The Greenville enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1870-1873, 1871-02-22

Cs
has recently had q talk with the
reconstructed Confederate General
Longsreet. He says:
met General Longstreet a few
evenings ago. and had a good op-
portuni'y to determine What man.
ner of man he is,, go far at least as
his conversation and appearance
went. Longstreet is one OF the
most perfect types Of Q profession !
al soldier. He was born In South
Carolina, but is of Georgia extrac.
tion, snd he says that his family
meme is German. He is nephew
Of the celebrated" Judge Long.
street, auther of the %Georv;a
Scenes," which, in their day, were
considered to be an unique con.
tribntion to our periodical liter.
ature. .,,.,, fn
He wears plain dress, and his
whole presence has a nameless
selfexpression and Q Prospect
which is not unfreqnent amongst
Southern men. ue told me that
he never cast vote in his life un.
til last year. Longstreet' discus.
ses with calrnness and good judg.
ment the military ability of his
old associates, and it is not palpa.
be that he has lost any of the zest
and heartiness which nsed to dis.
tinguish him as member of the
Lost Cause :" He says nothing
which indicates his regret at the
part he took bnt OH the contrary,
seemed TO have a docile sort OF
fondness for his military lite and
prominence during the rebellion.
He evidently considers Joe John.
ston's to be tho first military repu.
tation of the South. aud he speaks
Of all the Federal Generals with
respect accounting even for McCle.
lan's failure in the Peninsula. ], ask.
ed him if it were true, as had been
related, that at Gettysburg lie ad.
vised the turning Of the Federal
position on Cemetery Ridge. He
said yes" that on the third day
hc -t'ud prupoeod 40 Seneral Loo
to extend his line 80 as to cover the
roads leading back toward Mary.
land, and this would compel an
evacuation of the Federal position.
NO" replied Lee, 1.-THE enemy is
right there, and we must fight
him" Longstrret says that he ga,
upon a fence and watched with q
field glass. Picket's Division max.
ing that celebrated but fatal charge,
and that he felt satisfied that the
Cemetery Ridge could n be car.
ried. | asked him what he would
have done had Lee permitted him
to turn Round Top to the right,
and he replied that he should have
moved by forced marches directly
upon Washington City. Long-
street 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 which make Field
Marshal are not those required in
an active General. He does not
believe that if Mead had pursued
Lees army after Gettysburg, Lee
would have been beaten, but says
he wanted to stand at Hagerstown
aud make fight. He always
speaks Of the Federals in discuss.
ing these war matters as the enc
my. He does not believe that
Mcclellan could have got into
Richmond if he had been bolder
in his Peninsular campaign, but
says that at q later period of the
war there were several occasions
when the city might have been
easily captured. He thinks Get,
tysburg was, OH the whole, the
best fight Of the war; thinks il
foi tunate that Mead had replaced
Hooker in command Of the Federal
army there. He spoke Of a mum.
Der of instances where the Federal
troops had behaved as we'll as
anybody could expect soldiers to
behave, and that his own troops,
which we're collected from nearly
all ot the States, were as good as
he wanted. He has not a particle
of bitterness for anybody in the
South or North seems to admire
General Grant, and talks over the
whole subject philosopiically.