The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-01-03
L0NGsTREET'S OLD AGE.
Tho Sturdy Southern Veterans Career

LONGSTREET'S OLD AGE.
Tho Sturdy Southern Veterans Career.
From the Neu York Times.
AUGUSTA, GA, December 15.-Long.
street has been q fighter all his life. he
came from race of good, gritty stock
from Edgefeld, s. O. He went to West
Point. After term of frontier duty and
Indian skirmishing he was ready for ser.
vice in the Mexican war. He bore
wounds and wore stars before he was 80.
He had the Southern instincts strong
enough to lay down his commission in
the Union armies, like Lee and Law.
ton, to offer his sword to bis State. Does
the old man regret the choice he made in
1861? No one ever heard him say 30.
In spite of his troubles brought on by
his prompt acceptance of reconstruction
and his espousal of the Republican cause,
Gen. Longstreet has preferred to remain
in the South, confronting opprobrium in
many cases, but enjoying the personal
respect of his neighbors, and always sure
of the undying love of his army comrades.
Sixty.six miles from Atlanta the train on
the Charlotte Road stops at the thriving
little village of Gainesville. The travel.
Ter has hardly alighted when large,
well.shaded house, with broad colon.
nades, stands before him. This is the
Piedmont Hotel, which Gen. Longstreet
for several years has Kept for summer
travellers, with little benefit to himself
beyond making innumerable friends.
His wife, q quiet, intelligent woman, is
his helpmeet, and his sons, one of whom
has been to West Point, are well dressed,
smart young men. 4-.5. .t
Tits during these Summer months that
one sees the grim old veteran at his best:
He is the very embodiment of good
humor. He tries to make every one
comfortable, and as his hotel commands
the best breezes from the Blue Ridge,
he ususually succeeds. He will amount
three flights of steps to carry an apple to
some little fellow. who learns to know
and love the bronzed face and white
head of this Southern veteran.
If you 90 to Gainesville in the early
spring yon will be told to secure buggy
and ride out two miles on the mountain
road. Gen. Ilongstreet seldom comes to
town at that time. Somewhere in his
country place, clad in long duster and a
broad -brimmed hat, you willis6nd him
clipping his fruit trees or trailing up the
vines in his grape orchard. he will
show Won his turkeys with pride, and,
like Cincinnatus, reyels in his rustic sur
roundings and farm duties. /,
Then there are winter days, when he
must not be disturbed. He is rs years
old, you know, and realizes that his book
about the civil war must be finished
pretty soon. In it he hopes to yindicate
his position at Gettysburg and account to
unprejudiced posterity for his conduct at
New Orleans.
Gen. Longatreet attended the Gettys.
burg reunions last July, hi. last appear
ance in public until he met Gen. Harri.
son recently at Indianapolis. Gettysburg
is one of. Longstreet's sore points. He
was not in sympathy with Gen. Lees
tactics there. He advised against the
sortie on the third day at Cemetery
Ridge, and he was even open to the
charge of not supporting the centre of
the army on the second days battle.
Gen. Lee always left to his corps com.
manders the details of field work. Long
street knew that Lee wanted as many
men as possible to storm Little Round
Top. But between Longstreet's corps
and Little Round Top lay thousand
Yards of field, swept by 40, 900 Union
muskets and sheltered only by the smoke
of a raking artillery fire. Longstreet
tried to shift upon Gen. E. P. Alexander,
chief of artillery, the responsibility for
ordering the fatal charge. Alexander
protested that he was in no position to
note the effect of his own guns, but
Longstreet persisted. Finally the signal
was passed by Alexander, who thought
he saw break in the batteries of Meade.
"Shall go, General 2" Pickett said,
when informed that party of Long.
streets corps must storm the heights.
Longstreet turned away, heartsick at
what he knew must be 8 merciless, fruit.
less carnage.
II shall 90, then," returned Pickett,
and raising his hat ne wheeled to his
division and ordered his gallant brigades
to death as certain and to charge as dis.
astrous as the blunder at Balaklava.
"It is splendid; I would not have
missed it for the world" said an English
officer who watched the gallant charge,
turning to Longstreet in enthusiasm.
But the old soldier had ore.knowledge
and less enthusiasm.
"What is splendid?" he asked, recog-
nizing the meaning of the moving lines.
ri would give great deal to have missed
it,"
Gen. Longstreet's criticisms of Gen.
Lees mistakes, coupled with Ella own
political course after. the war, aroused the
indignation of many of the Southern
people. Gen. Dick Taylor, in his "De.
struction and Reconstruction" declared
that to those having knowledge of the
two men any subject involving the pos
session and exercise Of intellect could not
have been clear to Longstreet if con.
cealed from Lee. "We have Biblical
authority for the story that the angel in
the path was visible to the ass, although
unseen by the seer; but suppose" con.
tinued Gen. Taylor, "instead of shifting
the honest, stupid animal, Balaam had
caressed him, how would the story read ?"
Gen. Grant was responsible for Long
streets going into politics. After the
war Longstreet went to New Orleans and
opened q commission store. Gen. Lee
had advised the acceptance of the terms
of surrender, and Longstreet was pro-
ceding in this line. But Gen. Grant
made him surveyor of the port and
finally postmaster of New Orleans. 1t
was at that time that he commanded the
metropolitan police in the famous riots
with the White League. This is where
the people grieved. They had "nursed
the pinion that impelled the STEEL"
n..ue La - 1ovo Gov hto n1d a nm =, frtonrlo