The Washington bee., 1895-11-16
L0NGsTREET ATTACKS LEE.
onsparing Critscism Of the Great Con1e"ei
ate General in His Book.

| on visit to Ph1ladelpnla 10 SEE ia
publishers about his new book, Wh1c
will soon appear. He expects that tn
records which he has collected Wi
create a great deal of hard feeling i
the South, for he has criticised unspar
| ingly some Of the most famous con
federate leaders, men whose names ar
held as almost sacred by the rebels
I'm fact" said Gen. Longstreet to
World correspondent, II think tina
some of the Virginians believe tina
when they die they will go to Gen. Lee
but my book will show very plainl!
that Lee. though now regarded by al
Southerners as the most able OF lead
ers, was but q poor commander, ant
that the whole of his military history is
full Of mistakes.
II am confident that had the man.
| agement of the troops been given te
johnson the South would have won the
conflict. One Of the greatest errors
| that Lee ever made was at the battle
Of Gettysburg, when Meade outwitted
him on every side. 1t has been said
that Lee had the disadvantage of be-
ing in such a position that his men
had terrible obstacles to overcome, but
| fine position on the heights above, while
Lees men were below in the Devils
Den, it was due to the fact that Meade
outgeneralled Lee and secured such an
| advantage by his superior tactics.
Lee had just the same chance to get
the heights that Meade had. but he did
not, and his men had to climb up hills
and fight in the face of what was
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 f1neness of John
ston's judgment is shown by the fact
that he was anxious to march immedi-
ately on Washington just after the
victory at Manassas, but the reason
he did not do SO, so Johnston always
said. was that he was obliged to obey
Daviss orders, which prevented his
making what would have been the coup
d'etat of the conflict and have brought
speedy success to the Southern arms.
Had Johnston marched on Washington,
1t would have fallen. The South would
thus have secured the key to the stu
alton.
II was with the army when the sur
render took place at Appomattox |
When Lee found that we were cut off
he sent for me and told me that he
could not get away. He said that ii |
was impossible to escape and wanted |
to know what plan Of action I would |
propose. l told him that, as he stated |
the matter, it was its own answer. He
then sent for Gen. Malone and made
the same statements to him, and Ma
hone advised him to see Gen. Grant
about matters. Lee approved of this
advice, got on his horse and rode out
to find Grant
While he was gone I heard a report
which led me to believe that it was
possible to cut our way out of the
Union lines that were hemming us in,
md decided to stop Lee on his err
and to Grant. Lee had considerable |
start, but l sent for the f1eetest courier
n the army to race after him and bring
lim back from his mission. Yet the |
Of the men and horses was
such that 1t seemed Impossible to get a
reSh courier for the errand.
1t happened that Col. Heiskell, of |
outh Carolina, had fine blooded mare
hat had been brought from Peters
'urg. 1t was fresh and spirited, and
1eiskell offered to render whatever |
ervtce he could. I told him at once to
ct on the mare and ride after Lee I
old him not to spare the mare, to kill !
If necessary, but find Lee at all
vents before he reached Gen. Grant.
ieiskell set out at a laundering rate,
ut when he got to Lee it was too late
afterwards discovered that the report
'hich had reached me was false, so it
'as we'll enough that Heiskell had no.
ucceeded in catching Lee before he
ad communicated with Grant
Gen. Malone was a good soldier and
good worker. In January, 1863, was :,
efore Petersburg, and left to go down
, Suffolk, but before leaving laid out ,
~ lines. extending them from Peters, !.
urg almost to Charlottesville, as
opposed that the enemy might come
round and make an attack on my left
wished to defend my line at the cross
lg Of the river and at the plank road,
ence 1 put all the troops to work.
Ihenever / made tour of inspection
always found Malone at his post.
hich is more than 1 can say for some
the other officers. Malone was
"Mahone's unpopularity in Virginia :
as due to his politics. They attacked !.
i'm in the Senate because he helped to =
'ganize the Senate under the Republi-
ans But he did more for the State
IAN any other man has done for man-
day. think he was patriotic and sim
ere in all his political life, and if he
as disliked at the last it was because :
irginians did not like his belonging to {
le Republican party. =
Il commenced to write my book or
le war about seven years ago. At
at time collected some data and had p
me maps drawn, but my house 3
.ught fire and burned to the ground. E
.stroying good deal Of the material u
had collected. and my health becom-
G very bad about that time I aban- e
'ned the idea of writing . book. In IL
20 three years from that time. how .
'ei. y health became very much i'm Ie
owed, and so took up writing again.
elected the data over and have work e
on it since. The publishers expect
have the book out in a months time
Up to the time I commenced writ X
g l had no idea Of writing anything 81
'out the war. for l supposed there u
ere SO many other people writing
'out 1T that there was no use Of my o.
ying anything. thought my record, "