Chapter XXII: Appendix: Longstreet (2)

The Daughters at Savannah have, we suppose, satisfactorily to themselves, settled the mooted question of the Gettysburg controversy, but we do not believe their action will find applause generally among the ex-Confederate soldiers. Whatever may have been the fact at Gettysburg, it is beyond dispute that his actions there did not estrange his loyal soldiers, nor impair the esteem in which he was held by General Lee. The close of the war found him in command of the left wing of the army, and he joined General Lee on the way to Appomattox. In referring to his death the Richmond _Times-Dispatch_ says,--

“We recall General Longstreet as one of the bravest of the
brave, one who struck many blows for the Confederacy, and one on
whom General Lee often leaned and whose name is identified with
world-famous battles. These are things we cannot forget, nor do
we wish to.”

Whatever may be said of the attitude of the South since the war towards General Longstreet, the fact remains that his espousal of the Republican cause in politics did most to invite criticism, and this he always felt was unjust to him.

It seems strange that General John B. Gordon should have so bitterly attacked General Longstreet, and it is charity to say that he did it from political reasons, and not by way of challenging war records.

With his fresh grave denied its laurel wreath at the hands of the Savannah Daughters, and his lifeless lips beyond reply to carping critics, it is refreshing to see that the loyal wife, who walked with him in the evening of life, brings her own wreath of the roses of love, dewy with her tears, and places it upon the grave that holds his valiant dust.

* * * * *

(Birmingham, Alabama, Ledger.)

“In the military annals of the Anglo-Saxon race there is nothing
finer than his fighting record.”

The author of the article on Longstreet, which recently appeared in the _Ledger_ and which we republish below, has been a close student of military history, and was personally observant of great movements in Virginia during the war:

“Men of Southern blood who recall the days when the civilized
world was thrilled with the renown of those great Confederate
captains, ‘Lee, Longstreet, and Jackson,’ can scarcely realize
that the grave has just closed over all that is mortal of the
stoutest, the steadiest, the most practical, pushing, resolute,
and stolidly unimaginative fighter of that goodly and immortal
group. In the military annals of the Anglo-Saxon race there
is nothing finer than the fighting record of this Old Lion of
the South. It does not need the formal observances of official
commemoration to perpetuate the memory of a man who led the
stanch legions of the Confederacy in victorious fellowship with
Jackson and Lee. Tradition alone will uplift and applaud his
name long after monuments have crumbled and Camps and Chapters
have ceased to exist. None knew better than the great Virginian
leader that the neck of the ‘Old War-Horse’ was always clothed
with thunder when the shock of battle came. Lee never dreamed
that Longstreet was faithless.

“Every American who is proud of our common race must deplore the
openly manifest disposition of Southern veterans and sons of
veterans to discredit for all time the great historic soldiers of
the South. It needs not the perspicacity of a Verulam to inform
us that the highest virtues are not visible to the common eye.
The disposition to suspect and besmirch a glorious soldier--a man
whose leadership immortalized the armies that he led--not only
betokens a radical change in popular ideals, but apparently marks
the decadence of that traditional sentiment of chivalry which is
truly ‘the unbought grace of life,’ and that generous martial
spirit which for generations has characterized the great Southern
branch of the Anglo-American race.

“The humblest citizen of this republic has an inalienable
interest in the heroic memories of the South. Let the Dead Lion
sleep in peace. Nothing is alien to the true American heart that
in the least degree concerns the glory of the Old South or the
interest of the New. It is precisely this sentiment that was
expressed in the fine chivalry of Grant at Appomattox and won for
that iron conqueror the lasting affection and respect of the men
that he had fought. The heroic Longstreet needs no higher eulogy
than the single phrase, He was the friend of Grant and Lee.”

* * * * *

(_Macon, Georgia, Telegraph._)

“No reproach can be cast upon his bravery and devotion.”

The Savannah Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy has made itself ridiculous by throwing a brick at the dead lion at Gainesville!

It seems a pity that the enterprising news gatherers in the Forest City should have given out to the public the silly action of these young women. Their offence was a resolution “refusing” to send a wreath to lay upon the grave of General Longstreet “because he disobeyed orders at Gettysburg.”

The causes for the drawn battle at the critical point in the history of the struggle of the ’60’s will be debated while time lasts. So will the causes for the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. This debate has been and will be participated in by the great commanders of the world. But no reproach has been, can, or will be cast upon the bravery or devotion of the famous old fighter whose courage knew no abatement in the hundreds of engagements participated in during the trying experiences of three wars. Alexander and Cæsar and Napoleon and Grant and Lee made their mistakes. So did Longstreet. But how does it seem for a bevy of young women to pounce upon the cold remains of this battle-scarred veteran and hero lying in state and attempt to punish him for an alleged mistake made forty years ago in the midst of the roar and clash of the greatest battle in history! Their mothers knew better.

We are not surprised that veterans in Savannah feel aggrieved, as they must feel everywhere that the action is known.

