As far as last words go, I think John Sedgwick takes the cake for having the most comical and ironic. He was an officer during the Civil War, murdered by a sharpshooter before a battle with the Confederacy. Sedgwick was well liked and well known by his men and officers. Being the highest ranking casualty in the Union, apparently even Confederate general Robert E. Lee was saddened by Sedgwick’s death.  Before he died, he was chastising his men for flinching at single-fire Confederate gunshots. Sedgwick was quoted saying “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance,” seconds before being shot below the eye.

It seems that Sedgwick had not grasped the concept of Murphy’s law: what can go wrong, will go wrong. Everyone is guilty of this at some point. Carelessness, or just choosing to ignore the fact that things may very well take a turn for the worse, can have fatal consequences. And while this may cause people to pass judgment on whomever is being careless, this doesn’t determine their character. Unless the person doesn’t learn from their mistakes. Then perhaps one can pass some sort of judgment. However, many people, such as John Sedgwick, are unable to learn from their mistakes. In that case, and really in all cases, I think it’s fair to say that we’re just human and things will turn out how they’re going to turn out.