1412 – 1431)

“Hold the cross high so I may see it through the flames.”

Military leader and mystic spoken while she was facing her greatest fear – being burned alive at the stake. Joan of Arc was about 19 years old at the time of her death.

Alexander The Great (356 – 323 BCE)

“To the mightiest”

Last words of the Ancient Greek military conqueror, when asked which of his generals his vast empire should go to.