General Gordon believes that Longstreet made a mistake at Gettysburg, but Lee said, “It is all my fault.” The great chieftain in command made no charge against his great fighting arm. Touching this controversy, Colonel McBride, writing to the Atlanta _Constitution_, says, “Longstreet, although a prudent and cautious fighter, was not only always ready to fight, but he was always anxious and wanted to fight. On the second day he was not slow, but was simply putting himself in shape to do the bloodiest fight of the war. At least two-thirds of the casualties in America’s greatest battle happened in front of Longstreet’s corps. Reports show this. The records also show that he only obeyed Lee’s orders to the letter.”

Grant, however, that Longstreet made a costly mistake, there are times other than those at the grave to discuss them; there are persons other than young women unborn in those days to administer rebuke or punishment.

If these young women who sit in judgment at the tomb could not lay a flower on the new-made grave of an old war-horse of the Confederacy, it seems as if they might have restrained their tongues while the muffled drum passing by rolled its last tattoo.

* * * * *

(_New York Journal._)

“After a while Southern capitals will be adorned with statues of
Longstreet; upon his grave ‘his foeman’s children will loose the
rose.’”

At the age of eighty-three General Longstreet has passed away--a noble character, a good soldier, one of the hardest fighters of the Civil War. General Longstreet was pretty badly treated by the people whose battles he fought with so great courage and capacity. He was no politician--just a soldier, and at the close of the war committed the error of “fraternizing” with all his countrymen. He “accepted the situation,” not wisely, but too early. With a fine and generous unwisdom he laid away the animosities of the war-time and put himself at once where all stand now,--on the broad, high ground of American citizenship. No part had he in the provincial conceit of the thing that has the immodesty to call itself a “Southern gentleman.” It probably never occurred to him that the qualities distinguishing a gentleman from a pirate of the Spanish Main had so narrow a geographical distribution as the term implies. He paid for his breadth of mind--became a kind of social outlaw and political excommunicant in “the land once proud of him.” Briefly, his shipmates marooned him. Well, he has escaped--he has “beaten the game,” as, sooner or later, we all conquer without exertion. After a while Southern capitals will be adorned with statues of Longstreet and upon his grave posterity will see “his foemen’s children loose the rose.”

* * * * *

(_New York Tribune._)

Lee and Longstreet.

The death of General James Longstreet, as was to be expected, has revived to some extent the controversies which have raged over certain memorable incidents in his military career. For the last twenty-five years persistent efforts have been made to throw on General Longstreet’s shoulders responsibility for Lee’s defeat at Gettysburg. Not a few Southern writers have gone so far as to accuse him, if not of insubordination, at least of culpable inattention to orders given him by the Confederate commander-in-chief. General John B. Gordon, in his recently published reminiscences, revived and amplified these charges against Longstreet, stating explicitly--as his own conclusion and as that of impartial military critics generally--that Longstreet’s blunders had blasted Confederate hopes at Gettysburg, and that General Lee “died believing he had lost by Longstreet’s disobedience.” Strangely enough, General Longstreet’s wife had prepared an elaborate refutation of General Gordon’s theories, and had arranged for its publication on January 3--the day following General Longstreet’s death.

We do not think that history will sustain the contentions of General Longstreet’s critics. They are interesting enough as post-mortem demonstrations of what might have been. But they ignore actual conditions. They picture a situation which could have existed only as a military after-thought. General Longstreet cannot be made a scapegoat for all the sins of hesitation or omission chargeable to Confederate commanders at Gettysburg. General Gordon is himself disposed to censure General Lee for not vigorously attacking the Federal forces in their new position on the evening of July 1. He condemns utterly Longstreet’s failure to assault the Federal left wing early in the morning of July 2. But he waves aside entirely the exhaustion of A. P. Hill’s corps at the conclusion of the first day’s battle and the physical impediments to forming and executing an attack on the Federal left wing before noon of July 2. That Longstreet’s assault suffered in effectiveness from the delays of July 2 is greatly to be doubted. The fighting done by his corps far excelled in dash and brilliance anything done at Gettysburg by Ewell’s corps or A. P. Hill’s. Longstreet bore the brunt of both the second and third day’s struggle and emerged from the conflict with his reputation as a corps commander unimpaired. There is no reason to think that he could have fought more brilliantly or more successfully if he had attempted the attack which General Gordon philosophizes about in the early morning of the second day.

General Lee at the close of the battle justly and honorably assumed entire responsibility for the Confederate defeat. Lee lost at Gettysburg because on the offensive he seemed incapable of rising to the full height of his military talent. His generalship in his two brief invasions of Northern territory was commonplace.

In Lee’s own lifetime not a word of criticism was aimed at Longstreet. It is needless to inquire what influences have conspired to foist on him the blame for the Confederate failure at Gettysburg. Another generation of Southern writers will do him more impartial justice. He will certainly be classed hereafter by open-minded critics as one of the ablest and most intelligent of the commanders who fought under the South’s flag in the Civil War.

* * * * *

“No Southern man suffered more or deserved it less.”

The death of General Longstreet removes from the world’s stage of action one who in time of war had his name and his deeds sounded by the trumpet of fame throughout the civilized world. He was a conspicuous figure in the eyes of the world, and his name was at one time familiar to and honored in every Confederate household. He was Lee’s Rock of Gibraltar that never failed to stem the tides of assault, and when he led, in his turn, the attack, he was a thunder-bolt of war that never failed to strike with terrible effect. In council he was calm and calculated well and closely all the chances of conflict, in scales well balanced, and, as a rule, with almost unerring exactness.

