The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-03-16
Unl,fll the othar have come fronY More.

l.
over. change Ut commanders under
such circumstances could not have
| hastened matters, but might have still
| farther retarded them. but ~ may be
asked, why did he not remove him nj
forwards? n Cen. Lee had any fault rs
a commander. II was the, extreme kind
ness of his nature. and his generous
magnan,nty. Having failed IN this
campaign to accomplish all he desired
| II was not In his nature TO make scope
CONT Of another. but he chose rather to
assume the whole responsibility. and
offer himself up MS y sacrifices, MS he
did in his lately published letter to Mr.,
Davis. The publication of which letter
| Ia mn1e the occasion, by Gen. tong-
street. Of publishing his letter 10 his
uncle. with tho accompanying state
menta 10 show that If his advice had
prevailed. We would have achieved we
/ tory.
| snid that would show TINT General
T,ongstreet had furnished the materials
for the severest criticisms That have
been made on General Lees manage
mapt ut the battle of Gettysburg. The
extracts given from Swibton's book
show the material furnished by General
tongstreet to him, and on TINT he bhsed
his criticisms Other writer's who have
criticised that battle have followed In
Swnton's wake and adopted bis views,
as for instance. Professor Bates ahd
now General Longstreet produces his
letter TO his uncle that Is In itself u
criticism. and furnishes material for
criticism by others. That letter was
written Immediately after his return
from Gettysburg. and in II Con, long
| strest undertakes to show to his uncle
how greatly General I,ee Numbered, and
what wonderful results would hhve fol.
lowed the adoption Of his own plans
Listen Mt him
! $50 fer as H. is given to man the hbil-
| ity to judge. we may say with condolences
TINT we should have destroyed The Fed-
crnl army. marched into Washington
and dictated our terms. or ut least hold
Washington and marched over ms much
| ri Pennsylvania rs we cared to. had We
drawn Tho enemy into attack upon our
carefully chosen position In his rear
General Lee chose the plans adopted.
and he Is tho person appointed to choose
md to order"
! As much M tn say: General Lee Is
UNFIT for the position he holds -he blum
dered terribly Mt Gettysburg In not
adopting my plans. and thus lost us the
battle and with H. our Independence. |
nm tho man who ought to have been In
command of That army Mt Gettysburg.
and then we would have proved victo-
rious. marched to Washington, and die
tntel peace"
| And yet he afterwards says: "As we
failed Of success ! must take my part OF
the responsibility. In fact I would pre-
for tbat oil the blame should rest on
mo-" How very generous. how self
sacrificing he is And yet he flies into %
rage whom IL In suggested TINT his Mrdi-
ness lost us tho battle OF Gettysburg.
When WINS It. that no assumed any lsltt
Of tho blnrne, publicly or privately. The
first the public hus over heard Of his
willingness to do SO n from tho recent
publication of his letter but along with
his u,ngnnnimols offer 10 assume his
pnrt-nny the whole of tho blame. is tho
nntidote In his assumption Of superior
sngneity, and the intimntion that tho
whole blame should rest on General
Iee because no committed n great error
In not adopting his plans. He winds up
the letter, or Mt least tho extract given.
with this assertion "I'he truth will DO
known In time. md / leave that to show
how much of the responsibility of
the attack Mt Gettysburg rests upon
myself"
Ho Is then lnying tho train for explod-
ing n mino in tho future that would do
stroy Con. Lees reputation ms n com.
mander, md show how Incompetent he
WAS. and how UNNECESSARILY his superior
| tongstroet was.
Shade Of tho immortal Jackson How
thankful we arc and should BIO that no
such document. public or private. and
no oral declaration Of similar import
con DO produced against you, from any
aourccl
Have not made good my proposition
that | would show that Immediately
after the battle Of Gettysburg. Gen.
Longstroet laid tho foundation for Mt
lacking Con. Lees reputation MS n com
mandcr. That no has pursued his de
align since the close Of the war, Is proved
by the fact that no instilled his own
views into Mr.. Swinton's mind, and fur
nished him with the dath for their pro.
mitigation and tho recent publication
Of his letter to his uncle Is but u CON
tinuntion Of tho original design. And
to what docs il nll tend but to exhlt Con.
Longstreet ut tho expense OF Gen. Ice.
II Is exceedingly unpleasant for me to
have controversy with any Congcde-
rate In regard to the events Of our late
war. and especially In regard to the rel
alive merit OF our officers. ] have not
endcnvored to claim credit for myself Mt
tho expense Of any one, and in MI that /
have published, ] have avoided as far as
possible snying anything to the despair
ngcmcnt OF any Of my comrades. II
there Is anything In my address Mt Lex
lngton that bears the sembhnce OF u
disparngement Of Gen. LonRstreet M II
soldier, IL was called out In vihdication
Of Glen. Lee against what / regarded ns
the assault Of Gen. Longstrect on him
through the pages Of Mr.. Swinton's
book: md ! went no further than to
repel the assault and place the respon-
sibility for our failure ut Gettysburg
where It should rest.
In the communication to tho RepnbH-
can, General Longstreet says: IF Cen
eral Fitz Hugh Lee had read the letter,
the genuineness Of which he questions,
he would have learned that General
Longstrcet was not only willing but pre-
ferrcd to abide his time Till the omnipo-
tence OF truth should speak to his re-
cord. His letter was published owing
to It's corroborative aud sympathetic re-
lations to one Of Gen. X. Il. Lee written
two weeks later. The publication was
made following the publication of Gen.
II. u. Lees, 50 that the facts might be
known and noted in their proper con
nection, and not In attack or defense OF
any one"
Is not this q stab at tho reputation Of
General Lee as commander? III Gen
eral Longstreet was willing to bide his
time, why then was he in such u hurry,