The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1894-12-27

one occasion after a charge Of his COM
mand where the ranks had been torn
into patches by the Union shells and
canister the leader Of Georgia brigade,
General Nenning, galloped up to him
on an artillery horse, using a trace rope
for whip. Red and painting with ex-
oitement, he cried out: General. my
brigade is cut to piecesl For Gods sake
send me some menp' Without turning
his head or moving a muscle Of his face
in sympathy Longstreet coolly said,
Don IT you thiAk you can find one man
of your brigade, General Benning?'
Dumfounded with the provoking man
ner Of his chief, Benning stammered
out Eyes, general, probably I could find
one man.
''Then," said Longstreet in the same
calm tone, "go and fetch that one man
here, and he and you and I Twill charge,
General Benning, for nothing in all the
Confederacy can prevent we three sacri-
fioing ourselves now that your brigade
is all cut to, pieces.
Taking the hint, -Benning rode away
to collect the pieces Of his brigade,
which, as is usually the case, made a
showing when brought together. .
Gaines Mill was followed, 50 far as
Longstreet's troops were concerned, by
Glendale, or Frayser s Farm, where three
days later he attacked Old Bull Sum
ner's line. 1t was a desperate battle,
for the southerners marched to the can
mons mouth, as they had done at Gaines
Mill. But Stonewall jackson failed to
come up on the Union flank, as it had
been planned he should do, SO Sumner
paid his old antagonist Of Williams
burg and Fair Oaks
just two months after Glendale the
armies met on the old Bull Run battle
ground, and jackson was the one to be
caught in the tolls, overmatched in
front and outfanked. Longstreet deoid-
cd the battle by skillful march which
enabled him to grapple with Fitz John
iPorter's corps. the last reserve Of the
Union army, and prevent the destruo-
tion of Jackson. Antietam followed
close upon Manassas, and that has been
called by Confederate soldiers the best
fought battle of the war on their side
Longstreet's command bore the brunt Of
it and for several hours contested the
field with Hooker and Sumner, the gen.
erals who had fought him at Williams
burg, Fair Oaks and Glendale. Hooker
led the attack on Longstreet with two
corps. Afterward Sumner added his
corps to the column, but Jackson rallied
fresh reserves to the line, SO that in the
end Sumner asked Mcclellan to suspend
the fighting. The slaughter on both
sides had been unparalleled On any
American battlefield. What remained
Of Longstroet's battaliens stood at bag
in front Of the citadel, the key to the
field covering the avenue of retreat.
Again at Fredericksburg Longstreet
held the citadel, Marye's Heights,
where he repulsed Sumner s grand divi-
sion at the stone wall. Charlottesville
was fought by Lee without his Old War
horse or his valiant corps. Otherwise
that battle might have ended the war,
and Longstreet would never have been
called upon to make the hopeless as
saults at Gettysburg, tasks he protested
against, yet would not shrink from.
The work cut out for him there was of
the nature always assigned to Jackson
during his life. Perhaps he would have
done better than Longstreet, but there
is no data to affirm that conjecture.
Gettysburg was another Antietam Or
Fredericksburg, with the tables turned.
The boys in blue held the citadel, stand
ing on their own soil to fight for their
homes and fresides.
'sThe Sd Of July, 1868, was the sad
dest day Of my life, " said Longstreet,
recalling the hour when Pickett's men
came reeling back down the slope from
the Bloody Angle. What Lee thought
Of his conduct there may be inferred
from the readiness with which in the
presence of the defeated men he accept
ed the responsibility. 1T was all my
fault" he exclaimed.
Once more after the Gettysburg fail
ure Longstreet saved the Army of
Northern Virginia, and his great work
as a soldier was done. That was in the
Wilderness when the left had been re-
pulsed, the center broken, and the right
on the Plank road was no more than
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