He was essentially a soldier, whose education, training, and services for a generation in years made his enforced change to civil life practically the adoption of a new life at total variance to that in which he has always been a conspicuous and a noted figure. His was a lovable nature, loyal to principle and to truth, and when his confidence was secured his trust was sure to follow.

That trait in his character was the cause of the ban under which he suffered for such a long period from the Southern people, and, as many an old Confederate veteran will now say, with such injustice.

At the time the storm of ostracism first burst in fury over his head I was an official of the State of Mississippi and resided at Jackson, the State capital, and I was then, as I am now, familiar with the cause of the outbreak of public sentiment against him. Let me explain that there had been on the part of the Southern people a practical nullification of the Federal laws regarding the negro and his rights so recently conferred, and it was hard for Southern people to swallow the doctrine of equality in anything where the negro was concerned.

The entire South was in a tempestuous turmoil that threatened the very foundations of society, by rising like the storm-tossed waves of tempestuous seas and sweeping away the barriers that had been erected against the domination of the Southern whites. At this juncture prominent and influential leaders of public thought, who saw the coming storm, at a conference held in New Orleans explained the situation to certain popular and influential ex-Confederate generals then residents of that city, and represented to them that an appeal by them to their old soldiers to accept the situation, obey the Federal laws, and maintain peace and order would result in great good and assist in allaying the suppressed, indeed often open, excitement of the people. They were appealed to as patriots to come to the rescue of their people and lead them in peace as they had in war.

The text of a letter to be written by each was then outlined, and at a second conference each submitted his letter. The substance of all the letters was identical, each with the others. They were published in the New Orleans papers simultaneously to insure the object in view, the influencing of public opinion. Their publication aroused a storm of reproach and denunciation that was without measure.

Instead of acting like oil on the troubled waters, they provoked the fury of the tempest, and the authors of the letters were overwhelmed with letters of protest and reproach.

Explanation after explanation by the authors (save General Longstreet) that amounted to public retraction, followed. Longstreet, firm as the rock of Gibraltar, bared his breast to the storm and proudly declared that he had nothing to retract. He explained the circumstances under which he had written the letter, cited its approval by leaders of public thought, and declared that the sentiment of the letter but expressed his honest convictions, and he stood by it. Every old veteran of Longstreet’s corps who reads this will say, “That’s just like old Pete.” He could have saved his popularity had he sacrificed principle. But like the noble Roman that he was, he could, in weighing one against the other, defiantly proclaim

“These walls, these columns fly
From their firm base as soon as I.”

I was among the few who saw nothing then in any of the letters to merit the disapproval of the Southern people; and looking through “the vista of time” back to those days, I can say in all candor and sincerity that had the seed of Longstreet’s advice fallen in ground ripe for it, reconstruction would have been shorn of many of the evils that accompanied it and blighted the land. Some time after these occurrences General Longstreet made a trip through territory in Mississippi from which his mercantile firm derived much business. One day Governor Humphreys said to me, “General Longstreet is coming this way. If he comes here, what would you do?” Instantly I replied, “I would not wait for him to come, but I would insist on his coming, and tell him that he would be welcomed at the governor’s mansion.” He directed me to write the invitation, saying, “I had made up my mind to so act, for nothing could make me turn my back on ‘old Pete.’ I served under him too long to do that.” He accepted the invitation and was the guest of the governor. In honoring him the governor set an example that the whole town followed, and the period of his stay was almost a constant levee. On me was placed the special and agreeable duty of attendance upon him. I was with him much of the time and participated in conversations in which the letter that brought to him only woe was discussed. Never did a bitter word pass his lips in denunciation of those who led him to the slaughter and themselves stepped aside and raised no hand to help him. He declared that the letter expressed his true sentiments, and that it was written after deliberate thought. It proved to be unfortunate, and though he was then reaping only thorns from it, time would vindicate him and his course. He bore his fate like an ancient Stoic. I count my association with him at this time as among the most pleasant of a checkered life. I never saw him again.

General Joseph E. Johnston, of whose staff I was a member, told me with his own lips that the plan by which the army of Stonewall Jackson was withdrawn from the valley and hurled on the flank of McClellan was first suggested to him by Longstreet. He said that the idea had occurred to him, but at a time when it was not feasible. But just previous to the battle of Seven Pines, Longstreet submitted a plan that he had matured, that met his favor and determined him to adopt it. At the battle that almost immediately occurred he was incapacitated by wounds and General Lee assumed command. Shortly after, Jackson’s force was transferred from the valley and hurled on the Federal flank. We know with what result. The plan was communicated to General Lee shortly after his accession to command. The plan which General Lee adopted may have been his own, but the idea first originated in the soldierly brain of Longstreet. Again, at the second Manassas, when Longstreet, to the rescue of Jackson, debouched through “Thoroughfare Gap,” a glance at the field showed him Jackson’s peril, and his masterful, soldierly ability needed no general in command to direct him as to the placing of his battalions. Like a thunder-bolt of war his command struck the Federal army. Jackson was saved and the victory was won. Space forbids further prolixity, while the theme invites it. Let me say that no Southern man suffered more at the hands of the Southern people and deserved it less. I uncover my head in honor to his memory and bid him “all hail and farewell!” Little cares he now for the plaudits of the world or the censure of his critics. When a chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy refused a wreath to his remains, Jeff Davis, Lee, Stonewall Jackson, the two Johnstons, and a host of others gone before, were giving him brotherly welcome in the city of the living God, and his old corps who have crossed the river joined in shouts of welcome to his knightly soul. Let us all feel that

“After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well.”

