On May 9, 1864, during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, Union Major General John Sedgwick reportedly watched his soldiers duck from Confederate sharpshooter fire and uttered one of the most infamous lines of the American Civil War:
“They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.”
Sedgwick was killed shortly afterward, and history turned the elephant quote into one of the most famous examples of badly timed “last words.”
Except there’s a problem.
Those apparently weren’t John Sedgwick’s actual last words.
Eyewitness accounts indicate Sedgwick continued speaking after making the famous elephant remark. His final words are instead reported as:
“All right, my man; go to your place.”
Moments later, Sedgwick was struck and killed.
So why does almost everyone remember the elephant quote as his last words?
Because sometimes the version of history that survives isn’t the most accurate one.
It’s the one with the better ending.
Welcome to Ugly History, where we dig into the strange, dark, ridiculous, and often misunderstood moments from history that deserve another look.
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source
I first heard it quoted with "dist–" , for even more dramatic irony on history's part.