The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1897-04-29
GEN. LONGsTREETs EULoGY Oh
GEN. GRANT.


1t was the consensus of opinion yester-
day among the confederate veterans who
were in Gen. Lees army, the Army OF
Northern Virginia, and who had read
Gen. Longstreet's eulogy of Gen. Grant,
that Gen. Longstreet, in representing the
orinion of "the ragged remnant OF tile
once proud army of the confederacy,
was little extravagant. We say 1t
with all becoming respect, but really
Gen. Longstreet betrayed the garrulity
of age and the natural vanity Of an emf
ncnt man in asking the Associated Press
to send his signed message throughout
the country. Gen. Longstreet truly rep
resented the sentiment Of the ex-confed-
crates in their admiration for the gran
deur and ma jesty of Grants character
and for his generosity and magnanimity
"to our brave men and broken people,
and they do not doubt that he had n
patriotic heart, but as to the great
mind" or that he was entitled to rank
with Gen. Lee as a general, they
thoroughly doubt it.
Gen. Grant was more fortunate in one
respect than any other union general
that had preceded him in command Of
the federal army. He was placed in
command at time when the patience
of the people of the northern states had
become worn out, and they had become
Disguised at the frequent changes OF
generals of the federal armies and at
the secretary of war interfering with the
generals in the field; and public senti-
mcnt demanded that Gen. Grant, who
had been a lucky man, who had been
snatched from disaster by the oppor-
tune arrival of Buell's army at Shiloh,
and ut once elevated to the command of
all the federal armies, should have
all the men and arms that he
deemed necessary, and that he should be
in absolute control of all the campaigns
of the federal armies.
In this way the very quality Tor which
Gen. Grant was most distinguished. that
of losing thousand men and sending
in two thousand to take their places, was
given full sway, and the government at
Washington was compelled to accept
that plan of battle. If every European
nation, with the exception of Great Brit
tain and France, had declared war
against the southern cOnfederacy, no one
of them would have sent more troops TO
pni, fnr.a (,np (Npnnt frhnrn
II general with more ample resources
from which to draw, of men, arms and
money, than Gen. Grant had from the
beginning to the close of his campaign
on the Rappahannock TO AppomattoX
court house, and yet, with all these mag
nifcent resources, he failed to turn Gen.
Lees flank and approach his objective
federacy; when Gen. Lee was command
ing an army much inferior in numbers
and that could not be materially re-
inforced. If Gen. Grant in one day lost
a thousand or ten thousand men he could
and did confront Gen. Lee the next day
with double his loss i'm fresh men, and
Lee held the field at the close of every
days battle and Gen. Grant was comp
PEELED to move back and around the rear
of his own army by the right flank, and
found Gen. Lee in position in his front
the next day, no nearer Richmond along
the whole line of battle across the James
river, and finally to Petersburg.
Gen Lee, by superior gencraship. held
back an army reinforced every day and
at loss to that army of 10000 men.
with much smaller army. not materially
reinforced, from the first battle ut tn"
Wilderness, until, with the remnant of
his ragged band, he took position at
Petersburg, still in Grants front. ana
compelled Grant to lay siege and attack
tEat city by regular approach, bringing
to the aid of his superior numbers the
skill of his engineers. That is the story
in nutshell, as the soldiers of Gen. Lees
army know it. The confederate vet
Grams accord Gen. Grant all honor and
cherish his name in all gratitude for his
magnanimity towards the southern army
and the southern states, but when they
attempt to rank him as general with
the grand old military chieftain of the
southern confederacy. Gen. II. f. Lee.
the soldiers who followed Lee enter a
protest with Il statement of facts that
can not be questioned or misconstrued.
TIKI. ,ou,..x.