JAS. M. KENNARD,

_Ex-Colonel and Chief Ordnance Officer, Army of Tennessee, C. S. A._

* * * * *

(_New Orleans Picayune, Special._)

“The Confederates had no better fighter than Longstreet.”

NEW YORK, January 4.--“Longstreet fought hard enough to suit me--he gave me all I wanted. I was perfectly satisfied when the second day’s fight was over.” This was General Sickles’s comment to-day at the city hall with reference to criticism by General John B. Gordon, who seems to think that the defeat of the Confederates at Gettysburg was due to General Longstreet.

“Gordon is a gallant gentleman, and he was a gallant soldier,” continued General Sickles, “but he commanded a brigade, while Longstreet commanded a corps. Lee told Longstreet afterwards that he had done as well as he could. He had no criticism to make. Gordon was in no position to judge the merits of the case. Longstreet was on my front. I led the Third Corps on the second day. The fighting was on Hancock’s front on the third day. He was in the centre. I guess every one who was there knew that Longstreet fought brilliantly. Longstreet was practically in command of the Confederate fighting on both the second and third days. If Lee had been dissatisfied on the second day, he would not have let Longstreet command on the third day. As a matter of fact the Confederates had no better fighter than Longstreet.”

* * * * *

(_Macon, Georgia, Telegraph._)

“His record needs no defence.”

To THE EDITOR OF THE TELEGRAPH:

The able editorial in your issue of several days ago touching the Savannah incident in which the Daughters of the Confederacy refused to send flowers to the funeral of General Longstreet, assigning as the reason “that General Longstreet refused to obey the order of General Lee at Gettysburg,” met a responsive chord in the hearts of many old veterans of the Confederate army.

Longstreet’s war record, like that of Stonewall Jackson’s, needs no defence. History is replete with his grand deeds of chivalry, and places his name high in the ranks of the great commanders of the Civil War. The rank and file who fought under this great and intrepid commander know that he was incapable of such conduct, and the only tongue that could convince them otherwise was forever stilled when our peerless Lee passed over the river.

In the first battle of Manassas, at Seven Pines, when he lead the main attack, at Gaines Mill, Frazier’s Farm, Malvern Hill, and at second Manassas, when the illustrious Stonewall Jackson was being sorely pressed by the entire army of General Pope, he hurried to Jackson’s relief, and together gained one of the greatest victories of the war. He commanded the right wing of our army on the bloody field of Sharpsburg, and was in the thickest of the fight during the entire battle. At the battle of Fredericksburg he commanded the left wing of the army, where the assault proved most fatal to the enemy. In all of these battles, and others I do not now recall, General Longstreet participated, winning fresh laurels in each fight.

At Gettysburg during the second and third days of the battle he commanded the right wing of the army, and I never saw an officer more conspicuous and daring upon the battle-field. One of the most lasting pictures made upon my mind during the war, and which still lingers in my memory, was in connection with this officer. While in line of battle during the terrible cannon duel between the two armies, when at a signal our cannons ceased firing, I saw General Longstreet as he motioned his staff back, sitting superbly in his saddle, gallop far out in our front in full view and range of more than one hundred of the enemy’s cannon, stop his horse, and, standing up in his stirrups, place his field glasses to his eyes and deliberately and for some time view the enemy’s line of battle, while shells were bursting above and around him so thick that at intervals he was hidden from sight by the smoke from exploding shells. His object having been accomplished, he turned his horse and slowly galloped back to his line of battle. No officer upon the battle-field of Gettysburg displayed greater courage than Longstreet, and his presence upon the battle-field, like that of Lee and Jackson, was always worth a thousand men.

General Lee trusted Longstreet implicitly, and every act of his from the time he assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia to Appomattox Court-House sustains this assertion. When President Davis requested General Lee to send to the relief of General Bragg, who was hard pressed by Sherman, he sent his old “war-horse,” and, true to his mission, Longstreet reached Chickamauga in time to turn the tide of battle in favor of the South. Afterwards he was ordered to drive the Federal army under General Burnside from East Tennessee, which he ably accomplished, driving him behind his entrenchment at Knoxville, Tennessee.

When General Grant attacked General Lee at the Wilderness--the second battle in magnitude of the war--and by overwhelming numbers was driving our army back, Longstreet by forced marches reached the field in time to snatch from Grant a victory almost won. Here he received a wound which nearly cost him his life, and which, perhaps, saved Grant’s army from being driven into the Rappahannock.

At Appomattox Court-House, “where ceased forever the Southern soldiers’ hope,” General Lee asked his old war-horse, if the necessity should arise, to lead the remnant of the army out, and he was ready to do so, and would have done so had not General Grant granted honorable terms of surrender. Would General Lee have trusted General Longstreet after the battle of Gettysburg had he been in the least disloyal to his commands? Impartial history will ever link the names of Lee, Jackson, and Longstreet upon the brightest page of the history of the incomparable Army of Northern Virginia. One word more about Gettysburg. I happened to be there (but at the time would have liked to have been elsewhere), and I decided then and am still of the opinion that the Yankees are to blame for our defeat.

