The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1871-02-16
AN Ex-REBEL ON THE LATE WAR.-A
q TALK WITH LONGSTREET.

AN Ex-REBEL ON THE LATE wAR--A
TALK WITH LONGsrREEr.
| "Gath," of the Chicago Iri5uue has
recently had talk with the recon-
structed Confederate Gen. Longstreet.
lie says. -a. ts.sf., fas,-s sd4 aiai-Ii
| met General Lonstreet few eve-
nings ago and had good opportuni-
ty to determine what manner OF man
he is, 80 far at least as his conversa-
ton and appearance went. Long
street is one of the most perfect types
of professional soldier. He was
born i'll South Carolina, but is of
Georgia extraction, and he says his
family name is German. He is neph-
ew of the celebrated Judge Long
street, author of the !" Georgia
scenes" which, in their day, were
considered to be unique contribution
TO our periodical literature.
He wears plain dress, and his whole
presence has nameless selt-posses-
sion and self-respect which is not un-
frequent amongst Southern men. He
told me that he never cast vote in
his. lite until last year. Longstreet
discusses with calmness and good
j
old associates, and it is not palDable
that he has lost any of the Zest and
heartiness which used to distinguish
him as member of the "Lost Cause"
He says nothing ackicb indicates his
regret In the part he took, bat on the
contrary, seemed to haze q docile sort
Of .fo'ldaesS for has military life and
prominence during the rebellion. He
ax1t ti,,o Tol s.
be the first military reputation of the
South, and he speaks of all the Fede-
raj Generals with respect, accounting
even tor Mcclellan failure on the Pc
ninsula. / asked him if it had been
related, that at Gettysburg he had adj
vised the turning of the Federal posi-
ton on Cemetery Ridge, He said
yes that on the third day he had
proposed to tGercrol Lee to extend his
line so rs to cover the road leading
back toward Maryland, and this would
compel an evacuation of the Federal
position. "No," replied Lee, q the
enemy is right there, and we must
fight him." Longstreet says that he
sat upon fence and watched with a
fie1d-glass Pickets Division making
that celebrated but fatal charge, and
that he felt satisfied that the Cemete-I 4
ry 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 replied that
he should have moved by. forced
marches directly upon Washington
City. Iongstreet says that both sides |
in the civil war committed mistakes !
when they put engineer officers at the |
head of large armies,and that the prop
critics which make Field Marshal are |
not those required in an active Gen.
eral. He does not believe that if |
Meade had pursued Lees army after
Gettysburg, Lee would have been
beaten, but says he wanted to stand at
and make fight. He
always speaks of the Federals in dis
cussing these war matters as the ene-
ny. He does not believe that Nc
Clellan could have got into Rich
nond if he had been boIder in his Pc
linsutar campaign, that at later Pc
'iod of the war there were several oc-
,asions when the city might have been
burg was, on the whole, the best fight
Meade replaced Hooker in command
"a tAo OuOA"i al my euOic. Ac spoke
# a number OF instances where the
Federal troops had behaved as well as
could expect soldiers to be-
ave, and that his own troops, which
we're collected from nearly all of the
state, were as good as he wanted. He
las not particle of bitterness for
anybody in the South or North seems !,
o admire General Grant, and talks
yer the whole subject philosophi- p
ally. ,