The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1896-04-30
LoNGsTREET ATTACKS LEE.
Onsparing Critscism Of the Great Conte"er-
ate General in Ills Book.

publishers about his new book, Whlch
will soon appear. He expects that the
records which he has collected VIII
create a great deal of hard feeling in
tho South, for he has criticised unspar-
iprly some of the most famous Con-
fodcratc leaders, men whose names are
held as almost sacred by the rebels.
In fact" said Gen. Longstreet TO
World correspondent, 81 think that
some of the Virgnians believe that
when they die they will so to Gen Lee,
but my book will show very plainly
that Lee, though now regarded by all
Southerners as the most able of lead
ors, was but a poor commander and
that the whole of his military history is
full of mistakes.
II am confident that had the man
cgcment of the troops been given to
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 mon
had terrible obstacles to overcome, but
IT the Union forces possessed such a
fine position on the heights above, while
Lees mon were below in the Devils
Den. II was due to the fact that Meade
outrcnoralicd Lee and secured such an
| advantage by his superior tactics.
Zee had just the same chance 20 get
| the heights that Meade had. but he did
not. and his men had TO climb up hills
| and dght i'm the face Of what was a
natural citadel. where Meade was
| LOGGED.
Johnston was the superior Of Lee in
| every way, but he was hampered by
/ having incurred the displeasure of
| President Davis. The nneness of John
| stOn's judgment is shown by the fact
| chat he was anxious to march immedi-
| atcly 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
/ Davis's 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,
! it would have fallen. The South would
| thus have secured the key TO the situ-
/ alton.
''I was with the army when the sur
render took place at AppomattoN.
/ When Lee found that we were cut Off.
he sent for ne and told ne that he
could not get away. He said that it
was Impossible to escape and wanted
to know what plan Of action l would
propose | 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 end Grant.
while he was sone ! heard report
wilch 81 me to believe that it was
/ possible to cut our way out of the
| Union lines that were hemming us in,
| and l decided to stop Lee on his er-
rand to Grant. Lee had considerable
| start, but | sent for the ileetest 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 Il seemed impossible to get
| fresh courier for the errand.
1T happened that Col, Heiskell of
South Carolina, had fine blooded mare
that had been brought from Peters
burg 1t was fresh and spirited, and
Huishell offered to render whatever
service he could. l told him at once to
get on the mare ana ride after Lee. l
told him not to spare the mare to Kill
/ It if necessary, but find Lee at all
events before he reached Gen. Grant.
Heiskel set out at a laundering rate,
but when he got TO Lee it was too late.
/ | afterwards discovered that the report
which had reached me was false, so II
was well enough that HeisEell had nor
! succeeded in catching Lee before he
had communicated with Grant.
Gen. Malone was good soldier and
q good worker. In January 1868, / was
before Petersburg, and left to go down
TO Suffolk, but before leaving | laid out
my lines, extending them from Peters
burg almost to Charlottesville, as l
supposed that the enemy might come
around and make an attack on my left,
l Wished to defend my line at the cross
ing of the river and at the plank road,
hence l put all the troops to work.
Whenever l made tour of inspection
| always found Malone at his post,
which is more than | can say for some
of the other officers. Malone was a
fine engineer.
"Mahone's unpopuauty in Virginia
was due to his politics. They attacked
him in the Senate because he helped to
organize the Senate under the Republic
cans But he did more for the State
than any other man has done for manG
n day. | think he was patriotic and sim
cere in all his political life, and if he
was disliked at the last it was because
Viglnlans did not Ike his belonging to
the Republican party.
Il 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 fire and burned to the ground.
destroying a good deal Of the material
! had collected, and my health becom-
ing very bad about that time | aban'
doned the idea of writing a book. In
two or three years from that time, how
ever, my health became very much im-
proved, and so ! took up writing again,
collected the data over and have work.
ed on it since, The publishers expect
to have the book out in q months time.
"Up to the time l commenced writ
ing | had no idea Of writing anything
about the war. for ! supposed there
were so many other people writing