Respectfully,
J. W. MATTHEWS.

* * * * *

(_Raleigh, North Carolina, Post._)

“The idol of the Army of Northern Virginia.”

If the conduct of some of our people towards General Longstreet, the great soldier, just dead, was not pitiful, it would be brutal.

He, the stubborn fighter of all our armies, the trusted arm of General Lee, the idol of the Army of Northern Virginia, dead, forty years after his many battles and the establishment of his undying fame, is refused by some of the daughters and granddaughters of the men who fought and fell under his banners, a wreath of flowers for his grave--a grave that makes hallowed the land that holds it; is refused a resolution of praise, by the sons and grandsons of the men who cheered his plume, as it waved them to victory. Why is this? A silly story attributed to General Lee, published after Lee’s death, by General Gordon upon the authority of Fitz. Lee. The story contained the charge that the faithful “Old War-Horse,” as General Lee affectionately dubbed him, failed, wilfully, or from other cause, to obey orders at Gettysburg.

Can this story be true? That depends upon two contingencies, neither of which the wildest of General Longstreet’s defamers have dared to formulate: first, that General Lee was lacking in candor, or, secondly, he did not know his best soldiers. Can either of these propositions be true? A thousand times no.

We all, or at least those of us who had the honor of serving in the Army of Northern Virginia, recall that in September, 1863, it became necessary to detach a portion of that army to send west to relieve Bragg, then being driven south by Rosecrans from Chattanooga; we also remember that, with all of his general officers to select from, including Gordon and Fitz. Lee, General Lee selected General Longstreet to lead his immortal battalion, and the fame of how well he performed that proud duty is still ringing in the ears of all who love honor and glory.

Would General Lee have selected General Longstreet, miscalled by malice and envy “the slow,” “the disobeyer of orders,” “the loser of the battle of Gettysburg,” and so of the Southern cause, if he could have found in all his army one general braver or more competent? Surely not. This fact established, and established it is (and it also establishes General Lee’s unshaken confidence in his “Old War-Horse”), what becomes of the improbable story of Fitz. Lee? It is a matter of common history that the fighting soldiers of 1861-65 have been silent since. This at least is true of the Southern soldiers, and pity ’tis true, because our own General R. F. Hoke, fighting then, silent since, could add rich chapters to the history of those Titanic days, if he would only speak.

With this conclusive evidence of General Lee’s faith in General Longstreet, how pitiful is the unearned slander that has made the reputation of so many babblers. Longstreet a traitor or imbecile! Out upon it!

One other equally conclusive refutation of this miserable story is: In 1866 General Lee, it seems, determined to write the story of his campaigns,--“his object to disseminate the truth” (would his example had been contagious),--at the close of an affectionate letter to General Longstreet uses these words--words which General Longstreet might have claimed as a charter of nobility, had he not already had his glorious war record to ennoble him:

“I had while in Richmond a great many inquiries after you, and
learned you intended commencing business in New Orleans. If
you make as good a merchant as you were a soldier, I shall be
content. No one will excel you, and no one can wish you more
success or more happiness than I. My interest and affection for
you will never cease, and my prayers are always offered for your
prosperity.

“I am most truly yours,
“R. E. LEE.”

Does any sane man, or silly woman either, believe the noble heart that inspired these words could have asked its tongue to utter the things of General Longstreet that have been falsely attributed to it. Can argument be more cogent or conclusion more conclusive?

General Gordon is, I hope, with General Longstreet. Both are at rest, and I know the “Old War-Horse” of the Army of Northern Virginia, in the presence of his grand old chief, has forgiven his comrade the wrongs done him here. Peace to the ashes of both, the wronged and the wrong-doer.

W. H. DAY,
_Formerly of First N. C. Infantry_.

* * * * *

(_Washington, D. C., Star._)

“Longstreet came out of the war with a record for courage and
loyalty second to none.”

General Thomas L. Rosser, of Virginia, who commanded a regiment at Gettysburg, and who was with the Army of Northern Virginia from the first battle to the surrender, bitterly resents the criticism of General Longstreet’s course at Gettysburg. General Rosser was appointed an officer in the Spanish War by President McKinley, and in recent years has been acting with the Republican party. Reviewing the work of some of the great Confederate generals, General Rosser said to a reporter for the _Star_:

“With the death of General Longstreet passes the last of the great soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia. He fought alone the battle of the 18th of July, 1861, and won the first victory of that splendid army. He shared in the glory of the great battles that army fought.

“Longstreet and Lee, as soldiers, were similar in many respects. Both were great defensive generals, but neither can be classed among the successful offensive generals of history.

