Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-02-05

| Confederate position towards 1cheia'
I.onpstreet. thinks We may have fallen
into an error on one point. our Gun
temporary raises the question whe'ner
we are entirely accurate" In stating
that "it was only when he n.ongstreeo
ATTEMPTED TO glorify himself at the eN-
pense OF Lee, and place upon the snoui-
! derE OF the great Confederate COM
mander a responsibility from which the
latter magnanlmoasly shielded him. that
his military shortcomings were brought
before the public. and became the OBJECT
OF severe criticism"
The Times's recollection Is that '"e
beginning of the controversy was III an
address delivered at Lexington by 'ehe-
raj Pendleton, i'm which the speaker saiu
that General Lee told him on the night
Of July /. 1863. at Gettysburg that ne
had ordered Longstreet to attack Meade
left at daylight next morning. Our Rich
mond contemporary also says that II
IL IS correctly informed, Ionsstreets
disbursement or Lee commenced IN
Ioncstreet's reply TO General Pendletons
statement which appeared in the Phila-
delphia Times.
The sneech of General Pendleton re-
ferred to was made January 10. 1915, ana
was published in the Southern Magazine
for December, 1874. The statement OF
General Pendleton was that he u-ee)
informed me that he had ordered Long
street to attack oil that point ut sun
rise the next morning duly 2d), and he
added to myself: Il want you TO be out
long before sunrise. so as 10 re-eNdinlhe
Ohe ground, and to save time me r.
connoisance was accordingly made as
soon as it was light enough on the
ID, and make through a long distance
in fact very close to what there was OF
the enemy's line General Pendletoh
then went on to say: mo insupefdpis
difficulty appearing. and marching up far
off. the enemy's reinforcing columns be-
ing seen. the extreme desirableness OF
immediate attack there was at once re-
no,ted TO the commanding general, and'
according to his wish. message was
also sent TO the intrepid but deliberate
corps commander. whose sunrise attach
had there been ordered" General rem
dleton stated further that his own mes
saees went repeatedly TO General Lee
and the Iatter's. he knew, were urgently
messed on Iongstreet, until. as he
pendIeton) afterwards learned from Of
floors who saw General Lee. the COM
handing general manifested extreme
displeasure with the tardy corps COM
mander" That hard-fghting soldier
added General Pendleton, ITO whom It
had been committed to attack early In
the day. did not in person reach the
commanding general, and with him ride
TO a position whence TO view the ground
and see the enemy's arriving masses I'M
iii u o'clock, and his column was not
M and ready for the assault until 4
p. NJ"
This, however was not the first criti-
cism upon Longstreet in connection with
Gettysburg that was made in public
address. year previous to the utter
ances Of General Pendleton We have
quoted. General Early, m a speech de-
livered at Lexington, also made SINH
lar statements. though it does not APP
pear that he entered as much into de-
tail.
The article by General Longstreet in
the Philadelphia. Times. to which refer
ence has been made, appeared I'm the
issue OF that paper of November 3 1871,
and therein Longstree- not only denied
that ne was ordered or expected to at
tack the enemy's left early I'm the morn
ing of the ID, but assa.led both General
Pendleton and General Early very
abusiyely. 1t may be that the battle
between Longstreet and his critics was
first fairly Joined in the Early and Pen
dleton addresses. and the LOngstreet let
ter in the Philadelphia Times, but our
impression is that there were distinct
mutterings Of it some time before. Ger
tain IL is that Longstreets arrogaton
TO himself of military genius superior to
that of Lees antedates the Pendleton adj
dress, for he opened his article in the
Philadelphia Times with letter written
by himself on June "a. 1853, in which he
claimed that ne communicated to General
Lee a much better plan for the battle of
Gettysburg than that on which it was
fought, but preferred that all the blame
for the failure should rest on his shout
ders.
Nevertheless. whether the attack was
made on Longstreet first or not-snd we
agree that IL such was the case that de-
fence should in fairness be accorded
him-our Richmond contemporary and |
ourselves are not far apart as TO the |
main issue. We believe, and We doubt |
not that that is the Richmond illness |
position also. that despite the Early and |
Pendleton addresses and despite Long /
streets political course. he would be to-
dav one Of the South's idols were 1t not |
for his assaults on Lee. Had he been |
content with attempting TO defend him
self without assailing Lee the storm /
of indignation that has been pouring upon /.
him would never have broken. and those /
who might have criticised him on the /
bare issue whether he was responsible /
for the Gettysburg disaster would have /
materially failed of sympathy. We know |
that Longstreet was a stubborn and A |
gallant fighter. We know that Lee be- 1
lieved in him as such. and blunder or I
derelictlon Lee condoned or overlooked I
others would have palliated.
Ben. Harrison's letter explaining that /
he IL not a candidate for the Republican /
nomination for the presidency means SIM |
ply that he is not going to work openly /
for the Job. and will remain in the /
background; but that he hopes the |
convention will get into wrangle and /