Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-31
"REMINISCENCES OF THE CIVIL WAR. BY
Gen John b. Gordon Of the Confederate Army
Now Yurk Charles Scrihner'S Sons.

General GOrdOn'S entertaining anu oiteh
delivered lecture on 1.-THE Last Days OF the
Confederacy'' was an indication OF what
source of pleasure would be a book giving
in detail his "reminiscences OF the entre
war The promise has now been more than
realized In the work General Gordon mas
produced The youngest corps commander
In the confederate army. the trusted friend
of Lee, participant in the principal bat
ties of the civil war, one of the two chief
assistants of Lee at the time of the APP
pomattox surrender, he passed through
scenes the graphic description OF which
must afford unfailing entertainment. When
it is recalled that no book of popular
nature has appeared giving sketch or the
war from the point of view of southern
general 1t will be admitted that General
GordonS work is one that must TAKE d
place in the literature of that mighty con
hict 1t is a supplement to the memoirs rn,
of Grant, Sherman, Sheridan and McCiei-
Ian and can easily bear comparison Win
any one of them. 1t has vivid descriptions
OF fierce fighting but is also chronlcie VI
patient endurance and cannot Dut give Que
an enhanced appreciation of the quanues
of American manhood, even though those
qualities were displayed by the losing sue.
General Gordon is generous In MS tIeal.
ment of his former adversarles anu theIe
is manifest throughout a disposition 10 pe
fair. Only rarely does he criticise adverse
ly the conduct of an opposing commanoer
or superior officer. He seems 10 per
ceive a oneness in quality of the people,
north and south. For instance, In refer
ring to the effect of the first Bull Run bat
tie, he says: "
with that tenacity of will, that unyield-
irg Anglo-Saxon perseverance-or pre!e-
to say that indomitable Amerlcan1sm-1or
which the people of the United States are
so justly famed, the north rose superior 10
the disaster and resolved, as did OLD An
drew Jackson. that the Union shouio De
preserved
.'The south, on the other hand. greatly
encouraged ny the victory, bowed at its
affairs and thanked heaven for TINS lholca-
ton of ultimate triumph. Her whole peo-
pie. with an equally tenacious Americanism.
and fully persuaded that the independent
states, now united under another and SIM
liar constitution. had right to set up
their own homogeneous government, re-
solved that if sacrifice could secure 1T the
south should become an Independent gov
eminent.
General Gordon cites several occasions
when. he believes. success would nave come
to the confederate arms had ms advlce
been followed and action had displaced
delay The first was on the first day OIL
the Gettysburg battle. He believes thar
the federal troops could have been routed
and the hills south of Gettysburg taken
had not the confederateS been checked In
their charge on the fleeing federals. Again
in the battle of the Wilderness, when it
was discovered that the right flank OF the
federal troops lay wholly unprotected, he
is of the opinion that had General Early
consented to flank movement the federal
army would have been routed. AS 1t was,
the attack not being ordered until sunset
the Federal right was driven BACK. Cen
eral Gordon says: LAS rode abreast OF the
Georgians who were moving swiftly and
with slight resistance, the last scene which
met my eye as the curtain OF night shut
off the view was the crumbl1ng OF the
%t,ox- b1-ot al an
endeavored to file out of their works and
form new line under the furious onset
and whitening fire of the Confederates
General Gordon comments on the lost OPP
portunitieS:
Calmly reviewing the indsputable facts
which made the situation at Gettysburg
and in the Wilderness strikingiy similar.
and considering them from purely mill
tary and worldly standpoint, l should utter
my profoundest conviction were l to say:
Had Jackson been there the confederacy
had not died. Had he been at Gettysburg
when part Of that second corps which his
genius had made famous had already
broken through the protecting forces and
was squarely on the Union right. which
was melting away like a sand bank struck
by mountain torrent: when the whole
Union battle line that was In view was
breaking to the rear; when those fanking
confederates in their unobstructed rush
were embarrassed only by the number of
prisoners-had Jackson been there then, In
would have been, Forward, men. forward!
as he majesticaIIy rode in their midst, in
tensifying their flaming enthusiasm at
every step of the advance.
"Or had he been in the Wilderness on
that fateful 9th of May, when that same
right flank of the Union army was so
strangely exposed and was inviting the as
sault of that same portion of his old corps.
words descriptive Of the situation and OF
the plan of attack could not have been ut
tered fast enough for his impatient spirit.
Jacksons genius was keener scented in its
hunt for an enemy's flank than the most
royalty bred settlers nose In search of the
hiding coyey But Providence had
willed otherwise. Jackson was dead and
Gettysburg was lost He was not now in
the Wilderness, and the greatest opportuni-
ty ever presented to Lees army was per-
mitted to pass.
Again was General Gordon's advice ig-
nored at Cedar Creek, and again an oppor-
tunity was lost, in General Gordon's opin-
ion to defeat the Union forces. In the
morning of that day, it will be remembered,
the confederates drove the Union troops
from the field. Later the latter returned,
and under the inspiration of General Sheri-
dams presence. who had come down from
Winchester, twenty miles away" recap
tured the field and defeated the confed-
crates disastrously. The general impression
has been that the confederates owed their
crushing defeat to the fact that they had
abandoned their battle line and were busily
engaged in plundering the Union camp
when Sheridan brought back the beaten
Union troops. Indeed, General Early in his
report ascribes his disastrous defeat to
that cause General Gordon goes to con-
siderable pains to show that the confed-
crates did not abandon their formation to
engage in p!undering; that what was done
in that line was done by unarmed soldiers
on the sick list. who came the field in
the rear of the victorious confederate and
that General Early had mistaken these men
for the confederate troops. He asserts that
Sheridan's army could have been utterly
crushed had prompt pursuit followed the
victory but that the 9th Corps of the Union
army was allowed to retire when 1t could
have been dispersed. 1t thus served as a
nucleus for Sheridan to rally his men on
when he came dashing down from Winches-
ter But General Early forbade further
attack thinking that the morning victory
was enough for one day.
Gen. Gordon was with Early when the
latter made his raid on Washington and
got as far as Silver Spring, on the 7th
street road. Undoubtedly remarks Gen.
Gordon, I'VE could have marched into
Washington, but in the council Of war
called by Gen. Early there was not dis
sentng opinion as to the impolicy of en-
tering the city. The two objects of
our approach to the national capital were,
first and mainly, to compel Gen. Grant to
detach a portion Of his army from Lees