“Take Jackson, for instance. His campaign from Kernstown to Port Republic, in the Valley of Virginia, in 1862, was as brilliant as the first Italian campaign of the great Napoleon. He drew McDowell from Fredericksburg. He left Shields, Fremont, and Banks confused as to his whereabouts, dashed across the mountains, joined Lee on the 26th of June, striking McClellan the surprise blow, forced him to the James, and raised the siege of Richmond. With the despatch of lightning he wheeled around, met Pope at Cedar Mountain, stopped his advance upon Lee’s rear and flank, held him until Lee could arrive with reinforcements, passed to his rear, and fought the battle of the 28th of September at Groveton Heights; opened the way for Lee to press on with his army, and crowned the campaign with the successful battle of the second Bull Run. He crossed the Potomac with Lee, was detached, sent back, captured Harper’s Ferry, and joined Lee at Sharpsburg in time to stop McClellan and save Lee’s army. In May, 1863, when Lee was hesitating in the Wilderness, believing that Hooker’s movement below Fredericksburg was a serious one, with the foresight of genius Jackson pronounced it a feint, urged Lee to allow him to move around Hooker’s right, which, in audacity, boldness, and brilliancy seemed to paralyze Lee, and while on this wonderful march Sickles got between him and Lee with an army nearly equal his own. Jackson pressed on, turned Hooker’s right, as he contemplated, dissipated the Eleventh Corps and all its support, and was within a half-mile of his goal, the Bullock house, had he gained possession of which Hooker’s retreat would have been impossible and he would have been at the mercy of the Confederate army, when he was shot and mortally wounded by his own men.

“Lee, then in command of an army that knew no defeat, and not realizing that his great offensive general had been taken from the army, committed the fatal blunder of attempting an invasion of the North. At no time during that campaign did he move with celerity, manœuvre to the surprise of the enemy, or do anything of a brilliant character marking him with the genius of war. The battle of Gettysburg was lost the first day, although the Confederates claimed a victory, and it might have been turned into a victory had Lee been a master of the art of aggressive warfare. But he followed up the first day with a stubborn attack of the enemy in an intrenched position, and, failing to dislodge him, seemed to hesitate and his plans seemed to be confused. Finally he committed a great error in attacking a superior enemy in an intrenched position at the strongest point.

“In the history of battles very few generals have ever made an attack of the centre of the enemy’s position, and history gives only one example of where such an attack has been successful. That was the battle of Wagram, where the great Napoleon deceived the Archduke Charles by so threatening his flank as to cause him to weaken his centre, when, quick as a flash, Napoleon struck the centre of the enemy with MacDonald and his reserves. But then the world has only given us one Napoleon, and the Western hemisphere has given us only one Jackson.

“When Lee’s army was beaten from the fatal attack which he ordered on the 3d of July, he rode among his fleeing soldiers, begging them to rally and reform on Seminary Ridge, telling them that it was his fault that they had failed and not their own. No criticism was made of Longstreet at that time. Longstreet was retained in the most important corps of Lee’s army and served honorably and faithfully under Lee to the end.

“At Appomattox Longstreet, with Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia, at the close of a most glorious achievement, honestly surrendered. The Southern Confederacy was eliminated from the map of the world, its flag was forever furled, and all soldiers who surrendered there had either to return to the Union and become loyal to the flag of their country or remain hypocrites and traitors, which they could not do if they had honestly surrendered and accepted the terms that Grant had given them.

“Longstreet came out of the war with a record for courage, devotion to the cause he had espoused, and loyalty to the Stars and Bars second to none. Disabled by wounds, his right arm hanging lifeless and helpless at his side, his profession, that of a soldier, gone, he turned his attention to civil pursuits, and was struggling for a living when his old friend Grant, the President of the United States, offered him service in the government. Lee was dead. Southern politicians had expected Longstreet to keep the fires of Southern antipathy to the North alive, and as they were seeking to inflame the passions of the people as a basis upon which to unite the South and to fuse with the copperhead party in the North, as a means for repossessing themselves of a government they had lost by the results of the war, this action of Longstreet in accepting the offer of Grant tended to break their influence with the old soldiers of the South.

“To counteract that they brought up the charge of disloyalty and disobedience to Lee at Gettysburg, never having thought of it before, and never, in fact, having had a foundation for it. This, in a measure, served their purpose, because the old soldiers and their sons in the South are always ready to resent anything said or done unfavorable to Lee. Now, I am mortified to see that even the ladies have taken this matter up, and the Daughters of the Confederacy at Savannah refused to lay a wreath of laurels on the tomb of the great hero. I was surprised that Fitzhugh Lee should have charged Longstreet with disobedience, for I don’t believe that General Lee ever made such a charge himself. After the war I went to Lexington and studied law and saw Lee every day and every night. Our comrades and enemies were often discussed, but I never heard him speak of Longstreet but in the most affectionate manner. Colonel Venable was professor of mathematics when I moved back to Charlottesville eighteen years ago, and my relations with him up to his death were close and intimate. I never heard him suggest the idea that Longstreet disobeyed orders or failed to do his duty at Gettysburg or anywhere else. General Lee relieved General Ewell, one of his corps commanders at Gettysburg, from duty with his army. He criticised A. P. Hill severely for his failure and mismanagement at Bristow station, but no man ever heard him say one word against Longstreet.

“Now that Longstreet is laid away to rest, all old and true soldiers of the Southern Confederacy will kneel around his tomb and pray that they may stand at the great reveille with Lee, Jackson, and Longstreet.”

* * * * *

(_Macon, Georgia, Telegraph._)

“On the historic page is blazoned his glory.”

