The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-10-29
LONGsTREET ATTACKS LEE.
CRITICISMS OF CONFEDERATE
GENERALS.

CRITICISMS OF CONFEDERATE
GENERALS.
He Says the Great Confederate
Leader Was a Poor Commander
Joseph IL. Johnston Could Have
Won the Conflict.
Mrs. Virginia Stuart Mosby.C Cole
man, in q special correspondence to
the Atlanta Journal, writes as follows
from Washington, in which is told the
unsparing criticisms of General Long
street against the peerless chieftain of
the Southern Confederacy:
General James Longstreet has lust
been on q visit to Philadelphia to see
his publishers about his new book
which will appear in a short time.
He expects that the records which he
has collected will make a great deal of
hard feeling in the South, for he has
criticised with an unsparing hand,
some of the most famous leaders, men
whose names are held as almost sacred
by the Confederates.
sin fact" said General Longstreet,
" think that some Of tie Virginians
believe that when they die they will
go to General Lee, but my book will
show very plainly that Lee, though now
regarded by all Southerners as the
most able of leaders. was but q poor
commander and that the whole of his
military history is full of mistakes.
81 am confident that had the man
agement of the troops been given to
Johnston, the South would have won
the conflict. One If the Gates
errors that Lee ever made was at the
battle of Gettysburg, when Meade out
wltted him on every side. 1t has been
said that Lee had the disadvantage of
being in such q position that his men
had terrible obstacles to overcome, but
If the Union forces possessed such q
fine position on the heights above,
while Lees men were below in DEVILS
Den, 1t was due to the fact that Meade
outgeneraled Lee aud secured such an
advantage by his superior tactics.
Lee had just the same chance to get
the heights that Meade had, but he
did nos, and his men had to climb
hills and fight in the face of what was
a natural citadel, where Meade was
lodged.
Johnston was the superior of Lee
in every way, but he was hampered by
having incurred the ~displeasure of
President Davis. The i~ineness of
Johnston's judgment is shown by the
fact that he was anxious to march i'm
mediately on Washington just after
the victory ut Manassas, but the reason
he did not do so, so Johnston always
said, was that he was obliged to obey
Davis orders which prevented his
making what would have been the
coup d'etat Of the conflict and have
orought'speedy success to the Southern
arms. Had Johnston marched on
Washington, it would have fallen and
the South would thus have secured the
key to the situation.
Il was with the army when the sur
render took place at Appomattox and
when Lee found hat we were cut of,
he sent for me and told me that he
could no get away. He said that il
was impossible to escape and wanted
to know what plan of action | would
propose. l told him that, as he stated
the matter, it was it's own answer. He
then sent for General Malone and
made the same statements to him, and
Malone advised him to see General
Grant about matters. Lee approved
OF this advice, got on his horse and
ode out to find Grant. While he was
gone, l heard q report which led me
TO believe h a it was possible to cut
our way out of the Union lines that
were hemming us in and | decided t.
stop Lee on his errand to Grant. Lee
had considerable start, bit | sem for
the fieetest courier in the army to race
after him and bring him back from his
mission. Yet the condition of the men
and horses was such that it seemed
impossible to get u fresh courier fol
the errand. 1t happened that Colonel
Haskell, of South Carolina, had q fine
blooded mare that had been brought
from Petersburg. She was fresh and
spirited and Haskell offered to render
whatever service he could. | told
him at once to get on the mare and
ride after Lee. | told him not to spare
the mare, to kill her if necessary, bu,
find Lee at all events before he reached
General Grant. Haskell set out at 9
Numbering rate, but when he got tc
Lee it was too late. | afterwards dis.
covered that the report which had
reached me was false, SO it was well
enough that Haskell had not succeed
ed in catching Lee before he had com
municated with Grant.
General Malone was a good soldier
and q good worker. In January, '63, /
was before Petersburg and left to go
down to Suffolk, but before leaving, |
!ald out my lines extending them from
Fetersburg almost to charlottesville,
as l supposed that the enemy might
come around and make an attack or
my left. | wished to defend my line
at the crossing of the river and at the
plank road, hence | put all the troops
10 work. Whenever | made a tour OF
inspection l always found Malone at
his post, which Is more than | can say
for some of the other officers. Malone
was a fine engineer.
While Malone was so unpopular
In Virginia, that fact is due to his
politics. They attacked him in the
senate because he helped to organize
the senate under the republicans. But
he has done more for the State than
any other man has done for many q
day. l think he was patr otto and
sincere in all his political life and il
he was disliked at the last, it was be-
cause Virginians did not like his
belonging to the republican party.
II commenced to write my book on
the war about seven years ago. AT
that time [ collected some data and
had some maps drawn, but my house
caught on fire and burned TO the
ground, destroying a good deal of the
material L had collected, and nv
health becoming very bad about that
time, L abandoned tho idea of writing
u o In W or three years from
That time, however, my health became
very much improved and so | took up
the writing again, collected the data
over and have worked on it since until
it is completed and the publishers ex-
pect it TO be out in u months time.
Up to the time L commenced writing,
| / haI AN t1an Of Z -