The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1888-07-21
THE VISIT TO GETTYSBURG.
Longstreets's View Of the Field.

y
Lnns~'r'rt, Lees great lieutenant,
rtd"s along the union position side by
| side wItn his fni m4r foes, his horses
feet tranlring the very ground that the
| bristllng ranks If Lee's army tried In
vain to win. 1t was just such day,
too, when they tried tn win it, The
sun ~hone as brightly then, and the
fields all about were checkcred then as
| a0W, with 'he green and gold IF grow
ing crops. Longstreei rose in his sad
die when the party reached the Bloody
Angie and gaz-d long and earnestly
over the wal! that intervenes between
he union line where he stood today,
and Seminary Ridge, where he stood
twenty five years ago. He said, as If
talking to himself: "It was Il great
mistake, that charge of Pickett's, q
that thcu." Tho confederate leader
| looked over the field for several min-
utes longer, while no one spoke. Then
he said:
"The face ct the count rs. ttus changed
s",s,.'w hat in detail, hut 1 recognizes it's
Topography clearly. The mental pic
urc given me by my view from over
theae on Seminary Ridge is rs clear as
uVlS NOudys kAS i
stand here ] can almost see our boys
in gray bursting out of that fringe Of
woods where they formed for that fatal
charge. must say" Lrugstroet con-
tinued, turning tD his companions,
s'that the positions Of both armies We're
strong for defense. We were on ex.
terior lines, and it fell to US to assault.
The only chance we had, or that any
general could have in such position,
wss to attack in force on the TANKS
while making II feigned attack on the
center, but the afternoon Of the second
day gave us repulse, and, moreover,
VIC lost then forty minutes OF time
when every second was golden, and
we lost those minutes by accident"
Not one OF his union companions
made reply to Longstreet's comment.
The party all rode On along the union
front and climbed !he steep ascent OF
Little Round Top, where they gather
ell on the summit at the point where
General Butterfie old command,
the Forty. fourth New York, OF Vim
cents Brigade was engaged. Here
they were Joined by Generals Sickles
and Carr, who had driven TO Little
Round Top along the front of Sickies'
line of the second day In the Peach
Orchard and the Wheat Field and
then through the DEVILS Den.
This was indeed group. There
were iacing each other Sickles and
Longs,reet, whose troops had fought
almost head TO head with each other in
the Peach Orchard and Wheat Field
twenty-five years ago yeterday. To-
geier this morning they gazed from
the crest Of Round Top upon the scene
of tina, carnage. General Siekles, who
lost leg on that day, sat at the foot of
tree, and Longs,reet, his former op-
ponent, stood at his side. General
Hartranit stood near by.
They had not been there minute
before they were surrounded by Il hum
dred people, who came running from
the dedication of u monument near by.
"Bnys, here's Longstreet, and he meets
us once more at Round Top" said
Sicktes. The crowd gave three rousing
cheers that went sureing through the
shimmering air over the plain below.
When the throng had scattered once
more General Longstreet said to those
Immediately about him: "Looking
from this point of view our assault
upon this position looks no more diff
cult thnu it did from our point then.
| We needed time. We needed five
more minutes in cur favor. Ewell did
not come though. He had but mile
to come to co operate with It's, bat he
stopped"
John M. McCuicheon, of the
Twenty-ffth Virginia, ventured u word
of retnonstrance. He fought under
Stoncwall Jackson ut Chancellorsville,
and he charged up Cemetery Hill in
Ewell's division. "Generaf," he said
] to LoEgsireef, gently. "Ewell did not
know where you were, nor did he
know the forces Intervening" t'But
the distance was go Short" responded
Lnns-trrri, ''we expected Ewell, and
his failure to help US lost US this field"
The party then returned along Bat
tile avenue to where General Hancock
was wounded, and here General But
tertield queried why General Meade
had not ordered his center to make a
counter-charge on the confederate lines
on Seminary ridge after the repulse OF
Picke,ts assault. "That was an error,
a fatal error, on your part" said Long
street. HWhen Pickett's ragged lines
fell back from that heroic assault we
who stood on Seminary ridge looked
long and anXiousfy at your lines.
Would the army in blue Rake II gen
eraI advance? That was the question
that thrilled all our hearts with ankle.
ty. Our lines were thinncd by the
three days struggle. We could moi
have resisted a counter attack Had