From the lips of Lee no word of censure ever fell upon the military renown of his great corps commander, the intrepid and immovable Longstreet. However men may differ as to that last fateful day at Gettysburg, on the historic page there is blazoned the military glory of James Longstreet. No earthly power can blot it out. Longstreet’s corps is as inseparable from the glory of the veterans of Lee as the Old Guard from the army of Napoleon. And when a week ago with the last expiring sigh of its aged commander the blood of his fearless heart broke from the wound which laid him prone on the first day at the Wilderness, at the moment when he had restored the shattered lines and saved the Army of Northern Virginia, each ruddy drop, a protest against the censure of his comrades, was like the blood of Cæsar,--

“As rushing out of doors to be resolved,
If Brutus so unkindly knocked or no.”

JUDGE EMORY SPEER.

* * * * *

(_McRae, Georgia, Enterprise._)

“Only necessary to refer his critics to the official reports.”

It is rather significant in the life of General Longstreet that under the storm of anathemas which have been hurled upon him, both by private tongue and public pen, he always observed that silence commensurate with his dignity of character and magnanimity of soul. It is furthermore significant, that whenever an attack was made upon his official conduct at any time, it was only necessary that he point to the official report of the matter as made of it at the time. In every case where unfair criticism was indulged in, where there was no foundation for such, and, of course, no official data to which recourse could be had, the kind offices of some distinguished friend was invariably volunteered.

It is also rather a singular fact, that although he took a prominent part in numberless engagements, among which could be mentioned some of the most sanguinary of the ’60’s, he never suffered serious defeat, and almost invariably bore off the laurels. This statement applies to Longstreet more truthfully than to any other general of either side. It was characteristic of him, and at the same time evincing his great military skill and genius, that he very often manipulated his forces as emergencies suggested in the absence of orders from his superior. In no instance where this was done does it appear that he ever received a reprimand, but the approval, rather, of the commanding officer.

After the war, his course seems to have met with some disapprobation on the part of some of his admirers South. This is a matter which seems rather best decided by an appeal from the arena of individual judgment to the forum of justice and right.--OLD VETERAN.

* * * * *

(_Chattanooga Times, Special._)

_“Punished for his Americanism.”_

HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA, January 8.--General Samuel H. Moore, a brave ex-Confederate soldier of this city, claims to know inside history concerning the career of General Longstreet after the close of the Civil War, and in a communication written for the public he calls upon General Joseph Wheeler and Colonel W. W. Garth to tell what they know in justice to the departed chieftain. General Moore writes:

“It is due General Lee’s old war-horse, who was familiarly known to the Army of Northern Virginia as ‘Old Pete’ Longstreet, that a statement should be made which will vindicate his actions soon after the surrender and reinstate him in the hearts of those who always felt safe in battle when he was at their head, and who would have been proud to shed their last drop of blood to shield his fair name if they had only been cognizant of the facts which impelled him to pursue the course he did--as he believed for the benefit of his Southern people.

“In 1866, when reconstruction hung over the South like a sword of Damocles, five lieutenant-generals of the Confederate army held a meeting in New Orleans, in General Hood’s room, to discuss the situation and publish to the South the easiest way to bear the yoke sad fate had placed upon their necks.

“After discussing all the pros and cons, they unanimously decided to accept the situation as it was, return to the Union like good and loyal citizens, and be the recipients of the offices of trust which were being given to carpet-baggers because the government could not find in the Southern States men willing to accept the offices that would have gladly been given them.

“In this caucus of generals, Longstreet was selected to write and publish a letter. He did it. There was a howl of protest from the ill-informed people. The men who advised Longstreet to do this did not face this opposition, avoided this martyr, let him bear the odium alone. I ask General Joseph Wheeler to say what he personally knows of this. I call upon Colonel W. W. Garth to say what he knows and the source of his information.

“Let the South beg pardon for the wrong it has done our greater soldier, General James Longstreet.”

* * * * *

“Did he do his duty as a soldier? Let Williamsburg, Sharpsburg,
Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, and the Wilderness make
reply.”

We are here to-day to pay our tribute to James Longstreet, the soldier who faithfully and ably served, the fighter who fiercely fought, the leader who bravely led, the sleepless, watchful, persistent, valorous captain of a glorious host, whom his great chief implicitly trusted in every hour of supreme and dangerous service, and who on many a bloody field hurled his bold and devoted followers like an avalanche on the serried ranks of his country’s foes, and who, when valor could avail no more, bore with him from the field of strife the passionate love of the legions he had led, and the unstinted praise and tearful benediction of his great commander, who knew him best, and had trusted him in many an “imminent and deadly breach.”

Every man capable by reason of environment, character, or ability of exerting an influence upon affairs in any important field of human endeavor, is called upon at some time to act under such circumstances that his decision must infallibly indicate the character of the man and forever fix his place in the estimation of his contemporaries and of posterity.

That time came to James Longstreet in 1861. He was then an officer in the army of the greatest and most powerful republic on all the earth, and had won high and deserved honor in battle beneath its flag.

High commission in that army awaited him if he but adhered to that flag, and the future held in store for him exalted rank which his reputation and ability easily assured him.

