The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-11-02
BY JAMES J. GARRETT.

placed in the low ground east of the Round Top.
 All who were In place to know the facts and who have spoken, except Longstreet himself. state that on the evening of July 1, General Lee gave orders for moving on the morning at all points, as early as possible on the next morning. Longstreer on the right, was to begin by seiging the Round Tops, which were then and nearly all day of July ?, unoccupied and unde- tended, and known to be so, through the reports of our scouts. Hill in the center. was to advance there and Sewell on the left, at Culp's Hill. Longstreet is said to disclaim the giving by Lee, and the re- ceiving by him, of the orders for the early occupation of the Round Tops, but the direct evidence on this is very con- elusive against him. All the attendant facts. too, are to the same effect. Will cox had been sent with one or more brig ades, to move with Longstreet's left, to gain those crests, the control of which was so vitally important, and plainly seen to be so, that Wilcox is said by those then present to have been we'll nigh beside himself with impatience and vexation, on account of Longstreets not coming, and to have been kept only by the letter of his orders, from making the advance without him. General Lee, him-
 
 was extremely disappointed, perplexed and annoyed by Longstreet's non-exe- cution of the orders he had given him in person; and the other corps command CTS, whose movements were to wait on and concur with those of the right wing of the army, were baffled and paralyzed by it's non-action. Moreover, before nightfall on July 2 1t was being told through the bivouacs of the army, and a mo ha ataca and IT. termasters, that Longstreet had been or dered on the night before to seize the Round Tops at sunrise, which then and for hours later were unoccupied, as the scouts reported, but that he had failed to do so, assigning as the cause, that he was not strong enough to do so without Laws s brigade, about 2000 men. although he had present for the purpose including Will coxs brigade, fully 14.OO0 of the choicest soldiers in the army. Longstreets own report, made some time later, proves that this camp gossip was true in substance and detail, almost to the letter.
 No one surveying Meade's position on Cemetery Ridge, on the east from Wolf s Hill, or from Seminary Ridge on the west, could fail to see that if held by hls adversary in force, the Round Tops dom- mated 1t absolutely, and he must aban- | don 1t or be there destroyed. No one who l knew them as Longstreet did could doubt | that the force he had present, once in | possession, could and would hold them | against all that could come against them | It is unthinkable that General Lee l knowing the facts as they actually were, | should not have ordered them to be | seized equally so that Jackson or For l rest, if in Longstreets place. would not | have promptly executed such orders, if | given to them; and incredible, almost I that either of them, knowing what l Longstreet knew, or ought to have | known would have waited for orders | to do what so manifestly and imperative l ly ought to have been done. | On the army's march eastward from l Chambersburg, Laws brigade had been l sent aside to a place known as New l Guildford, on picket duty There. about twenty-three miles northwest from Get