The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-11-17
SUNDAY. NOVEMBER II. 1895.


last Sundays New York Sun contain
cd an elaborate. seyen-column ar'0'o ~
a malignant South-hater. who signs MIN
self Leslie j. Perry. Of Washington upon
the question who was rcsponsiDie io'
the Confederate defeat at Ge''yspu's'
coneral Lee or General Longstreet!
,b,s were no more than critical re-
view of the evidence In the case We
should welcome il az contribution
the discussion of a most interesting MS
,oyical question. But the writer mas
A. I'm his mind 10 depreciate Geherai N'e
and 70 extol General Longstreet, because
nerhaps. OF his dcscftion of his old COM
rades after the war. and that eViuen'
r,,nose aromscs our Indignation, ana
causes AIS TO notice what we should
otherwise have most probably passed py'
The author says. IA old axiom
.vhen thieves fall out, honest ioik
come by their deserts applies in GER
tain sense to this quarrel and he quotes
I'm this connection General Longsiree'
claim that the controversy over his part
I'm the battle Of Gettysburg had It's OH
Gin in the early determination OF the
Virginia contingent. that always domi-
mated Southern military affairs. to make
him-a South Carolinian-the scapesoat OF
Lees blunders at Gettysburg ms Is
sufficient for showing the animus OF the
author.
MIR. Perry's letter is fun of false state
,,.. aud Of conversions of the estab-
nshsd facts i'm the case. but we cannot
of course. within the limits oil news
napcr article. point all of these out IL
would require pamphlet OF twenty Oh
thirty pages to make them PLAN. we
shall content ourselves, therefore, with
:. statement of a few of his leading
errors.
The defaults charged against Long
street are two. and relate to the o"tues
on the "a and 81 of July. The discus
sion Of the default in respect TO the pat
,le 81 the "a had its origin IN an 2"-
dress delivered by General William \.
penaleton. at Lexington, i'm 1873, I'm when
he said General Lee told him on the even
,n,, of the LIST that he had ordered Long
street TO attack Meadc's extreme leit al
= sunrise On the mcrfihg of the "a. MUG"
,,r,hor evidence can now be added TO
.,ouar,I pendleton's statement. which
makes IT almost a demonstration 'ha' Lee
ana give Longstroet this order and tha'
I.onestrect contumaciously disooeyeu !"
and lost us the battle. But We cannot
u,,rsue that view OF the case. we must
conone our very brief remarks to wha'
Mr. Perry has TO say.
MIR. Perry stakes his whole case against
The testimony for the sunrise oruer
upon an attempt to prove that the OF
hcial report made by General fehu'e'o"
a,roctlv after the battle makes no rei-
.rence 10 this sunrise ORDER ana CON
-, LANGUAGE Inconsistent with his then
having it in his mind that sunrise at
tack was ever contemplated. Inc iuii
force OF this point cannot be brought out
,xcept by copying long extract from
General Pcndlotons report, for when we
have not space.
"a, ,ho most obvious possible remark
ON this is that the whole army kne"
aftcr the battle that General Lee to hush
M all scandal and end chickering's IN ms
nrnv. had magnanimously- gloriously-ue-
,larod that he took upon himself all re-
,ponsibility for the defeat, and that he
had sent out the word that there was
10 he mo- discussion of who was and VINO
was not 10 bc blamed. General pickett
had made report which arraigned some
Of his fellow-oiiicers severely FOR ialhhs
10 support his attack, and the records
contain a letter IRON General Lee TO
General Pickett. requesting him TO with
draw and suppress his report, Tor the
good OF the service. General Pendleton
and all the other general officers OF the
army knew that this was the "ofuer OF
The day" and all OF their reports were
written with this fact In their minds.
THEY dealt. then. with the case as II
Gctually occurred. and not with the case
that they had expected on the evening
OF July LIST to occur. They simply de-
scrbcd tho events that they witnessed
and took part in, and offered no com
ments on what might have occurred If
something else had been done.
But there Is not one line or word IN
General Pcndleton's report Inconsistent
with the fact that ne may have known
on the evening OF July LIST that General
Lee had ordered Longstreet TO attack
at sunrise on the "a.
These remarks Will apply to all the
rest that our author has said with a
view 20 showing that there is Confederate
testimony that contradicts General Pen
dleton.
Mr Perry's real case. when he comes
10 show afirmatiyely that Longstreet
was not In fault for failing 10 attack at
sunrise. Is In his proposition that Long
streets troops were not up at the field
Of battle until long after sunrise, and
that they could not have been got up In
t1ns " attack al that hour. But It is