On the other hand was a young nation, scarcely emerged from its chrysalis stage and without moral or physical support among the nations of the earth. His training and education as a soldier, and his knowledge of the power and resources of that great government in whose service he had been so long enlisted, enabled him to appreciate and realize the odds in its favor in the rapidly approaching struggle.

The conditions which confronted him required the exertion of all the virtues of courage, honor, consistency, and fidelity to conviction. He was called upon to illustrate the loftiest qualities of human character, and immolate self on the shrine of duty, or give heed to the siren voice of ambition, and, lured by the selfish hope of high reward, turn his sword against the land of his birth in the hour of her sorest need.

As Daniel, Virginia’s great orator, has so fitly said of Robert E. Lee: “Since the Son of Man stood upon the Mount and saw ‘all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory thereof’ stretched before him and turned away from them to the agony and bloody sweat of Gethsemane, and to the Cross of Calvary beyond, no follower of the meek and lowly Saviour can have undergone a more trying ordeal or met it in a higher spirit of heroic sacrifice.”

In that hour of supreme test, trial, and temptation, James Longstreet did not hesitate. He dallied not with dishonor. He was deaf to every call save that of duty. Obedient to the conviction that his first, highest, and holiest obligation was to the land of his birth, he responded to her call, and for four long years “feasted glory till pity cried no more.” His gleaming sword flashed in the forefront of the fighting, till when stricken and scarred with many a wound and with honor unstained he bowed to the stern arbitrament of battle.

When he made his choice and upon bended knee offered his sword as a loving and loyal son to his native South, he thereby avouched himself unto all the ages as one who in every hour of trial and in every sphere of duty would keep his “robes and his integrity stainless unto heaven.”

He then and there gave to the world perpetual and irrefutable proof that his every act since that day, whether as soldier or civilian, was prompted by an exalted sense of duty, performed in obedience to the convictions of an intelligent and deliberate judgment, and approved by a clear conscience, and standing on that high vantage ground he courted truth and defied malice.

No man who rises superior to temptation, and offers his life as an offering upon the altar of duty, and freely sheds his blood in testimony to the sincerity of his convictions, is called upon to explain his conduct “in any sphere of life in which it may please God to place him.”

The exercises of this occasion take color and purpose from that tragic era in which James Longstreet was so conspicuous and honorable a figure; and his record as a soldier is absolutely beyond impeachment. Did he do his duty as a soldier brave and true? Did he bear himself as became a man in the hour of battle? Let history unroll her proud annals and say! Let Williamsburg, Sharpsburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, and the Wilderness make reply.

Ask those who met him and his dauntless legion on many a bloody field, and they will tell how often he swept down upon them like an avenging whirlwind. Ask his “boys,” who for four years followed him with unquestioning devotion and with ever-increasing love and admiration, and they will with one accord and with voices tremulous with emotion answer that he never lagged, failed, or faltered.

Hear the testimony of Robert E. Lee, his great commander, who, though dead, yet speaketh: “General Longstreet (at Gaines Mill) perceived that to render the diversion effectual the feint must be converted into an attack. He resolved with characteristic promptness to carry the heights by assault.” After Chickamauga, he says, “My whole heart and soul have been with you and your brave corps in your late battle. Finish your work, my dear General, and return to me. I want you badly, and you cannot get back too soon.”

Let Joseph E. Johnston bear witness to the world of his great subordinate at Williamsburg: “I was compelled to be a mere spectator, for General Longstreet’s clear head and brave heart left no apology for interference. The skill, vigor, and decision of General Longstreet (at Seven Pines) was worthy of the highest praise.”

We have yet further testimony, which in pathos and convincing power excels all speech or written language. It is an historic truth that when the end had come at Appomattox, and those who had so long shared the hardships of the camp and the peril and the glory of the battle-field were about to separate, General Longstreet and his staff proceeded to where General Lee and his staff had gathered for the last time before their final parting, and General Lee grasped the hand and spoke a few kindly words to each member of the group until he reached General Longstreet, when each threw his arms about the other, and as they thus stood clasped together both sobbed like children. When General Lee had recovered his composure, turning to a member of the party who is now in this presence, he said, “Captain, into your care I commend my old war-horse.”

Robert E. Lee, standing on the fateful and historic field of Appomattox, amid the gathering gloom of that awful hour of defeat and disaster, with his arms about James Longstreet, while his majestic frame shook with uncontrollable grief, was a scene worthy to have been limned by genius on immortal canvas.

The tears of Robert E. Lee falling upon the symbol and insignia of Longstreet’s rank converted it then and there into a badge of honor, grander than the guerdon of a king.

It is known to countless thousands that only a few years before he passed away Jefferson Davis moved out from the midst of a mighty throng, which was acclaiming him with every manifestation of earthly honor, to greet with open arms General Longstreet. Turning aside for a time from the thousands who pressed about him in a very frenzy of love and enthusiasm, he advanced and folded the great soldier to his bosom, thus testifying before God and a multitude of witnesses to his faith in the fidelity to conviction and to duty of the old hero.

Davis! Lee! Johnston! Immortal triumvirate of heroes! Glorious sons of a glorious land! Fortunate indeed is that man who by such as they is avouched unto posterity. When Lee and Davis laid their hands in blessing and benediction upon James Longstreet, he was then and there given passport unto immortality.