The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-04-12

D.
whether it would not have ended the
war: European recognition OF South
-ern Independence could hardly have
been withheld IL the victory Of Fred
ericksburg had been turned into q
Wateriooo. No one who is acquainted
with the low morale of the Federals
after Their bloody repulse before
! Marye's Heights will entertain any
doubt that during those three crucial
days which interviewed between the
battle andthe eFederalretreata acrossthe
river, Lee had his enemy in his power.
As for the Federal guns on Stafford
Heights, of which the fire, according
to some critics, would have decimated
the Confederstes, there il little doubt
that their projectiles would have been
equally destructive to both armies.
But Lees inaction after Fredericks-
burg was as we, have called II. an un-
happy or negative blunder. Undoubt-
edly the greatest positive blunder of
which he was ever guilty was the un-
necessary onslaught which he gratuit.
ously made against the strong position
into which by, accident, General
Meade fell back at Gettysburg. We
have good reason for saying that,
during the five years of calm refiec-
| ton which General Lee passed at
Lexington after the conclusion of the
American war, his maladroit manipu-
lation of the Confederate army during
| the Gettysburg campaign was to him
n matter of ceaseless selfreprOach.
"If," said he on many occasions, 81
had taken Longstreet's advice on the
eve of the second day of battle at Get
| tysburg, and filed off the left corps
Of my army behind the right corps, in
| the direction Of Washington and Bal
timOre, along the Emmetsburg road,
the COnfederates would to-day be q
free people," Never hadsthe Con-
federates been so full of fight; and ON
the first day of battle, the Federals
who, under General Reynolds, came
into collision with S.Onewali Jackson's
old corps then commanded by Ewell,
were driven Ike chaff before the vino.
Lees true policy, afser reconnoitering
the position into which by the merest
chance, and in no degree by his own
deliberate choice, General Meade had
been driven, was TO have abstained
from attacking his enemy. "YCu are
at the head of an invading army"
wrote Napoleon to Marmont not long
before the battle of Salamanca, and
ought never to fight battle except on
ground of your own choosing. Nn'y
al 81, nj n,ajs cfooseyOur battlefield,
force your enemy to attack you upon
il, and never yield it as long as one
living FrenchWan is left" Wise
words, which it would have been well
il Geneneral Lee-who by the by, was
little familiar with any of Napoleons
campaigns or maxims-had known
and taken TO heart during those three
opening days of July which, in 1858,
he passed in Pennsylvania. But even
after the second day Of bate, which
had taught him the strength of his
enemy's position, there was time for
him to have reccnsiJered his plan,
and to have followed General Lopg-
streets advice. We c'ose the volume
of General Lees lie with the convic-
ton that the contemplation OF the
battle of Gettysburg Will for ever pre-
vent his being ranked as great offen-
sfve general. Bet, en- rcrdncItc, when
it became necessary for him to
asssme the offensive defensive, he
will bear comp plrisCn with any general
of modern times. HIS tactical man.
agement Of the troops. which drove
McC. Ian away from before Rich
mOnd in 1862, AL those which won
the battle OfChaLc 'lo-sviile in 1858, is
above all praise. J. it was in purely
defensive strategy IL It he most shone.
We are willing to stand upon the
of 1864, and to abide the
judgement which enlightened and
impartial students will he constrained
to pass upon il.
The fame and character of General
Lee will hereafter be regarded in
Europe and America under dual
aspect. In Europe, we shall consider
him merely as u soldier; and it Is
more than probable that within the
present century we shall have ac-
custOmed ourselves to regard him as
third upon the li.t OF Eag ish-sIeakIDg
generals, as having bean surpassed in
so.dieriy capacity by Mslborough
and Wsllington one. In America,
when the passions of tie great Civil
war shall have died out, Lee will be
regarded more as a man than IS a
soldier. His infinite purity, se'f-de-
dial, tenderness, and generosity, will
make his memory more and more
precious to his cou;itrymen when they
have purged their minds of the prsju-
dlces and an:mOsiiies which civil war
breed. They will ac-
before long that Lee took
no step in life except in accordance
with what he regarGedas, and believed
to he, bis duty; sld they will hold up
his example, no less than that Of
Abraham Lincoln, ~ one of the
brightest patterns which they can set
before their children. Let us conclude
by quoting one final story which
ought not not to he without influence
upon men like General Grant, who,
although owing his elevation in the
life to the magnificent resistance made
by the South, seems now to loose no
of demonstrating his
resentment against South
ern men:
"a still more suggestive exhition,r
says Mr.. Cooke, "Of Lees freedom
from rancnur, was presented An an in
terview which is thus described by q
citizen of the North; 'One day last
autumn, the writer saw General Lee
at his gate, in Lexington,
talking pleasantly to an humbly-clad
man, who seemed very much pleased
at the cordial courtesy OF the great
and turned off, evidently
delighted, as 1 and my companions
came up. After exchanging saluta-
tions, and in answer to my queries,
the General said, pointing 10 the re-
treating form-"H is one Of our old
soldiers who is in necessitous cireum-
took IL for granted that it
was some Confederate veteran, when
the noble hearfel chieftan uuietiy cOr-
rected me by saying" He FOUGHT on
the other side; but we must not think
of that.n afterwards sscertained-
not from General Lee, who never a.
luded to his ekarities-that he had not
only spoken kindly to the o.d soldier E.
who had fought on the ether side, but
had sent him away rejoicing in a
liberal contribution to his necessities"
Kansas Pacific Railway.