Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1871-02-17
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ICa. A. Townsend in the Chicago Tribune,l
1 met General Longstreet a few even
ings ago, and had a good opportunity
to determine what manner Of man he is,
so far, at last, as his conversation and
appearance went. Longstreet is one Of
the most perfect types Of a professional
soldier. He was born in South Carolina,
but is of Georgia extraction, and he says
that his family name is German. He is
a nephew of the celebrated Judge Long
street, author of the Georgia Scenes,
which, in their day, were considered to
be an unique contribution to our periodi-
cal literature. Longstreet is man con-
siderably above the medium size, fieshy,
but not fat, and his face is particularly
of hard, lean texture, apparently in
durated by exposure to long training.
His address is soft, amicable, almost
modest, and he speaks in quiet tone of
voice, never rising above tete-a-tete con-
versation, and while not seeking to be
vivid in his description or narrative,
there is a truthful well-bred, worldly
presentment attending whatever he tells.
He seems to be about S. years Of age,
but is probably several years younger
than he looks, having suffered partial
paralysis of his right arm eyer. since he
was struck at the battle of the Wilderness,
when musket ball took him fairly un-
der the throat, stunned him absolutely.
and traversing his ribs came out some
where near his hip. He was taken from
his horse covered with blood within a
few rods of the place where StonewaH
Jackson had met his death wound the
previous year. Longsreet has brown
hair, somewhat turned in color, and not
very thick, and gray mustaches and
whiskers, cut like those of the King of
Prussia. He has fine head, which in
dicates the possession of executive rather
than suggestive properties, however, and
small. deepset eye of blue, with short
eyelashes, a long straight nose, and
clearly cut and prominent chin, rather
low cheek bones, and an ear which has
an extraordinary long lobe, reaching
about an inch from the ori6ce to the bot
tom, but which is not yet, in other re-
spects, very large ear. He wears plain
dress, and his whole presence has a
nameless self-possession and self-respect
which is not unfrequent amongst South
ern men. He told me that he never cast
vote in his life until last year. Long
street discusses with calmness and good
judgment the military ability of his old
associates, and it IS not palpable that he
has lost any of the zest and heartiness
which used to distinguish him as a mem
Der of the lost cause. He says moth
ing which indicates his regret at the part
he took, but on the contrary, seemed to
have docile sort of fondness for his
military life and prominence during the
rebellion. He evidently considers Toe
obnefon'- 70 he the f,.rh 1I;fo - ,-ev,r-e,
ton of the South, and he speaks of all
the Federal Generals with respect, ac-
counting even for McClellan's failure in
the Peninsula. I asked him if it were |
true, as had been related, that at Gettys- /
burg he advised the turning of the Fed |
eTal position on Cemetery Ridge. He |
said ''Yes = that on the third day he had
proposed to General Lee to extend his
line SO as to cover the roads leading
back toward Maryland, and this would |
compel an evacuation of the Federal |
position. "No, replied Lee, 1.-The enemy |
is right there, and we must fight him"
LOngstreet says that he sat upon a fence
and watched with field glass Picllett's
Division making that celebrated but
fatal charge, and that he felt satisfied
that the Cemetery Ridge could not be
carried. / asked him what he would
have done had Lee permitted him to
turn Round Top to the right, and he re-
piled that he should have moved by for
Ced marches directly upon Washington
City. Longstreet says that both sides in |
the civil war committed mistakes when |
they put engineer officers at the head of
large armies, and that the properties 1
which make a Field Marshal are not
those required in an active General. He
does not believe that if Meade had pur-
sued Lees army after Gettysburg. Lee /
would have been beaten, but says he [
wanted to stand at Hagerstown and /
make a fight. He always speaks of the /
Federals, in discussing these war matters /
as the enemy. He does not believe that !
Mcclellan could have got into Rich /
mond if he had been bolder in his /
Peninsular campaign. but says that at a |
later period of the war, there were sew
eral occasions when the city might have !
been easily captured. He thinks Gettys-
burg was. on the whole, the best fight of I
the war thinks it fortunate that Meade |
had replaced Hooker in command of the /
federal army there. He spoke Of a num-
Der instances where the federal troops /
had behaved as well as anybody could 4
expect soldiers to behave and that his
own troops, which were collected from
nearly all Oft the States, were as good as
he wanted. He has not a particle Of
for anybodyin the South or
North; seems TO admire General Grant,
and talks over the whole subject philo-
sophically. CATH.