Gen. George Armstrong Custer: [after the Washita River Massacre in 1868] Take a dispatch to General Sheridan. Despite overwhelming odds, a great victory was won here today. Factors contributing to our success were - One, the Indians were asleep, - Two, the women and children offered little resistance, - Three, the Indians are bewildered by our change of policy.

Gen. George Armstrong Custer: [commenting with disgust about the coming industrialization] If this is the future, I don't want any part of it!
Elizabeth Custer: Where does that leave you?
Gen. George Armstrong Custer: With the Indians!

Gen. George Armstrong Custer: War isn't just killing, you know. It's a contest. It's a man against a man.
[indicates a Gatling gun]
Gen. George Armstrong Custer: That's a machine! Personal courage wouldn't count. Honor, duty, loyalty - everything a soldier lives by - would be wiped out. All you would have left is statistics. How many men would the machine murder today? One hundred? One thousand? Ten thousand? If this is the future, I don't want any part of it.

Gen. Philip Sheridan: If there's any doubt about the policy of my command, I'll give it to you in one sentence: The only good Indian is a dead Indian. Clear enough?

Gen. Philip Sheridan: The only good Indian is a dead Indian!

Gen. Philip Sheridan: You know, you could become a living legend... or get yourself killed. Dead men make better legends.

Capt. Benteen: [riding through the Cheyenne village] Look at them, sir. They've got no fight left in them. We took the whole Cheyenne Nation with 265 men.
Gen. George Armstrong Custer: Pizarro conquered Peru with 167.

[addressing Custer]
Gen. Philip Sheridan: I didn't recognize you without your horse.