The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-03-15
1oNGsrREEr and GETTTsBURG.
A Writer Takes Issue With General
Fitzhugh Lee.
Editor Of The Times:

Editor Of The Times:
Sir,-I have read Ex-Governor Lees IN
! teryiew, published in The Times OF last
Sunday. IN which l notice that he SUI
| adheres to the hypothetical pfoposltioi
| that the Confederate army would nave
| been successful at Gettsburg had Gene
| raj LOngstreet strictly obeyed an lmaslh-
airy order to attack the enemy al sunrise
on the morning Of the "a OF July.
[ say imagtuIry order. because the con-
current testimony Of every member o.
General Lees stan, the position OF Long
streets corps at the time, as well as ali
the circumstances Of the occasion, are
unequivocally and emphatically opposed
TO IN probability Of such an order ever
having been. Tor one moment, entertained
seriously. To assume that General Lee
could have ordered LOnsstrccts corps,
then more than twenty miles distant from
the point Of attack, 10 open the batLe
al sunrise while he Kept about double
the numbers idle and IN ignorance OF his
purpose, prOclaims his unhtncss for the
niche in the temple Of fame, where he has
been placed by friends and adNcrsdfleS
alike. The second and third corps OF the
Army Of Northern Virginia were on the
spot. and In position for attack, and yet
We are asked TO stretch our credulty and
believe as d matter Of history, that our
great leader was guilty OF ti.f stupendous
folly OF leaving them bOtl IN ldieness,
while he called into action about ten thou
sand men, after an all-night march over
a road so DISTRACTED with army trains as
10 be almost impossible. the moment
that We cOncede that General Lee formed
and ordered any such plan at Gettysburg,
or elsewhere. We become parties TO
robbery, ineXcusabo except upon the plea
of imbecllity. We should seek TO make
history, not undertake 10 ma scape-goats.
The true Confederate solder, whether
he be the humble private or an officer
decorated with the stars OF the general,
has nothing 10 lose by the simple truth,
and TO that end our faculties should all
be bent.
General Robert Z. Lee was the master
OF military science and strategy, and not
the tyrO that the issue OF such an order
would have stamped him
The historian. who calmly and without
prejudice follows the career or the great
commander Of the Armv OF Northern Nir-
ginia from Mechanicsville TO Appomattox.
will pause In amaZement that thousands
of Confederate soldiers should remain ST.
lent while such an egresflous piunder was
being attributed TO their idol. Such an
order. as the imaginary one in question,
would never have been issued by "A novice
In military matters, under clrcums tances
even more favorable than those bN Which
General Lee was SURROUNDED az the time,
and would never have received ms sane
ton. because OF the complications ana
contingencies possible, II not inevitable,
likely TO obstruct the execution or u.
This whole hypothesis Is enureiy az Iafl-
ance with the character OF peheiai L L'
who rarely committed an error OF Judge
ment-never knowingly and deliberately
violated a sound maxim OF war IN the
face of an army OF veterans. any com, COM
manded. as was the Army or the i'Oto-
noc L., ma have done with this brsi-
ness before we succeed in proving to pos
teritv that our chief accomplishments lie
in the line OF fault-hndlng and quarrel
hns VII" cam j A. MCLAUGHLIN.
Richmond. Va, March ii, 1S96.